The 2027 intake starts to be prepared in autumn 2026. In finance, large banks, audit and consulting firms and funds open their recruitment well before the start date, sometimes nine to twelve months ahead. Here are the season's main milestones, by job and contract type, with a method to miss nothing.
Context and key facts
A caveat first: exact dates change every year and depend on each employer. This calendar describes usual windows, observed from one season to the next, not official 2027 dates. Before applying, always check the employer's careers page: for example, the Société Générale Careers 🔗 site separates internships, work-study, international volunteering (V.I.E) and graduate programmes, each with its own offers.
Three rules sum up the season:
- The more selective the job, the earlier it recruits. Investment banking, markets, private equity and strategy consulting open first.
- Large groups publish in waves. An offer can be withdrawn as soon as enough applications are received: applying on day one beats day last.
- The contract matters. Internship, work-study, V.I.E and graduate programme do not follow the same rhythm.
What it changes for candidates
For a candidate targeting the 2027 intake, the calendar breaks into four phases:
- Autumn 2026: prepare. Resume, cover letter, LinkedIn profile, network, test practice. This is also the time of the first school forums.
- Late 2026 and early 2027: apply first to the most selective jobs and to graduate programmes.
- Spring 2027: widen to summer internships, the autumn work-study intake and smaller firms, whose hiring is often later.
- Summer 2027: catch up. Some offers stay open or reopen. It is never too late, but choice narrows.
📅 See also: our work-study calendar in finance details the steps on the work-study side, and the guide to summer internships 2027 covers investment banking internships.
Sectors and jobs concerned
- Investment banking and markets: among the earliest. Summer and graduate programmes open early in the season, with tests and multi-stage interviews. See tests and assessment centres in investment banking.
- Audit (Big Four): volume hiring, with waves throughout the academic year. See recruitment at the Big Four.
- Consulting: calendar specific to each firm. See our finance and consulting recruitment calendar 2026-2027.
- Retail banking and insurance: more spread-out hiring, often tied to local needs. See mutual banks.
- Corporate finance (management control, treasury, accounting): offers published throughout the year, with a spring peak for the autumn intake.
- Asset management and funds: more occasional hiring, more dependent on networks.
Figures to remember
Rather than a precise figure, keep a few orders of magnitude useful for planning:
- Nine to twelve months: the usual lead of the most selective jobs over the start date.
- Several stages: an application to a bank or consulting firm often goes through a resume, online tests, one or more interviews, sometimes an assessment centre. Allow several weeks between application and answer.
- About ten applications: a reasonable volume for a first well-targeted wave, rather than fifty sloppy ones.
⚠️ Warning: these benchmarks are indicative. If a precise figure matters to you (number of places, closing date), it must come from the employer's official page.
How to adapt your application
- Build a dashboard. One line per employer: opening date, closing date, stages, status. Checking weekly beats learning about a closing after the fact.
- Prepare a solid base resume, then adapt it to each offer using the wording of the posting. Our guide to writing a finance resume gives the structure.
- Anticipate tests and interviews. Common mistakes are listed in our article on interview mistakes to avoid.
- Activate your network before opening. A contact who knows your plan can warn you of an opening or proofread your application: see networking in finance.
- Use the forums. School forums are chances to hand over a resume and learn employers' calendars: see school recruitment forums.
Outlook for the coming months
The coming months should confirm a few underlying trends: increasingly digital processes, automated filters (ATS) more present at the first stage, and employers attentive to technical skills and tools. Our article on finance job market trends details the main lines.
The takeaway: in a season where applications arrive in large numbers, a resume an ATS cannot read can be discarded before being read. FinanceCV removes that risk: the tool handles the layout and produces a clean document compatible with screening software, so you spend your time preparing applications rather than fixing margins.
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