Why you should apply early

If you're thinking of waiting until near the deadline to get your investment banking graduate scheme application in, remember this - laggards have less chance than ever of gaining a place. Why?

The best students apply first

As most banks will make clear on their websites, many of them operate a rolling system when recruiting for their grad schemes. In other words, entry is on a first come, first served, basis and, sadly for the slowcoaches, the early worms are often the juiciest.

"Put it this way," one head of graduate recruiting at a bulge-bracket bank tells us, "Those who get their applications in early generally have an easier time getting to the final stage than those who apply later."

Derek Walker, director, campus recruitment at Barclays Capital, tells us: "The type of candidates that most investment banks want will be focused, ahead of the game, prepared, well-researched, proactive. And a person with these types of qualities is likely to be organised enough to get an application in early. Submitting an application five minutes before the deadline might suggest these qualities are lacking."

Deadlines may be shortened

As you may have noticed (unless your only current affairs reading is Heat magazine), times are tough for investment banks. And while the official line is that graduate numbers are remaining constant, not all divisions will be unaffected by the credit crunch, say grad recruiters.

As a result, in order to stem the number of applications, some banks are sneakily making the deadlines earlier.

One graduate recruiter tells us: "Without implicitly stating that there are fewer places available, making the deadline a little earlier means there are fewer applications to sift through and, as the earlier applicants are usually better, the places get filled quicker."

The average investment bank reckons it gets 60 applicants per place. UBS estimates that 95 students applied per vacant position last year, whereas Société Générale tells us it received around 350,000 applications, of which it took on 2,400.

"Only a couple of banks wait until the deadline before processing applications," says another graduate recruiter. "And they have moved the deadline forward anyway this year."