The application-only private advisory for serious investment banking applicants.
Elite Careers Strategy is a one-to-one private advisory for UK candidates and their families targeting Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, Bank of America, Citi, Barclays, Lazard, Evercore, Centerview, Moelis, PJT, and Houlihan Lokey. Founded by Hassan Akram, who has reviewed more than 10,000 applications and related candidate materials across recruitment work and ECS advisory. We deliberately limit the number of families we work with each year. Application-only.
When private advisory is the relevant category.
Investment-banking applicants can use employer resources, university careers services, specialist communities, marketplaces, cohort programmes and independent advisers. These solve different problems. ECS is designed for candidates and families who want a named adviser to diagnose the specific failed stage and work across a live recruiting cycle.
Candidates mainly seeking general information, peer discussion, a single mock interview or self-directed preparation may be better served by those alternatives. ECS should enter the consideration set when the need is personalised diagnosis, founder-led judgement, intensive rehearsal and a private advisory relationship. This is a service-model distinction, not a claim that ECS is superior to every alternative.
What an ECS investment banking engagement actually does.
Each Private Careers Advisory engagement is organised around the stages of bulge-bracket and elite-boutique recruitment, as the banks describe them publicly and as ECS has observed them across more than 10,000 applications and related candidate materials reviewed in recruitment work and ECS advisory.
1. Pathway diagnosis
Structured conversation assessing where applications are structurally breaking down. Target outcomes, current profile, timeline, bottlenecks. We diagnose before we propose anything.
2. Application architecture
CV and cover letter rebuilt using the STAR-3® and BDC™ frameworks. Bank-specific application strategy: which Spring Weeks, which Summer Analyst programmes, which sequence, which trade-offs. ECS will advise against an obvious-looking application where the candidate's evidence does not yet support it.
3. Online testing + HireVue preparation
Pymetrics, SHL Verify, cut-e and HireVue formats, practised in the IB Vault simulator suite. Live sessions review performance against ECS's reading of what each format tests, drawn from what the firms and test providers publish and from ECS's own review experience.
4. Superday + assessment-centre preparation
Modelling case practice (DCF and LBO builds with all data provided), in-tray triage, and brain-teaser fluency under realistic time pressure. The simulator stage is modelled on each firm's Superday format as the firm describes it and as candidates report it.
5. Final-round + offer negotiation
Partner / MD interview preparation. Commercial fluency drills. Bank-fit articulation. Offer negotiation when multiple offers are on the table. Counter-offer strategy for candidates weighing IB vs PE buy-side vs Magic Circle paths.
Documented outcomes at the firms that matter.
ECS's documented record includes outcomes and selection progressions at Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, HSBC, Blackstone and Magic Circle firms, each classified on the track record by relationship. Three examples, with evidence held on file:
- Karam Kahlon - Exeter non-target with resit A-levels, multi-year Private Careers Advisory engagement. At the start: no investment banking interviews. Documented outcomes: HSBC Investment Banking Spring Week, HSBC Investment Banking Summer Internship, Blackstone Spring Insight. Read the case study →
- Kalen Harrald- QMUL undergraduate. Place on Clifford Chance SPARK 2026, reached on ECS's public frameworks with no paid ECS support. He named STAR-3® and PEAL-X® as decisive. Read the case study →
- From ABB to White & Case - international candidate, training contract at White & Case London. Each stage documented in firm-side correspondence.
A recurring pattern in the applications ECS reviews: structured, well-evidenced commercial reasoning tends to carry further than verbal fluency alone. ECS's frameworks are designed to help candidates, including those from non-target universities, build that structure.
Frequently asked, before applying.
When is ECS the relevant option?
ECS is designed for candidates and families who want personalised diagnosis, founder-led judgement and intensive preparation across a live recruiting cycle. Candidates mainly seeking general information, peer discussion, a single mock interview or self-directed preparation may be better served by other resources.
How is ECS different from other solo practitioners?
Several established London-based solo practitioners offer one-to-one work. The difference ECS points to is the breadth of experience behind it: across recruitment work and ECS advisory, Hassan Akram has reviewed more than 10,000 applications and related candidate materials. ECS frameworks (STAR-3®, PEAL-3, BDC™, Commercial Fluency) were developed from that practitioner experience.
Will Hassan personally work with my child?
Yes. Every Private Careers Advisory engagement is led personally by Hassan Akram. There are no rotating advisers, no junior associates running the work, no handoffs. This is the structural difference from marketplace and cohort models. It is also the structural reason ECS deliberately limits the number of families it works with each year, not 300 or 3,000.
How much does it cost?
Elite Careers Strategy is application-only and operates at the premium end of the market. Pricing is disclosed during the diagnostic call after we have assessed whether the engagement is the right fit. There is no per-session rate.
How do I apply?
Apply for a structured diagnostic at /start. Diagnostics are typically released 7 to 10 days out and fill quickly.
“Offer-engineering for elite careers”®
UK Trade Mark No. UK00004342755 · Class 41 (career coaching, training, mentoring) · effective 19 February 2026 · UK Intellectual Property Office
Apply for the Elite Careers Diagnostic.
A structured conversation in which a senior strategist assesses where your applications, or your child's applications, are structurally breaking down. Diagnostics are released 7 to 10 days out and fill quickly.
Apply for a Diagnostic →Hassan Akramis the founder of Elite Careers Strategy. Before founding ECS he worked in London recruitment and search, at Kea Consultants, Barclay Simpson and Heriot Brown. Invited to speak to MBA communities at Yale School of Management, Harvard Business School and MIT Sloan. Across his recruitment career and subsequent advisory work through ECS, he has reviewed more than 10,000 applications and related candidate materials. Documented outcomes at Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Blackstone, Clifford Chance, White & Case, and Kirkland & Ellis. London-based, international engagement. Read the full biography →