Apollo is delaying its junior talent recruiting cycle again — pushing the industry to abandon its chaotic ritual

illustration by Cheng Xin/Getty Images Apollo is delaying recruiting for its 2028 associate class, Business Insider has learned.

This follows last year's delay, which helped slowed down private equity's chaotic recruiting process.

Apollo said it wants young bankers to have more experience before making their next career move.

Apollo is delaying on-cycle recruiting again this year, after a similar move last year helped push back the recruiting timeline across the private equity industry.

The private equity giant told prospective candidates Thursday afternoon that it will not recruit its 2028 associate class this calendar year, according to an email obtained by Business Insider.

The memo, signed by David Sambur, co-head of Private Equity, and Antoine G.

Munfakh, deputy global head of Private Equity, said the firm will wait until candidates who started their investment banking careers over the summer are "closer to completing one full year of professional experience." The hope, the memo said, is that this will convince others in private equity to delay their process so both candidates and employers can make "better decisions." Last year, after Apollo CEO Marc Rowan said the firm would delay on-cycle recruiting, others, such as General Atlantic also decided to pause.

"We were encouraged that others in the industry took similar steps, and we hope more firms will do the same this year," the memo said.

On-cycle recruiting — the controversial process through which private equity firms hire junior investment bankers for associate roles a year or even two before they would start — had crept earlier and earlier in the years following the pandemic.

JPMorgan's CEO , Jamie Dimon, has been a big critic of the process, calling it "unethical." In 2025, amid rumblings that on-cycle recruiting could take place before some students even graduated from college, JPMorgan rolled out a policy that incoming analysts could be terminated for accepting future-dated private equity offers.

Apollo then decided to pause its on-cycle recruiting for 2027 associates, setting off a chain reaction that delayed the process well into this year .

Questions have swirled if the practice would kick off early again this for the 2028 class, but it appears with this latest move, Apollo is trying to slow down the recruiting timeline across the industry again.

Read the full memo below: —- To: Prospective Apollo Associate Candidates, Class of 2028 Subject: Apollo Recruiting, Class of 2028 Congratulations on beginning your career in investment banking.

We know how exciting and demanding this period can be, and we hope you are enjoying the experience and learning a great deal.