The exploding offer isn't cruelty. It's inventory management. Every hour you hold an offer is an hour the fund's second-choice candidate might sign somewhere else.
A first-year investment banking analyst gets a text on a Thursday night from a headhunter she met once for coffee. By Sunday she has interviewed at four private equity funds, built two leveraged buyout models under a timer, and signed an offer for a job that starts twenty-two months later. That is on-cycle.
— Educational, not financial advice.