Being top bucket in IB
Hey! Does anyone have any insight on what's required to be top bucket at your bank? Who decides it? What proportion of people are actually top bucket? (10%?)
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Being a top bucket analyst in investment banking is not solely about hard work or intelligence; it involves a mix of skill, luck, and the right circumstances. Here’s what you need to know:
Skill and Luck: Achieving top bucket status is approximately 50% skill and 50% luck. This means that while your performance is crucial, elements beyond your control (like the quality of your team or the projects you are assigned) play a significant role.
Influence of Staffing and Team Dynamics: The type of staffing and the paths you are on can significantly impact your success. Being placed in a supportive team with positive, successful colleagues can enhance your performance and visibility. Conversely, being in a team with less favorable dynamics can hinder your chances.
Decision Makers: Typically, your direct superiors, such as VPs and MDs, have a substantial influence on deciding who is considered top bucket. Their perception of your performance and their advocacy for you are crucial.
Proportion of Top Bucket Analysts: The exact proportion can vary by bank, but it is often a small percentage, such as the top 10-15% of analysts. This select group usually receives the best bonuses and opportunities for advancement.
Impact of Negative Experiences: If you are unfortunate enough to work under less competent or negatively biased management, it can be challenging to achieve top bucket status despite your best efforts. In such cases, managing your reputation and seeking better opportunities internally can be necessary strategies.
Remember, while being top bucket is prestigious, it also requires navigating both your performance and office politics skillfully.
Sources: Q&A: Consistent Top Bucket IB Analyst, Q&A: Consistent Top Bucket IB Analyst, How To Become A Top Bucket Analyst, Bottom buckets: Where are you now?
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Hi, I should caveat this with the fact that it works differently at every bank. I've sat on review committees and get the joke about how it works.
My bank has 5 levels and I think this is fairly standard.
During review period, everyone at every level gets written reviews by people they've worked with - you probably know this already. The committee members will each get all of these reviews for all of the AS / VP / ED / etc. that they're tasked on ranking. This is very painful by the way. It isn't a quick or easy job to read that many reviews (maybe 10x per employee across however many dozens and dozens there are). The committee members themselves are usually randomly selected by HR I should add - it is possible that the committee members are people you've worked with, and of course if you didn't leave a good impression wirth them, well...
Now on committee day(s), the committee will get together, and go through one by one each employee and agree a rating from 1 through 5. Typically the group head of each employee will be there fighting (or not) for their own team members.
So, what determines rating? (1) The quality of your review, (2) the committee members and their impression of your review, as well as the composition of that committee and how they'reinteracting with each other, (3) how hard your group head is fighting for you specifically (this is quite subtle - if you're in a team with 3 of the bank's 4 top analysts purely objectively and your bank has 3 spots for top ratings, it's quite hard for your group head to argue that all 3 should be from his / her team), (4) how well-respected your group head is within the bank - hard to ignore the bank's loud spoken heavy-hitting rainmaker who's pushing hard for their team this you, and (5) your long-term "rating". I put this in quotation marks because it's not official, but more your personal brand in the firm. I don't know how better to explain this than it's the same with regular brands. A lot of committee members will know you, some won't. It's hard for a new brand to establish itself. Even if McDonald's starts serving salads, we all still know it as McDonald's. Committee members are human.
As for the allocations between ratings, honestly I've never seen someone in the bottom bucket. I've seen people come close, but usually someone is no longer with the firm by committee review time if they should've been in that bucket. Maybe 5 or 10% in second-lowest. 50 - 60% in middle bucket. 20 - 30% in second-best, and 5 - 10% in top bucket
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