Conducting an anonymous survey: For the people at BofA who are Associates. Are you contemplating leaving either after February 15th or sometime before the summer, following the recent bonuses?
Me and 2 of my colleagues are (1 M&A/FSG, and 2 coverage)
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Leaving as soon as humanly possible
Lol isn't that sort of what they wanted? Cuck the bottom performers so hard on bonuses they run for lower tier banks, because BofA already has way too many Associates?
Did you intend to add the poll?
Too dumb to know how to
Interviewing now and know of a few other associates that are either actively interviewing or already have offers in hand
Smart. Are you considering buy side or sell side?
Just buy-side. I’ve already been on banking for ~4 years and don’t want to be a career banker, so it’s time to move on
and its probably going to be only the competent associates who leave, leaving the bottom buckets to rule bofa
Yes.
Yes once the bonus hits I’m out. Not sure where I’m going yet
Considering leaving with no offer at another institution? I am seriously considering that
That’s your emotions talking. Do not leave until you have an offer
Hard to say who actually leaves. It’s a tough market out there unfortunately. Obviously some will be successful. We’ll see
.
Will they need to start hiring once so many people quit?
Doubtful, at least en masse. Existing people will backfill since many have capacity.
Most major banks already closed lateral hiring for the year (except unique one off situations). Spots will not be backfilled. Need major reduction in associates before they’d consider hiring. The normal summer programs/ new classes are still there of course though. Even internal lateraling is more difficult right now. Again, things could change if many people leave but TBD on when / if that happens.
Why are people leaving baml? Whats going on?
Tough bonuses hit apparently, as far as I know associates got it worst
Paid crap bonuses and instead of having the balls to fire the bottom bucket associates line every other bank… they chose to pay meager bonuses across the board
I am out
Have something lined up? Jealous if so
No. I see jobs are starting to get posted on LinkedIn, even for IB. I’m probably going to go something corporate though. No point doing 70+ hours a week for a bonus of under 50k for a good rating. My friends with “regular” jobs make 150-200k (albeit no bonus) and work 40h a week and are in office like 2 days a week
Lev Fin associate here. It’s crazy how much bullshit work we still do and how hours are still 60-70 on a “chill” week for a “chill” year. I have nothing against MBAs, but all the MBA associate hires since covid are absolutely low caliber versus prior years. It’s almost 3am and I’m still working, fuck this firm. A lot of fat in senior associate and VP level. All these coverage hires from MM firms have no idea how capital markets work. They understand how to run a M&A process and that’s all they’re good for. I seriously hope there’s going to be more layoff. Management is so delusional for thinking that these bonus number would fly with top bucket juniors. IB recruiting may be dead for awhile, but at this point I might as well go work for corporate dev or private credit. Less hours and higher pay. I have nothing line up, would probably just quit once bonus hit and start quite quitting.
What's the 101 for cap markets?
Agree with you, but the A to As are no saints either. Most of them are there for the promotion money-grab, and then ride on their reputation & coast until they find their next role.
It’s crazy how there is so much bloat, yet a significant chunk of people are still working 15+ hours per day. It’s almost as if leadership cares more about juniors looking ”busy” vs actually making money.
There are ~5-10 associates in my group (one of the sweatier coverage groups btw) who can barely tie their own shoes. It’s not the case that they are relatively competent and just got unlucky with the market, etc. I can’t imagine what it’s like in the slower groups with little deal flow.
The incentives are so misaligned it’s crazy. A lot of my peers in other roles made as much money as I did last year and work ~4 hours/day. We’ll see what happens this year.
So what’s your move then? Going to look to leave?
Really? Threads on here have shared that the seniors of the lev fin team “siberied” a bunch of juniors to back office and then fired some VPs last week. Even after all that there is still bloat in your opinion?
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