Sales and Trading Salary. Am I being take advantage of?
General question with S&T. I know that there is a plethora of details when it comes to pay at BB bank and the general expectations of pay but I am curious if I am getting taken advantage of because of where I am at.
For context, I worked at a different side of my company before internally transferring on to their S&T desk. The desk is successful and very hardened and smart people running it. It is a small team though. The firm is not a BB but is very successful.
I made the internal switch halfway through the year and needed my licensing and everything. It was an incredible opportunity for where I was at so I took it.
Now to the pay: Base pay for the role is 65k. I expected low pay because I know that there is a lot of incentive based pay with s&t and I know that it probably wasn't expected to have a high base for someone coming in without any licenses or anything. I passed all the necessary exams on the first try and in a very short amount of time. Received an extremely small bonus at the end of the year, and tbh almost thought it came from my previous role than the one I am currently in based on it's size. It was nothing. After the new year, a lot of the team worked remote and made growth a lot more challenging and slow. it was about 3 months before assisting with hedging, 5 before initiating contact with new accounts, and still yet to do trades or any real profitable activities. I still assist a lot with the menial day to day since I'm the junior. But after a year, still being the lunch and coffee runner and taking trash out while feeling like I'm hitting brick wall felt a little disheartening. All of that aside, I am curious if I am being taken advantage of with pay or if this is to be expected for this stage in my career. I have a few recruiters reaching out to me for lateral moves to other firms but only in the early stages for now. Any insight is greatly appreciated and feel free to ask for clarity on anything.
What city
In reality, the life of a junior on any s&t desk is going to come with some growing pains. That being said, 65k is a low base; street wide I would reckon average is 100k now. Have you talked to anyone on the desk about your concerns? The first year or so is always difficult, but there should be the understanding that you are being mentored while doing the busy work.
I definitely agree. I never had an issue with the type of work. But once I became licensed, it felt like I was more left out on my own without any guidance.
Our team is pretty small and tight knit that I didn’t want to rub someone the wrong way by asking for pay ranges.
As far as the base goes, I definitely either want to have a conversation about it or move somewhere else. There’s a great deal with the company on compensation for profits earned on the trading side, but for someone like me, who won’t be actively doing that for a while, I’m surprised there isn’t enough pay to cover the basic necessities. Especially given companies are giving one time bonuses to kids for passing the SIE
I took a quick glance at your profile. Definitely worth a conversation during your annual performance review. Most firms try to retain talent as its way more expensive to retrain someone. Unfortunately, most people aren’t really looking out for your development, but it’s likely not personal. Maybe talk to one trusted person on the team (if nobody else your manager) about expectations, trajectory, and your goals for the upcoming year. First year is always hard, but there should always be some level of growth into next year.
I agree with this. S&T is really a sink or swim type of place, the MM i joined as a grad didnt really have a established program as we were the 1st cohort in 5 years. There aren't guaranteed x amount of seats per year vs. IB, and you really need to make yourself indispensable, if you take your eye off the ball, there are 10 other middle office guys waiting for your seat (rightfully so, given they also know the trades in and out as they are booking them)
That being said, congrats on making the 1 year mark, usually if you are not up to standard then you would have been long gone by now. Now its time to discuss comp. Its not out of the ordinary to get mediocre pay for the first few years, given you are not directly generating pnl and technically you are still an apprentice. But 65k is seriously below the market. As mentioned above you should bring this up in your quarterly catch ups with your manager & given if you are a close team with good culture, he should understand that we all deserve appropriate pay.
Regarding the menial tasks (lunch & coffee runs), sorry bud.. unless theres a new junior/intern to pass these tasks onto there is always gonna be someone who needs to do it. Just know that its largely appreciated & a right of passage, your MD was also once the coffee guy.
I really appreciate the insight.
I will be interested to see if there is an annual performance review given the size of our desk and that I was the only new hire recently. I had feeling 65 was low on the offer, but it was an incredible opportunity and I wasn't in the position to be negotiating when I got the offer letter. I've slightly raised questions in the past but was met with other people telling me that they get such a good cut from net profits that it more than makes up for the lower base. Again, that could be normal or made up, but I don't have a quantifiable way to prove it. It hasn't been a waste because the amount I have learned in the last year has been far more than I ever expected and I feel years ahead in my professional development vs where I was when I started the role. I knew the first year would be rough. I think I just expected by this time, I wouldn't still be penny pinching and dipping into savings for necessities. I have been talking with recruiters at other firms and made some progress. At the very least, I know that there are options out there, and I could at least see what other firms are offering and bring that up down the road if things aren't changing. Ironically enough, I've never really had an issue with being the coffee/lunch runner. It's a nice break from staring at screens for 11+ hours every day.
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