Got fired - what next?

Keep applying, networking, and hustle.  Don't settle down and feel crappy, it doesn't do you any good.  It's a situation that overthinking is detrimental for you.

Details on what led to this / were any warnings given?

Reason doesn't matter. Spin a story.

What does matter is what size firm. Rare for a BB analyst to get fired after a year. Common with boutiques. 

Flipside is it is easier to rebound with the BB brand - by going to a MM. With boutiques, it is about conveying the proper story about what happened.

Take a few days off, figure out what you want to do.

Don't go back to banking, go do something you're interested in.

Need more detail, but here is something that might be helpful:

I have a friend who got let go last year. He asked if he can still stay on for another month so he won’t have to mentioned he got “let go”. Firm was okay with it, and it made the conversations with other firms easier because they never have to know you were let go.

If you can reach an understanding with your firm, at the very lease them not ratting you out when new employers are checking for references, your life will be much easier.

Consider why you got  fired. Can you fix it at the next gig? Do you want to fix it? If it's a 'no', take a breather and evaluate other career options.

Getting fired can be stressful. Hang in there and believe in yourself. Remember many will go thru' this 'milestone' in their careers. Face this well and you will thank yourself for being resilient.

U4

(The Form U4 is the Uniform Application for Securities Industry Registration or Transfer. Representatives of broker-dealers, investment advisers, or issuers of securities must use this form to become registered in the appropriate jurisdictions and/or SROs. https://www.finra.org/registration-exams-ce/broker-dealers/registration…)

Unless you literally filled this out, and your company wouldn’t fill it out for you without telling you, you have nothing to worry about regarding that or a U5. It would be the same thing equivalent to somebody that never filled it out and was applying to a new job after recently losing one and had to maybe fill one out for a new job, they’d have nothing to worry about regarding their separation from last job and what might come up on a U4. As somebody who went through something like this ALMOST IDENTICAL, what you tell in interviews or your next employer is “looking to further build out my skill set and apply it to new roles in which I can make tremendous positive long term impact. My current role unfortunately is focused on watering down the position and team to which I signed on for and I have carefully decided to see what new opportunity I can best apply my skills and background towards…”

Something like that. I’ve been through the hiring process and job market and know it all, and work for a VERY well known IB. Happy to give any advice, feel free to shoot me a private message.

You should assume bankers across banks talk to each other with or without your consent.

Did this bank fire other bankers across the board? Was your annual performance weak?

I’d focus on three things:

(1) Try to get the bank let you use your corporate email for 1-2 months until you get a job. Don’t say it’s with another bank (they may not like it). Sometimes they do stuff like that for senior people. You wouldn’t be working during that time.

(2) Get your performance letter. Hopefully that says you are a middle bucket, which is less damaging than saying you have performance issues. Use it as support in case someone asks.

(3) If others in the bank got fired, you can just say “there was a firing round, they overhired last year and with lower expected activity this year the bank started to reduce headcount across groups and levels. They are just getting started.”

Again, you can use (3) to the extent others were fired too.

were you laid off for non-performance reasons, or were you fired for cause? Very big difference. Will show up in your FINRA records, as someone who was laid off in a restructuring in my first gig, I get asked about it every time I go through a new-hire background check.

The fact that the OP isn't responding probably meant that it was a issue pertaining to just him and not a group wide layoff. If this is a group wide layoff, I'll happily connect you to my team which is a decent MM bank in TMT. We're hiring. lol.

Will probably get MS for this but how the hell do you get fired as an analyst (exception for group restructuring/downsizing) and I doubt its a 'cultural' thing.

I've seen some shitty analysts and even they don't get fired just given the lack of junior resources + generally shitty analysts are out the door within 2 years (i.e. no associate promote) so even less of a reason for bank to fire.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but this will only show up for FINRA. Most employers only confirm dates and title. Most don’t give out reasons for departure