Anyone who tells you a smaller boutique like Centerview/PJT/PWP has a “good culture and WLB” is straight up lying to your face. It’s a fucking sweatshop. It’s non stop hours here. I’m in one of the three and my two other friends in the other EB’s say the same exact thing.
Long, long hours and technical work. I wish it was logo editing, but it’s not. Help me.
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| +32 | M&A is Paradise | 1 | 6d |
| +26 | Why did EVR succeed vs GHL or PWP that ended up getting acquired? | 9 | 1h |
| +22 | Mandated 9:00am Arrival? | 6 | 4d |
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Yes, EBs are sweatshops.
llol
Every time someones tells you to go to an EB because "mOrE ReSponSibIlity" it just translates to more work and hardo kids fall for every time lmao
Literally. Like it’s a tough balance because on one hand I guess it is more interesting to have a more client facing role and learn the technical stuff, but at the same time it’s fucking exhausting. Anyone at a boutique comes out either 1: a fucking superstar financial engineer or 2: brutally depressed wishing they were editing logos at some random BB cov group. If my bonus isn’t 100% of my base I’m gunna lose my shit.
I would argue that the work is no more “client-facing” than BBs, and maybe even less so. Technical, yes probably. But lack of client interaction is a known and established downside of EBs. At EBs, the only people interfacing with the clients are MDs and often VPs and below don’t interact at all. At BBs VPs tend to be the first point of contact.
.
EBs just churn and burn people. I don't know anyone who is at an EB and even modestly content with their life, granted I only know 4 people who work at one.
I know a few. Its improbable but not impossible lol
If a well known boutique no history of A2A promotes does that typically mean it's miserable af? Trying to lateral into one and I saw that no analyst has ever stayed longer than two years.
Doesn't PJT RX not have A2A promotions? I thought I read once that Moelis encourages people to exit rather than stay on, but not sure if anyone can confirm if that's true
'More responsibility' = having a crap load of work dumped onto your lap with minimal guidance and if you can't complete it on-time and to a high standard then someone senior is going to yell at you
is it like being told to make 10 slides on abc transaction and to update the model without being given explicit instructions on how to do so?
I'm the one who wrote "EB is Paradise" because every time some "Prospect in IB" writes about how "more responsibility" is a benefit of EB I just chuckle.
Just read and am still laughing. I am in some mental pain knowing I use to post about having a mediocre GPA.
Would prospects these days prefer to work 80-90 hours/week at Centerview/PJT/EVR and make 210k+ in their first year, or work 75-85 hours/week at Barclays and make 140k?
Delete
I'd prefer Tobin & Co
Our Analysts work more like 65-75 hours and make 180k+ average, BB hours are insanely exaggerated unless you're in a sweaty group
Hours might be right but pay isn’t. Average A1 comp was like $150k this year ($103k weighted avg base, ~$45-$50k bonus).
based, come here to say this
Agreed with you at first glance but if you really think about it, is one clearly better than the other? When we get to the 75 hr/week threshold, every additional hour worked starts to cut into things like sleep, so the marginal difference here becomes meaningful. Don't know about you guys but I'd rather somewhat preserve my health and take a pay cut.
So change bank. I'm also here and even people in AM and PWM work more than what you would think of
Why do people say EBs are more technical ? Don’t you do valuation and models everywhere ? I think it’s a bit delusional. The client facing aspecr is true though, as an analyst I was attending client meetings where eg in IPOs only VP+ from BBs were attending
Maybe because EBs don’t have dedicated product groups so coverage analysts do all the modeling? Idk
Depends on the coverage group. M&A team is basically MIA in some coverage groups.
I’m at an EB - believe when people say “more technical” they might mean that generally younger people are owning those key technical work streams. Not uncommon for an analyst to own a very complicated data cube for M&A with assistance from associate and sign off from the VP. Three people doing all the work with most of it being at the very junior level. Would be interested in other viewpoints too.
Isn’t it the case in bulge too ? Maybe I’m used to very lean teams but don’t really get why you would need more people (unless you don’t have capacity and get some kind of double staffing to manage)
What do the coverage guys do in BBs if they don’t touch the VDR / model etc ? Just the non technical slides of the CIM?
Not saying this is misinformation, but doing IPOs is very different experience depending on the bank position. If you're an analyst and you weren't on calls, you probably just weren't lead left or right. If you're lead left (only GS and MS these days), analysts are absolutely on calls and talking to the client. Your job is literally to take notes on the investor meetings and entertain them during the roadshow.For most bookrunner a and Co-Ms, quite honestly, not even your MDs are invited to the calls since you're not there to add value / provide advice.
I’ve worked with MS in IPOs and the analysts only joined the all hands weekly calls (I have no idea about investor calls). Everything related to refinancing, shareholder meetings, go/no go, steercos etc they did not join. I was mostly exposed to internal meetings of course given I was on the IFA side
We already knew this dude we go to EBs for the pay not the wlb lmao.
Deal flow been down bad tho. EB gunna get a fat bonus still?
Don’t know which EB you’re at but deal flow is just fine lmao. Is it record 2021 level banking craze? No but that’s not the norm anyway. Probably industry dependent but in down markets like this M&A is actually likely to increase because strategics are looking to buy businesses that can’t raise at a discount and there is a fuck ton of dry powder left for sponsors. If anything there might be a lul and buyers set their strategy but I expect end of year/Q1 M&A to be heavy.
80/20 rule applies. 80% more work for 20% more pay. Across all levels except the MD / Partner at top. Then it’s flipped.
How is it 80% more work?
EB’s typically don’t have m&a product groups so all the coverage groups do their M&A in house like Goldman does.
Is greenhill this bad too
This post is about EB’s
EB stands for extreme banking right
Evercore Best*
What high level stuff are you doing?
The sky is fucking BLUE
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