Found out my MD lied to fuck me on Comp
I'm a second year analyst about 18 months in. The team had a bad year but I had a good year in terms of deal flow (my deals generating 70%+ of team revenue). I missed out on recruiting earlier in the year because I was busy with live deals. I had my comp discussion earlier and my MD told me that despite my good performance, the team was capped in terms of comp at like mid-bucket. I was very annoyed at the time and pissed off because I ended up with the same package as analysts who did no deals but like accepted it at the time because this was the nature of the market etc and that the rest of the team was in the same boat. I asked if there was any room for professional advancement then and he also said no. Fast Forward 3 weeks and I find out that another team member had special treatment and so the team was not in fact capped. No one in my team has worked the hours I worked and done as many deals so now I'm absolutely furious and demotivated because now I know there's no room for progression and that he doesn't respect me by lying to my face to placate me while fucking me. I absolutely do not want to make any more money for this guy. I don't have an immediate exit lined up because I put off recruiting for live deals which I absolutely regret. Just needed to vent but what should I do now?
Such is the life in IB.
Keep your mouth shut, head down, keep up the good work and look for lateral opportunities. Retaliation will just end up making you worse off.
Sucks, but life unfair.
Fuck that MD
This is the answer. Sorry, bud, this sucks to go through.
Dust off your resume, start emailing recruiters, and flip the switch on your LinkedIn. You'll find something better.
>Keep your mouth shut, head down, keep up the good work and look for lateral opportunities. Retaliation will just end up making you worse off.
this is the most spineless pussy shit i have ever seen
Will you pay his rent after his episode of "when keeping it real goes wrong"?
Woah their 2pac, pump the brakes
There is literally nothing legal you can do that the MD would give a shit about, but they could fire you in a second
Name and shame
I love when people post this as if naming and shaming is going to do anything 😭
You don't name and shame a literal MD...
Please do not name and shame.
classic intern mental illness
Someone fuck with me so I can sue the absolute christ out of one of these little intern retards who doesn't realize defamation is illegal, punishable and very fucking easy to pursue if you have the money.
Type of shit also gets you instantly blackballed/dinged if you do it in person to an actual banking professional who actually works in the industry. Lawyers, bankers, etc. DO NOT act like this little Wolf of Wall Street wannabe intern schtick that goes on here.
Username checks out
It cannot be defamation if it’s a true statement lol
Whether or not a deal closes as an analyst is 100% just luck... it's not anything you are personally doing to get these deals across the line. It's great for the resume to have closed deals, but I'm not sure why you think you would be judged on number of deals or how much revenue your deals generated as an analyst.
Ratings have a lot more involved than just number of deals plus hours. If you feel you are the top analyst and your rating is mid-bucket with no promo, something isn't equal in how you see yourself versus how your seniors see you. Time to do some reflection, maybe ask them what you can improve on. Even if you leave, this is a helpful exercise for your next job to figure out what your "blind spots" are.
That said, sounds like it's time to leave. Just start coasting a bit, put 80% effort instead of 100% and don't stay late unless you need to.
I don’t think if it’s as decoupled as you’re making it out to be… the top analysts in every group at my bank are almost always the analysts that were involved in the most closed deals, or at least in the conversation for most closed deal value (obviously nobody can be the literal #1 analyst every year). Sure luck differentiates the guy that worked on 4 closed m&a deals from the guy that worked on 3, but not from the other guy who worked on 1 failed bakeoff and 7 internal memos.
I mean good analysts get put on high probability staffings with high quality clients, which then turn into live deals, which give the good analysts a full rep on every stage of the m&a process from marketing materials to valuation and a chance to shine under pressure, which then makes them better analysts, and gives them higher visibility and more touch points with seniors on important projects, which then leads to them getting even better staffings and top ratings and promotions and so on.
I mean sure, it’s not LITERALLY the analyst that’s making the deal close, but that doesn’t change the fact there’s a significant positive correlation between being on the most live and closed deals and being a top analyst. I agree that doesn’t change the fact that OP got fucked and should reflect on why that might be the case (as he recruits to leave).
Well clearly that's not the case here if they were mid bucket...
I definitely agree with you in a general sense - but if this specific guy is on all of the deals that are closing, works way more hours than anyone and is mid bucket, sounds like more luck on deals going through than being their top go-to guy
I think a critical component here is that the best analysts get the best staffings, driven by the top MD’s preferences on deal teams. Those deals close at a higher rate.
I think it greatly depends on the type of bank/team. On some leaner teams, an experienced analyst like OP could definitely influence a deal's outcome with good execution.
Comments like this are why good analysts feel/are underappreciated, mis incentivized, and end up leaving. It honestly baffles me how banks do not see how it would be cheaper in the long term to allocate this guy an extra $25k (if he is as good as he thinks he is) instead of just paying every analyst more or less the same.
I went A2A, I feel you - wasn't trying to say the analysts don't contribute in a big way, just that he can't say "my deals contributed X% of revenue" and expect to get comped based on that if the team seems to not really like him. This guy seems to have a real disconnect between what he thinks his standing is vs. where he actually is on the team.
The fact that he was middle bucket AND they said no chance at a promotion implies he's not as highly ranked as he seems to think he is. Even in a rough comp year, if a top analyst asks for promotion, teams will do anything in their power to hold onto them. It sounds like they're essentially showing him the door if he's a 2nd year and they're not promoting him.
Lol the comment was tongue and cheek. Clearly was not talking about the MD. Maybe I was talking about the firm lol (joke)
“I absolutely do not want to make any more money for this guy” is a very funny comment from a second year analyst. Sucks though
What's the problem? He has actual self respect and a backbone unlike the rest of analysts who sit and take shit all day from MDs then complain on WSO about culture. If he doesn't want to work for the MD anymore he has the right to go anywhere else. There's a reason the MD needs analysts
A good second year IB analyst can absolutely make the difference, especially if they're in a group that has lean deal teams. Most of the deals I worked on for about 9 months in banking were myself + useless Associate / VP + Director + useless MD. That director absolutely appreciates the bonus I helped him get that year.
Same thing happened to me. Literally same thing. In less than two months I was out of the door. Start recruiting asap
Posts like this are why I think that Monkey Business should be required reading for every incoming analyst
First, make sure your info is absolutely correct. Analysts (really all bankers)lie all the time about their comp and you don’t want to be making a major life life’s decision on the back of someone exaggerating their comp.
Second, I’ve had this happen to me and I quit, it’s total BS. Completely demoralizing to be lied to, and I swore then (and I’d like to think I kept that end of the bargain) that I’d be completely transparent with comp with people. It’s not an easy thing to play god with peoples money and there are always absolute and relative decisions and you need to treat people like adults and communicate to them fairly (it took time for me to learn how to do this).
That said, in retrospect, was it the right decision for me to quit? Maybe / maybe not. But it certainly wasn’t a slam dunk. Age has made me less of a firebrand and I always encourage people to work out issues, even trust issues. It’s always better to work on deals than not and once your facts are right, I’d at least consider airing your issues before quitting.
The real red flag is “no room for professional advancement”. That’s complete nonsense. There’s always room for professional advancement / more mentoring / opportunities for people to grow.
Sounds like he was just asking for an associate promo
The fact that someone else got special treatment is not cool.
However, the other stuff is just a lesson for you. In IB, the optimal workload is mid-level. You want real experience but you don't want to be worked into the ground. Being worked into the ground won't get you promoted any faster and usually your bonus won't be that much better. This is basically true across the board at all banks.
Agree with the comments above - just start recruiting for a new role asap. Seems like your manager is not a big fan of you / don’t see you staying at the firm long term. Probably there is just no connection and it is what it is. Time to find a better team & promotion!
Politics is what really separates the juniors. There was a terrible analyst in my last group who never got fired since they were good at optics.
Your headline is inaccurate. They didn’t lie to fuck you on comp; they lied to you to justify why you didn’t get higher comp and make you feel better about earning mid-bucket pay despite above-mid-bucket performance.
Let it go and move on.
It’s because you didn’t tip last year
rookie mistake
I'd just start working less. If they're not gonna reward your long hours, then just don't work long hour. Go enjoy life. Base+whatever bonus they pay is still much better than what like 90% of people in this country make (and much better than what 99.9% people around the world make).
if you wanna put this guy in a bind then you should quit without notice once you have something lined up. really your only form of recourse. don’t think it really matters if this guy won’t go to bat for you in the future. he probably won’t anyway
If you got mid bucket rank and mid bucket comp… you are mid bucket. Maybe you are not as good as you think, or maybe your hard work and contributions are not being noticed.
In any case, if you feel that the MD lied to you, there’s a very easy conversation for you to have with said MD. Say that:
It doesn’t have to be a confrontational conversation. And if you frame it right your MD may respect you more and take it as a sign of maturity.
That’s how it works mate, you can’t do much about. Can you switch teams?
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