How to explain firing? IB
I worked at an EB in IB. It was 8 months of a lot of verbal abuse and gaslighting from management. Sort of just bit the bullet on it as I didn't want to be that guy and complain. I'm not trying to make excuses as this isn't the point of the post, but I ultimately got let go from seemingly what was some office politics.
HR was kind enough to have the language of my termination as a "mutual separation" rather than a firing. I'm technically still an employee of the firm until June. Basically, on paper I will have 1 year of experience, but I'm on "paid leave" in the period from now until June. Confirmed with HR that during future employment confirmations they won't say I was fired, they will only confirm the period of employment (until June).
How do I explain this to future employers in interviews? As far as they will know, I am still technically working there, but I want to have a concrete explanation for why I "left", as that is what I would probably just say.
happened to me. it's crazy that people don't understand that a young kid fresh out of school can't possibly know if they are walking into a toxic environment due to some idiot being emotionally dead inside. office politics are the dumbest part of this life.
Good that you are technically “employed” until June. Might be able to find a job by then and not having to explain yourself much.
Grind, grind, and absolutely grind applying to other jobs and positions. You're at an EB so that's a great thing that they allowed you to do that. It happened to me as well, worked similar time frame and just landed a new role elsewhere. Toxic environments suck and it's so stupid they don't want to change the environment and rather just push junior people out. It also doesn't help the economy seems to be sputtering so the situation is just worse. I'm sorry it's happening to you man.
I'm telling you that if you set your job search broad, you will find interviews and opportunities. If separation is guaranteed, I would go so far to turn down work during that time and just grind interviewing. If they staff you on things, tell them no. You do not have to disclose you are being let go during this time, just explain that you don't feel it's a fit. I would opt for a different industry group when leaving your bank. If you want more in depth advice I can PM you if you'd like.
To be quite Frank, the culture was so bad they refused to staff me on any live deals... had me doing BS work... haven't touched a model in a year since my last analysts role, so it's hard for me to even quantify my experience and I know with an EB on my resume there will be high expectations.
Given I am still being paid until June, I was thinking of using this time to pursue another venture. I'm just not really sure if IB is for me and I don't really know any of the intricacies behind PE to go into an associate interview (associate as I am getting recruiters reaching out to me for AS1 roles at PE firms).
Thank you for the thoughtful comment, in a weird spot tho
did you lateral? were you doing pitches, random work?
probably best to take some time to recoup and think about whether you want to go for another IB job to get your reps before PE recrutiing or just exit to a chill job in corp dev or strategic finance relatively
to explain the firing, probably best to say you'd like more of a middle-market, BB full service type bank experience (different products, capital markets) instead of pure sell-side M&A; if going to another boutique maybe go for a different sector or slightly different vertical and just say your interests are there
Haha) Thank you) I recently read an interesting article "How to understand that you will be denied a job." And it's all psychological stuff, just like here. In general, when you work in a team, it is very important to be a good psychologist
You have been given god's gift that they're keeping you on the books till you hit 1 yr work exp and paying you to do nothing for 60 days. You have 60 days for your new full-time job of applying to other jobs. There's nothing to explain re: firing. HR will only confirm you left, and you can justify/explain why you left however you want in the next interview process, whether your exit is PE/VC/Consulting/CorpDev/F500 FLDP etc etc. You can do w/e you want.
Right. This is a blessing. It took me just about 60 days to find a new job after I was let go. Plus you get to market yourself as a lateral. This is about as good as it could be considering the situation. I will add, never say the word 'fired' no matter what. Since they'll back you up with saying it was a mutual separation, from now on your story is you are leaving the bank and you can leave it at that. Best of luck with finding a better place, I think the market is warming slightly compared to early 2023.
Thank you!!!
If you aren't sure IB is for you and are not committed to PE then maybe try to recruit to a corporate development or corporate strategy role somewhere. Could be a F500, could be a startup, its up to you. Pay may not be as great but WLB will be better and you can still work with some intelligent people on some potentially interesting work.
Is HF even an option rn? Or wealth management? But I wouldn't want to enter WM at entry level...
I don't have a lot of knowledge in that area, but I would say HF is probably not an option without strong connections or a network. WM is definitely possible but I am not sure what level you would come in at. thebrofessor may have a better idea.
check my 4 part series on PWM and feel free to follow up with specific questions, my inbox is open
Take a shot at the platforms who have some net additions to seats this year. Unfortunately the single manager side has had hardly any new seats open up this past year, save a few select value funds.
Bump. In a similar situation
Can relate. If the firm will only frame it as a mutual separation I'm still concerned that during background searches or any channel checks it'll come up
Also happened to me. I was a first year at a BB a few years ago and early March my first year in a terrible group, I was let go with the same June 1st on the payroll / you still work here situation, but had no access to the building, work, etc. anymore. When it happened, I was already looking out, so I was super lucky. Had a first round literally the next morning that was already scheduled for the top consulting firm that I actually I ended up at.
I had mostly given up on banking since I had a terrible experience and I was worried people would connect the dots if I stayed in the industry. I had a great experience in consulting and have switched two jobs since then. Never had an issue with my background check and having those ~ two months to evaluate the next opportunity while not working and still being tried resume and pay wise as working was great.
Did it ever come up in channel checks? And during your background checks for the consulting role did you have references "lie" for you and say that you're still working at the firm?
Nope never ever has come up. Nobody has had to lie as far as I know. No reference checks happened when I moved to consulting as I was basically bumped down to a college grad hire as typically happens when you switch into consulting that fast. I just had the standard background check.
Oddly enough at my current employer, I work with one person who was on the same floor as me at my BB and I definitely recognize them from before although they don’t (I mean I was only a first year analyst then on another team), so maybe even if they cared to ask someone at the BB what happened someone would know now, but wouldn’t hurt me here because I was brought in for my strategy skillset not my banking one.
As you approach the end of your paid-leave, recruit for another bank preferably in another region (EC -> WC) so that informal reference checks won't be that easy. While interviewing, choose your words carefully and tell interviewers you are still "employed" by your bank - that is if it ever comes up, and don't go any deeper. I will personally never talk about how toxic the culture was even if it were true. Bad mouthing a previous employer for whatever reason is a big red flag in this industry (sadly). Just give them your typical lateral pitch - interested in working on different products, better platform, blah blah. It would be seen as a typical lateral. If you start having gaps on your resume, things will get more challenging as people will start asking why did you leave. As for plan B, maybe take a couple years off banking and going to corp dev or other similar roles before returning to banking if you're still interested at that point. Here you can just give them the standard "why banking wasn't for me, but I still like deals" speech. Employers outside of finance hardly ever ask more than that.
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