Everyone LOVES to trash on MBA associates. It's basically a meme at this point.
Hear me out - the analyst promotes are way worse.
Let's step back a bit...why would an analyst remain in IB as an associate? I think they fall into 3 groups:
Group 1: They want to leave but struck out on buyside recruiting. AKA they now have a chip on their shoulder, something to prove, and are generally bitter about the job.
Group 2: They love banking. They are money focused and did the math on their comp if they went PE.
Group 3: They are absolute superstars and have tons of political power within the bank (allowing them to slack off when they want, take vacations as needed, and reject stupid staffings).
Group 1 and 2 are recipes for very difficult associates to work with as a new analyst. Group 3 is probably 10% of A2As.
If you are bitter about staying as an associate, you will eventually unload this bitterness on your analysts with comments like "this is ALL wrong! why can't you do this!" "you are making us look bad!" "I had to fix EVERYTHING!".
Being excessively focused on money and truly loving IB is a recipe for a future banker that unloads on his team with pointless comments and busy work. When you love banking and love being top bucket, you LOVE churning decks and being responsive late at night. God bless the analyst's work life balance working under them.
Lastly, if you did 3 years of analyst hell grinding it out night after night - you feel as though you have earned your stripes...and cannot wait to UNLOAD the work onto the next set of help, often with little guidance or instruction ("No one helped me when I was new"). Even for group 3.
I've found MBA associates to be way more willing to help new analysts, pitch in on pages, and consider themselves truly part of the junior team (vs thinking they are a VP or Director).
You know the associate that tells his analysts "I only look at PDFs" or "Please send the dial-in" or "pls email the MD and ask what leverage he wants" (when it would have been way faster to just do it himself) 100% everytime its an A2A.
Thoughts?
I get what you mean with A2As, but personally I still prefer working with hardo A2As than MBA associates. Even if they're hardos who love the grind or failed buyside prospects, A2As at least know their shit and are on top of the game. MBA associates for their first 9 months - 1 year are negative assets, where they're a burden on me and I have to spend much more time helping them than vice versa.
Isn’t you the same case during your first 9 months to a year? There is a learning curve for a reason. Did anyone say you were negative asset?
I was, but that's not the point. The post is comparing A2A associates to Post-MBA associates, and I'm saying that an A2A usually makes the work much easier on the rest of the team than a post-MBA associate.
Also, I feel like associates should be held to a higher standard even when starting out. An analyst is at the bottom of the food chain, is treated like a member of the bottom of the ladder, and is paid like a member of the bottom of the ladder. The only hiring method for analysts besides laterals from another industry are directly from college, and the overwhelming majority of analysts are new hires. On the other hand, new associates start out at the second rung on the ladder, and they should be treated as members of the second rung on the ladder rather than the bottom rung, and naturally their expectations should be at a higher level than new analysts. Also, whereas the vast majority of analysts are new hires, associates are split a lot more evenly between A2As and post-MBAs, and it's definitely very frustrating when you're working for two types of associates, who have the same roles and have the same responsibilities as well as the same "on-paper" authority over you, but one clearly is less competent than the other.
Sorry but this reads like someone who isn’t even in banking. This honestly just isn’t true. Also “struck out in buyside recruiting” isn’t really a thing anymore. Pretty clear benefits and cons on both sides today.
Also if you fuck up, an A2A can always fix things at the end of the day before it gets out of hand. Whereas if it’s with an MBA...well good luck you’re going to have to go up the chain for guidance or to explain your fuck up as the MBA associate cannot save both of your asses.
Completely agree. An A2A might make the analyst do all the work, no question, but they also 1. know what each MD wants, both content and design preference and 2. can spot math errors right off the PPT and know how to fix it. Also, being only 2 years older than a new analyst, A2As are definitely not yelling at analysts - they were just in their shoes
I don't think ANYONE "loves churning decks and being responsive late at night" wtf... OP reads like a salty MBA associate who feels they're better than the A2A in their group
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