Landed Your First Job? EXTREMELY Important Thread: Office Politics
Mod Note: Each day we'll be posting the top WSO forum posts of 2014. This one was originally posted on 3/22/14 and ranks #14 for the year by total silver banana count. You can see all our top ranked content here.
Ahhh so you landed your job. Don’t let anyone tell you that you don’t deserve it because you absolutely do. The recruiting process for Sell-Side Wall Street is brutal and has significant merit attached to it (unless your dad is the CEO of a F500 of course). But lets cut to the chase. You need to read this post very carefully or you will never ever get paid at the top. That is a bold statement but anyone who has spent a meaningful amount of time on the Street knows the following:
Without solid political positioning I will never get promoted and I will never be ranked at the top
This point is so important that we are going to write it again. Say it out loud to yourself. Say this as you walk into training. Write this on your iPhone as a calendar invite every single morning for a month before training… until it sticks.
Without solid political positioning I will never get promoted and I will never be ranked at the top
This applies to Investment Banking Analysts and Associates. It applies to Sales and Trading Associates. It applies to Equity Research. It applies to your entire Wall Street Career.
Backdrop:
You are a bright eyed twenty something. Your entire life you put in the work. You deserved a shot to make some money on the Street. The problem? Your entire life, performance at school drove your results. As soon as you sign that dotted line and rake in that 5 figure signing bonus, this is no longer the case. You need to have politics and performance. Without politics? You will work longer hours. You will not get ranked as top bucket... and you will not be offered the promotion. Period.
Don’t mean to beat a dead horse but please don’t waste our time saying that this is false. If you have never worked a day on the Street, you don’t have the right to an opinion.
Does this sound incredibly intense? Is the tone much more aggressive than usual?
Yes and Yes.
Why? It is that important and we want anyone who reads this post to take it seriously. Unlike our fun post on “Attention to Detial is Overrated"… There are no jokes in this post. Simply the truth... If you want to get paid and have a life.
Now that we’ve made this as serious as possible please read the below and we will outline a high level view of how to get good at politics assuming you have zero experience.
Overview:
The truth is you must do the following: 1) find the people within the office who are going to help you get placed into a hedge fund/PE shop - eg. Any exit ops apply, 2) manage multiple tasks prioritizing those with more political weight over those with minimal political weight, 3) respond aggressively to important tasks on the fly and 4) get all of the important people in the office to like you as a person.
What does this all mean? It means on day one you better figure out who matters and who does not. There is no excuse for not knowing who the important figures are within the office by the end of the first month. Luckily you’re reading this post, so we’re going to make your life a whole lot easier.
Day One - Who Matters?
You’re walking into the office with your brooks brothers T-shirt and your oversized suit and sit down at your desk. After the first 8-10 hours the office begins to clear out. While every other Analyst/Associate is sitting around staring at the screen to show “face time” it’s time for you to become the CSI of your investment bank.
Investment Banker: Open up the most recent pitchbook with a “qualifications” section. There should be 1-6 slides explaining why they should bank with your firm. Guess what? On the slides there will be Tombstones. Tombstones tell you the most recent deals that have closed and include major deals as well. Circle and highlight all the major deals and transactions over the last 2 years. Now go on your Company’s internal contact sheet and find the Managing director responsible for those transactions.
Follow the money and you’ll find who matters. Follow the money, follow the money, follow the money.
Sales and Trading: This is the easiest one. When everyone leaves the office pretend that you are reading research reports to understand what your Analysts are saying… when the dust settles immediately go through the Account list. Quickly look for the major accounts. Fidelity, Capital Group, CREF, Invesco, Wellington, Citadel, SAC Capital, Soros…. You get the idea. Now all you have to do is find the sales person in charge of these accounts.
Follow the money and you’ll find who matters. Follow the money, follow the money, follow the money.
Equity Research: This is a cross between investment banking and sales and trading. Go through the IPOs that have occurred in the past and see which analyst is constantly being asked to cover more stocks. As an example: Analyst 1 seems to be adding companies over the past 2-4 years versus Analyst 2 who has covered the exact same companies. Why? While not related to IBD due to the Chinese Wall many companies will request a certain analyst cover their stock instead of analyst number two if the stock is between two spaces. Finally, the two other ways to find the good analysts is by looking at 1) call log of clients (if large accounts mentioned above fidelity/CREF etc. call in he is a good analyst) and 2) institutional investor is the trump card. If the analyst is ranked in the top 3, no doubt you want to try and become part of that team find all ranked analysts. If you are on a rotational program shine bright. Shine as bright as possible for the best analyst when you work under him or her. That is where you want to end up after the rotation is complete.
Follow the money and you’ll find who matters. Follow the money, follow the money, follow the money.
Analyze the Data:
You have the dirt. It is time to look at the food chain and figure out where to position yourself within the investment bank. Again no time to waste. If you choose incorrectly you will have a 10-100x harder time getting promoted compared to choosing correctly. If the guy pulling for you can pay for your promotion as a rounding error compared to the revenue he brings in, you better believe the firm will promote you to keep the managing director happy. It isn’t even about you at that point, a big guy says he wants you to stay, this means the firm will make sure you are paid enough to stay.
You got the names in your hand. Lets say there are three important managing directors. How do you know which one to latch on to? Look at what has happened in the past. Find all of the people within the investment bank who have been promoted over the last 3-5 years. Which managing directors did they work for? Of the three that are amazing, hopefully at least two are kind enough to promote within. Now you know who to keep happy.
Lets look at this from a basic business perspective. If your boss is making it rain and is a golden goose to the firm, why would they care about paying you an extra few thousand dollars? A top tier Managing director is making in excess of seven figures. The bank actually works for the managing director, the managing director does not work for the bank because if he is a top MD he is in charge of the relationships and uses the bank for leverage and/or its balance sheet.
(Side note this is a bit of an aggressive example in italics but the point is simple the top MDs are constantly getting job offers from other banks, so the top guys are not worried about getting laid off one bit they are primarily interested that no one wastes their time)
They will do what is needed to keep him happy and part of keeping him happy is keeping his team intact. If you are an analyst about to get promoted to an Associate there is no way the firm is going to say no to an extra $50K a year in expenses… if it means the managing director will stick around. The number of good analysts/associates is small, so this same logic applies to the Associate to VP promotion however the skill set you need to sell is certainly different. They will simply refuse to promote the other analysts/associates and let them exit the firm. Cost structure unchanged, top tier performers are still with the firm. Sounds like an intelligent business model.
Simply put, by now you know who you want to work under because you have correctly done your research and see a path to that promotion everyone wants.
Positioning and Performance:
We’re making a rather large jump now we assume you know how to do work without making major errors. Please note this post is NOT saying you can turn in work that is subpar. The point is that anyone can do the entry level job. If you went to MIT and got a 4.0 or you went to a Non-Target and got a 4.0 we’re pretty sure you can copy paste numbers into an excel sheet without making mistakes. If there are major errors in your work you also won’t get ranked at the top, but lets be honest, it is not incredibly difficult to make a price volume chart, spread a comp table or update a merger model.
So lets get to positioning.
It’s time to strategically drop quality by ~2-4% on the lower ranked managing directors and increase quality on the higher ranked managing directors by ~2-4%. This is going to take serious concentration and will help you immensely.
For investment banking this means you have a few extra formatting errors on your low level work and for the high up MDs you have none. Simple, your quality simply goes up a bit with the people who matter
For Sales and Trading this means you are slightly faster with your requests from the top S&T MDs. If you want to position yourself under sales guy #1 and he asks for something that will take 30 minutes and sales guy #2 wants something that will take 15 minutes… Ignore Sales guy #2.
For Equity Research this means a mix of quicker speed and quality of information and data requests. This is a bit easier to do. If you know Analyst 1 matters and you are currently working under Analyst 2… Show up slightly later to work and leave slightly earlier. When you work under Analyst 1 burn the candle on both ends. Respond immediately, work harder and be visibly pleased to work with him/her.
Why would you do this? Well the answer is clear. If everyone else is trying to please every single MD with the same quality of work, you know with certainty that they are giving 9/10 work to everyone, instead you’re giving 10/10 work to some and 8/10 work to others. We’ve said it before and will say it again, what is everyone else doing… probably a bad idea.
Guess what will happen? Slowly you’ll end up doing more work on the right team.
The Transition:
You must be able to change gears if you hope to succeed long-term. Lets say you’ve correctly landed yourself more responsibility on the right team. Lets say you’re heading into that important annual review. It is time to listen to all of the criticism because if you don’t you’ll miss the train.
Here is the explanation:
At the bottom of the totem pole your movement to the next level is generally a function of likability and error free work. Notice we now assume that you are working under the **right** team/group/analyst/sales person etc. Make everyone like you AS A PERSON within that team. There are no excuses, no matter how much you may want to kill that one Director or that one psycho Vice President... It is simply not worth it to lose the momentum you’ve created.
With that said, the best time to find your weak political spots is going to be… during your review. Take copious notes on any negative feed back and immediately triangulate who made the comments. Do not shirk on this step or you will regret it. This is because your life is going to be chaotic at this point. Simplistically, if 8 people reviewed you at the end of the year, you need to be certain that person 1 and person 6 are the ones that made comment one and comment 4. Why? Now you can remember this specifically for their projects. No matter what, do not let this error occur again on their projects.
Everyone makes mistakes so don’t beat yourself up over some minute errors in the beginning… But… you need to dial in on these comments to win their affection when it comes time for that promotion.
If you’re doing this good well guess what? You’ll gain more traction. If everyone likes your work and you are on the best team in the firm your only job is to be happy in the office
“The first to complain can withstand the least amount of pain”
”The spoiled child cries first”
You’re going to want to complain a lot by year 2. Don’t do it. Don’t do it. Don’t do it. It is simply not worth it. If you need to complain, go take a walk and call someone you care about, you can cry as much as you like at home in your bed or out at the clubs. Don’t bring it to work. Separation.
The Home Stretch:
So you have the office situation locked up like a death row inmate.
The key is to remain on the gas pedal and continue to ask a smart questions once in a while and receive minor actionable feedback. Why would you do this? You’re validating their belief that they are good leaders. Again this is not about you, no one cares about you, this is about slight nudges of validation after you ask an innocent and intelligent question.
Here is an example unrelated to Wall Street.
You want to gain a few pounds of muscle but you’ve hit a plateau. You read a few books and still can’t seem to jump the gap… You find someone who has done this before. You contact. No answer. You contact again. No answer. You contact a third time and the person finally answers.
“I know you’re a busy person and I have been researching this topic for a few months and learned xx and xx, to cut to the chase I’m trying to gain another 5 pounds and have hit a plateau. Would you mind sparing me a few seconds so I can troubleshoot the issue”
Guess what, you’re going to get an answer and then they are going to hang up. 9/10 they are hoping you don’t contact them again because they are extremely busy and don’t have time to waste. 2 months go by. You send them the following
“Didn’t gain just 5 pounds of muscle, gained 10. Thank you for everything. (attached photo)”
Want to take a guess if this person will be willing to help you again?
The TL:DR Version:
There is no TL:DR. If you are unwilling to read this long post you will not make it. No joke. If you were too lazy to read this long-winded and accurate post you’re simply ruining it for yourself. We have no interest in seeing you drown, please take it seriously and remember…
Without politics there is no performance
We are trying to make your career run as smoothly as possible. There is always some luck involved in life, but luck favors the prepared.
If you need clarification, glad to help!
**
Addendum:
We know what the question is going to be. What if I screwed up? What if I didn’t play my politics correctly and messed up in this process?
Hate to say it… But it is time to leave. The chances of undoing significant political damage is extremely difficult. You are relying on a lot of luck at that point (too much luck). You should stick it out for a year or so and try to switch firms. After that you can learn from your political mistakes and move on.
Don’t become bitter, become better. Learn from the mistakes.
These are good questions.
1) Immediately able to change how the firm works (process), 2)) he is asking for more resources than the other MDs the best analysts and best associates (key giveaway, all the top ranked analysts and associates are immediately staffed with him), 3) finally you should get along with your staffer and see how he/she allocates resources (note the Staffer is generally of high value don't forget that)
This one is unfortunately not one we can help answer. The post is tailored to larger banks and should have been noted in the post, apologies. However... Even at small banks it is quite rare for someone to work under a single person (that is more common on the buyside and equity research). Maybe the best solution is to simply be amicable with everyone in your office. Again haven't heard or seen such situation as most Investment banking groups don't operate that way.
The biggest thing here is noted in the OP. "The first to complain can withstand the least amount of pain". The happiest person in the office is generally the guy who is getting ranked highly.
Why? Well if you think about it, most banks have a "360 degree review process" this is a inane process where all you are going to do is give your boss excellent marks and tell him he is great. Now if you are an MD, put your feet in his shoes. You are going to want the happiest person in the office to write your review correct? This is because he intrinsically realizes you're likely to give good feedback as you seem to be happy with the firm/career.
Adapt or die.
If you two just closed a deal and he knows you worked long hours... The best thing to do is go and say congrats to him, he is in a great mood, if he typically gets coffee you can roll the dice a little bit and say hey I am grabbing coffee do you need anything. He is significantly more likely join you. Why? He feels great about his recent deal.
If he is in a bad mood and is having a fit, avoid, avoid, avoid. Respond to any emails immediately and be extremely professional and polite. Sometimes people are just having a bad day and are taking out their anger by creating meaningless work (this is going to happen more than you like) hold together your emotions and again complain to someone unrelated to your firm when you go home.
If the staffer asks if you want to grab coffee or any analyst/associate in the firm. Your answer is always yes and drink water in the worst case.
Finally, no we are not stating that you should get "stepped on" by your MD however... If he realizes you're willing to burn the candle at both ends for him and not have a problem with it you're going to get treated with more respect.
If he's a complete psycho MD? Well you may have to leave. Remember that politics is art and performance is analytical. Or Politics is social skills and Performance is technical skills.
It is quite difficult to put great art into words.
No need for a Rabbi. You really just need to be certain you have strong social skills.
If you're the guy who got a 4.0, 7 internships... but you are extremely introverted... You're going to struggle and will not be in the position for a promotion. (Always exceptions). You will likely get ranked at the top performance wise and get mediocre attitude assessments at best. Again, if you are not a likable cool person... It's going to mean more hours, more face time and likely less pay. (Pi-day sums it up pretty well, more work less pay less options)
The real person to fear within your associate/analyst class is the guy/girl who is somehow able to be part of a frat/sorority and maintains great grades and networks like a champ.
Bet on that guy/girl 100 times out of 100.
You stand up on your desk at 9:30am and yell out out to the bullpen "I WILL BACKSTAB YOU POLITICALLY".
Good to see that no matter how long I'm away from WSO, the social awkwardness is always still there upon my return.
If you have to ask these questions, it's fair to say you're losing them.
Don't trust Asians. They have no backbone and will throw you under the bus.
Lots of horrible politics where I work... Remember the last time I fainted in battle and pikachu convinced ash not to take me to the pokemon center because he made up some shit about how I sexually harassed nurse joy. Which wasn't even fucking true. She asked me if I was squirting properly and I instinctively answered "yep and you?" wtf
Office Politics: An Introduction to the Kitchen (Originally Posted: 10/24/2012)
It would be of the utmost foolishness to deny the apparent and completely unjustifiable surge of women, or as they have been commonly known to society, “bare-foot-kitchen-workers” in the world of finance. It seems as though they have migrated from the kitchen to the shiny offices and they are here to stay; no matter how many times the “superior sex” screams at them to go back to the kitchen, they just will not listen.
For the majority of men, god’s gifts to humanity, dealing with women in the work place can be one of two things; it is either as easy as ABC or as intricate and complicated as figuring out the spiral, which is of course dependent on subject woman’s state of being and many variables including but not limited to: Menstrual cycle, latest issue of Cosmo, and insecurity flares induced by jealousy, boys, and body image issues. For the rest of the “only deserving species”, those scared little boys, who revert to online blogs to complain about how incompetent women are in, and out, of their natural habitats (that is, the kitchen), here are a few tips to help you overcome your fears and will allow you to spend more time working and less time changing your soiled pants:
1- Don’t believe the rumors: women in the workplace, whether colleagues, subordinates, or bosses are not undercover “godzillas”. Eye contact will not awaken a beast, but might, in fact help you make a good impression. I shit you not, dear readers; women remember the little things like who was looking them in the eyes and who was looking at their boobs. When all is said and done, guess who gets a bigger bonus?
2- Never underestimate their power: The chick on your team who doesn’t say anything, because she is DUH too shy and is not a good fit for such an aggressive industry, I bet you she’s the only one who can get the copy center guys to finish the job on time. She is probably so comfortable expressing her feelings (laaaaaaame) that she has no problem telling HR about your crude jokes and sexual innuendos. Also, HR personnel? Yeah they’re all chicks.
3- Use them: A female boss is much more understanding of your physical need for sleep and food, talk to one if you experience symptoms of exhaustion and delirium. Your female colleague is more likely to listen to you bitch about that gold-digger girlfriend of yours, or even give you advice on your disgusting sense of style.
4- She is not incompetent despite what your little walnut-of-a-brain tells you: trust me; most women have better judgment than you do. Any given woman has an eye for detail, and they actually listen. So when the angry MD wants a three-statement model in a nano-second, you’ll spend the nano second bitching about it, and she will get it done. Cooperate with her, don’t treat her like a single cell organism or else she will kick your ass out of that door and will probably end up being your boss.
5- She is there for a reason: I am sure she went through the same interview process, with the same people, under the same circumstances. Her GPA is on par, or slightly better than yours, her resume is equally as impressive and she could’ve went into some liberal arts “cake” profession if she wanted to, but she didn’t; she chose finance, live with it, stop feeling bitter because news flash, it has nothing to do with your swinging dick, or lack thereof, and on behalf of women everywhere in the industry, we’d appreciate if you’d stop being a whiny little monkey.
Oh, and if you’ve got a problem, let’s take it outside.
What I Learnt This Week – Navigating Office Politics (Originally Posted: 11/05/2013)
Anyone that’s spent time with an engineer will know that, more often than not, they’re outspoken and tactless. In a world full of engineers, this is ok; the culture surrounding you is built around this. Finance is a different ballgame; the “you’re wrong and this is why…” attitude simply doesn’t fly. Due to, what I believe to be, the dubious value added by many people in the industry generally. There are a lot of big personalities and delicate egos out there and if you’re not careful they can make your life hell and stifle your career. Getting on the right side of the right people can really make all the difference.
I am far from an expert in this respect. It’s only at the forefront of my mind because I found myself on the wrong side of an exchange just this week! So, this week, I preach from the high ground of “do what I say and not what I do”. These are some of the key things I do to make life easier:
Keep a low profile – When you’re junior and inexperienced, the best thing you can do is stay out of trouble. Just like they say “a cover letter will never get you a job, but it can lose you one”, being an outspoken ‘tall poppy’ won’t make a career, but it can end one. Often in the science or academic world, being right is good enough. In the finance and corporate world you trade on experience and credibility (this will be a boon later in your career when you realise you don’t have to be right, just believable!!). Stay out of the spotlight while you’re getting the basics right (showing up on time, doing good work, dressing appropriately) and be sure that when you are noticed it’s in a positive light.
Understand people and what motivates them – This advice will serve you well in many aspects of life. Take the time while you’re keeping a low profile to listen and observe. It is invaluable if you can develop the skill of being able to evaluate a situation from the perspective of others. Your peers will come from a variety of backgrounds and the key to not being misunderstood yourself is taking the time to understand others.
Learn from the mistakes of others - Every office has different nuances. One of the best ways to learn is from the mistakes of others that have walked before you. It will give you some insight to who to align with and who not to annoy. For instance, the office manager is usually the person responsible for keeping track of tardiness, expenses and flight booking. Don’t piss her off.
No trash talk – This is obvious to some but not others. It falls under ‘keeping a low profile’ but warrants its own explanation. Talking about other people, no matter how warranted, will attract the attention of only one kind of person – those that also like talking about other people, and inevitably peddle the office politics. If you take the stance that you’re above it from the beginning, no one will have anything on you. People may still have their grievances, but you don’t really have any control over that.
Be positive – This one ties it all together… positivity fuels positivity and makes you generally likable; be careful not to confuse positivity with enthusiasm - too much enthusiasm can be annoying. In a sentence, who does this make you?: The quiet, understanding guy, who doesn’t shoot his mouth off and is always positive. Aim for this…