Hey guys. Sorry if this already exists somewhere; if so I had no luck in locating it.
Just a place to ask some random questions about the office life for those who are about to start i-banking, or are still just thinking about it.
Mine is, is there a casual friday or not really? How about on the weekends?
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From what I've heard, the weekends are a bit more casual than the weekdays. However, I'm sure you're expected to dress professional Monday through Friday.
I'm still in college and got this feedback from several junior bankers, so correct me if I'm wrong.
We don't really have them anymore, at least not in my office. Attire is generally business casual Monday-Friday and more formal than that if you have a meeting or something client-related.
Weekends you can where whatever you want.
The logic here is that if there's any chance a client could see you, you have to look presentable, hence business casual Monday-Friday and no strict requirements on weekends.
Some offices require analysts to wear suits on weekdays.
Except during the summers, when casual fridays does make a comeback with polos around the office. The rest of the time its B-casual anyway monday through friday so what else are you gonna do.
Here's one that's confused me: who do you report to? Is it entirely deal-based, or does each analyst have an associate that they report to, then each associate report to a VP, etc.? How many does each oversee?
Are there regular group/department meetings like at most corporate gigs?
"When I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead."
good question. i have wondered that myself.
yeah.. casual dress also makes a come back around the holidays. I saw a lot of senior and junior bankers in jeans this week. A lot of people out, very few clients to meet with.
But invest in a 6-8+ good dress shirts, several pairs of dress pants and a 2-3 suits. It's always better to overdress than underdress. Take some time to meet your team before you start, and take a look at how they dress. It varies from group to group.
Depends on the team, but at the junior level you will have a staffer you report to. This will be someone more senior then you and it could be anyone. Some places will use associates to staff analysts, vps to staff associates and MDs just yell at everyone.
Others will use a senior person (senior vp/director or dedicated personnel) who will staff everyone below the MD level.
At the analyst level though, unless you are really really staffed up anyone at any level senior to you can tell you what to do. With regards to a daily basis it really depends on your teams. So, when you want to leave early for an appointment or whatever you ask the people you are working with at that time.
Interesting, thanks.
Let's say I want to quit, who do I tell? The Staffer? HR? Mass email to the group?
Alternately, who can fire me? Anyone senior to me?
Who decides my bonus?
"When I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead."
1) You tell your staffer and your group head. If you think they're going to kick you out of the building, you give the heads up to the bankers you're close with first. Otherwise, you just do a quick walk around to let them know before you send around the email and leave.
2) For the most part, your group head fires you, based on the feedback he gets from everyone you work with.
3) Every firm is different, but here's a reasonably standard way it can work. Your bonus is first calibrated to ranges determined by the firm's HR comp specialists working with outside comp consultants. Then the firm's executive committee signs off on the bands for each class, subject to approval by the Board of Directors of the firmwide and departmental bonus pools. HR, your staffer and your group head iron out generally where you fall based on your reviews within your class. For the most part, your group head determines the final number.
Thanks, Genghis.
"When I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead."
How often do people get fired? How hard/easy is it for an associate to get fired? VP? MD?
If, say, a VP tells the group head that an associate is an idiot and totally blew a client presentation, does the associate get fired? If you give an MD a funny look in the hallway, can he get you fired just because he feels like it?
"When I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead."
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