I've read on numerous threads that anywhere from 40 - 50% of associates make the cut for VP, but I'm curious as to how much self selection (exit opportunities, etc) plays into this. Of the associates who stay in and actually try to make VP, what percentage get promoted?
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VPs can get paid lower than associates. It's cheaper to keep someone on as a VP1 and kill them on the bonus since VPs are basically overpaid associates.
And an analyst is an overpaid intern!
I’ve hardly ever seen someone not make VP who wants it and is up for the promotion. The really bad associates, and I mean really bad get fired or they don’t make it through the entire 3 years and leave on their own. The only associate I’ve seen be fired for performance issues was a complete disaster, so the tolerance is pretty high for low quality work. The Director >> MD jump is the one that is highly competitive.
I've not seen it too much to clients, and the support from the firm is much less as compared with consulting. At the Director level you've been working as a banker for at least 8-10 years, so the most common thing is to lateral to another bank to make MD (if you are not able to within your own organization). Other exits I've seen at post associate level:
VP - became head of corporate finance at mid level 'client' Director - became MD at industry focused investment firm Director - became CFO at small corporate in the industry
All were done on their own without support from the firm. The Directors were 3rd year and probably not going to make MD given a top heavy structure in my group
Can confirm all of the above. We have a 2nd year VP who is absolutely useless and can't check a model for sh*t. We expect that person to either stay on as a super VP (we have VPs at the firm who have literally been in that position for 5 / 6 years) or exit somewhere less technical.
Call the boys in PWM. Time to add another Chad to the ranks.