You aren't being overpaid

On an hourly basis, you receive the same compensation as that of a nurse or a business analyst.

There is a difference though.

You are working 6 out of the 7 days, assuming you are part of the lucky ones that have protected Saturdays, 16 hours a day at a minimum, obliged to respond within 10 mins.

You are obliged to work until 2am and wake up at 5am to breastfeed your baby as well as have your 15-years of experience associate call you, the 22 year old analyst that just finished college, names for being too slow with excel.

And you do that because the employers that are purchasing your labour have convinced you that there is prestige in being part of email chains and taking notes in dd calls. No you didn’t advise the client on that new offering. Your MD did that along with the other heads of coverage/product groups. You are just a cost center within the group doing work that is of the same quality as the work being done by the offshore teams that earn 1/10 of your salary.

At the end of the day, advising’s main cost is human labour. How do you increase the productivity of human labour apart from shifting to lower cost countries and investing in market data management tools? Instead of hiring 3 people with median GPAs and less impressive cvs, giving them 65k, you hire one person with good grades to do the job. You label the job prestigious and passively accept bullying to encourage competition at all costs.

You end up with a class of associates and analysts with high turnover and a minority of those that stick around and become MDs being white (P. S. I have interviewed diversity candidates myself and I don’t consider the northeast boarding school white rich girl so diverse) men (no woman that wants to have a family can compete) that will have an easier time to close transactions with the white male executives.

This post is hypocritical anyway because I am also part of the process but a) you aren’t being overpaid,b) you don’t deserve bullying by anyone c) if you don’t make it nobody cares and you can succeed in million other ways.

34 Comments
 

In growth terms, it might be true though VPs rarely work 80 hours weeks. The ones I know have no protected Saturdays/weekends and work during the vacation time as well.

 

When I did my IB internship in a production group I only did around 50-55hrs a week. People came in at like past 9am and it was empty after 8pm. BB London.

On an hour by hour basis, it was certainly a very nice (and above that of nurses etc) salary. 

 
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Nothing new in this post. Yes the analyst years suck. You’re getting training and good money. Way more lucrative than going to med school or law school. Have to eat shit if you’re the bottom of the totem pole. You don’t walk into the senior seats at 22 yo.

That being said, no one deserves to be bullied / name called. No excuse for that behavior.

 
Prospect in IB - Cov

,b) you don't deserve bullying by anyone c) if you don't make it nobody cares and you can succeed in million other ways.

This is the TLDR I took away and could not agree more.

Nobody deserves to be bullied, and frankly, a lot of the toxicity is completely unnecessary. Maybe its just me, I was lucky af to have pretty stand up VPs/Ds/MDs and I try to emulate them as I move up.

 

In sales, not IB but thought you'd enjoy this. I've had  many significant comp events over my career. Used to have a few lightening bolts per yr (50k-100k). When an opportunity would arise,  initially I would think, "we're way overpaid." But then I had to do the work to get the deal through the finish line. It could take several months to a yr, having to revisit so many issues, deal with client's other advisors (CPAs, attorneys, etc.) Deal with underwriters. When it was time for payday, my thinking shifted and I thought, "God we are WAY underpaid. 

 

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