Ignore title. I recently finished my first year at a good MM (sweatier group than others) and I recently accepted my PE offer for next fall. I still want to do well in the group over the next year, but definitely don't want to grind for the top bucket bonus. What are some tactics I can do to make the time go by faster, coast through (to the extent possible), and end on a good note?
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same lol, aiming for a good upper mid bucket so i’m respected but not grinded
Keep quality high but work slower / take more breaks / turn down staffings / push admin work to 1st years.
The key here is still to do excellent work, but less of it. Find the group of people you really work well with and keep doing great work, including staying up late if needed (like once or twice a month, not like twice a week..). Then, your core supporters still see you as being a contributing member of the team, which gives you social capital to push back on almost everything else.
Exactly this
Quality >>>>>>>>>>>>> quantity
Pro tip, your last 1-2 months there go ham. People will think it’s rare and commendable that you’re still working hard when most are checked out. Most won’t remember the PE preceding 10 months when you were coasting.
Good insight, thanks for sharing.
Awesome advice.
As Charlie Munger says, always invert.
What are the extra efforts you made specifically because you weren’t safe with your next offer yet? Maybe you said yes to a staffing even though your plate was full, Maybe you acted on throwaway comments that could’ve been ignored. Maybe you proactively did stuff so the Assoc/VP would appreciate you thinking ahead. All things to CYA because being low bucket or worse would suck so you take extra precautions.
Make a list of those extra-mile things you did and stop doing them.
Makes sense, good insight!
In addition to being selective about how much work you take on, be selective about who you're putting in hours for. My last couple months, I basically pushed off work for the Associates/VPs who weren't respected in the org. There were probably 1-2 people at the VP/MD level who I was willing to grind for though, and their feedback carried much more weight than anyone else.
Good feedback all around...to add to...think about 4-5 years from now, who in the organization would you reach back out to work for again, or help with a mandate, or whatever...those are the people you should continue busting your tail for because that relationship will pay dividends years from now...everyone else can take a backseat.
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