Would you take low comp to break into PE?
I am curious if you would take paycut or accept low comp to get into PE and how do you feel now if you already made that choice?
For me, I am an 2nd year analyst at LMM PE in Korea
I work for 40-80hrs a week depending on a deal cycle. Only 2 days off last year.
My base salary is 35k with no bonus whereas first year analyst in IB usually receive 50-70k including bonus in Korea. I guess I won’t get any bonus in 2-3yrs and 5% annual increase in base is at best.
In my first year, I was happy to break into PE and eager to do w/e needed even though I had low comp.
However in my second year, I cannot get rid of the feeling that I am undervalued. I wanted to do some buyout deals and thought I had be loyal to people who highered me and were good to me, so I refused offers from better w/l balance VC. Now I do not know if that was a good decision, and I just feel frustrated knowing that I won’t have a chance to earn some money nor do buyout deals at least in near term.
$35k to work 80 hours thats rough, isn’t minimum wage in korea like $10?
Minimum wage in Korea is around 7500 Korean Dollar ~ $6.5
But in all honesty according to a quick google search you make about the same amount as the average male worker in korea (36k). Given that you work way more than they, I am sorry but I have to agree that you should get out asap.
minimum wage is $8 in korea, but after 40hrs a wk, legally you get at least 1.5x of that per hr.
35k and 80 hours? Bro you're literally a minimum wage worker at that point, get the hell outta there
Do you have a sense for whether your colleagues are paid similar to you or whether this is something that applies just to you. If it is just you then you should be able to use industry comps to argue for a pay increase if you like the work you do and the people you work with. Otherwise, your firm shouldn't be surprised if you leave because the comp gap was too large. You are in PE, your job is to make money!
Thank you for your comment. I’ll talk to my boss about my salary and try to look for a new firm. I know first year analyst receives 70k - 90k base from similar firms.
How did you have only 2 days off working 40-80 hours a week? Regardless yeah you're getting screwed on comp.
Maybe Ive confused you. I meant I had 2 vacation days, not that I am saying I had worked 364 days last year.
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