When is it worth it to wait for that year end bonus?
As the year draws to an end, bonuses are coming in place. If you're job hunting and finally get that offer for a better opportunity, do you leave before year end knowing you may have left a bonus on the table? How big would the bonus need to be for you to stick it out till you got it in hand?
What if you knew you were going to get either a raise or a bonus, but not both, does that change things?
Think of this at the junior level.
I am potentially (hopefully anyway.....) going to have to face this soon.
I know some firms will let you wait until you get your bonus to leave, but in case you're not allowed to, it really depends on your current situation.
My bonus isn't going to be huge (investment sales) and likely to be circa gbp10,000 (c25%) but there is every chance it could be less although my team has exceeded its target by quite a bit.
I have certain career goals in mind however and I would forgo that bonus in a heart beat. In my current experience looking for a new role, I have had a pretty tough time - not because I lack the required skills, but because of the market I come from and the market I want to enter. If the right opportunity came my way, I would even turn down a 100% bonus.
You should consider:
Long term goals
What's the end game? and how much is your bonus going to represent as a proportion of that.
My aim is to end up in PERE and to put it into perspective, my friend working as an acquisitions analyst has a 50% bonus and 45k base. If I jump ship today, I could recoup that "lost" bonus in a year. If I wait any longer, I get less of that bonus at the new firm and I don't know when the next opportunity will come my way.
How difficult your job search is
Are opportunities hard to come by? if yes, you're not getting younger and it'll just become harder to break in at an analyst level.
I have been looking for the best part of a year and I can count the number of interviews I've had on one hand. I am now looking at another investment sales role, not my ideal move, but it moves me towards the right direction. When I leave this role however I'll be old relative to the graduate pool. I'd rather start as an analyst in PERE but the older I get, the more likely I'll have to enter at a senior role - will I be too experienced on the investment sales side at this point to move into PERE? I don't know but it's something I need to consider. Why forego another year for the sake of a tiny bonus or even a large bonus for that matter.
Do you need the cash
What's your bonus really going to do except sit in your bank account accumulating interest. Unless you really really need it, think about your long term goals. You might end up getting twice your bonus in a new opportunity.
Yeah I don't expect my bonus to be huge either, but what if you felt you deserved it? As in you stuck it out, worked harder while other analysts were lazy or jumped ship sooner than expected.
In my opinion, it doesnt matter? Don't cut off your nose to spite your face because of an illusion that you deserve a bonus - don't turn down an amazing opportunity because of your pride.
I can shed some light on this as I have been in a somewhat relevant situation: was working on the debt side of real estate and after what seemed like a successful year, I thought that I was due a decent bonus and some kind of a raise. I turned down multiple recruiters for jobs that I would have absolutely have loved because I was holding out for that bonus. Well come review time and I got absolutely nothing. A few weeks after that I handed in my resignation as I got a much better job in RE PE. Point being- before that bonus is in your bank account it might as well not exist at all unless you have it on very good authority that you'll be getting a good payout. You don't know when that amazing job offer will be coming your way again so I'd say go for it.
If you're ever given the choice between a larger bonus vs a larger raise, I would always go for the bonus. You have no idea how long you'll be sticking around that company for or if they'll fire you shortly after (in which case you probably will be getting neither), so get all the security you can onto your bank account.
Everyone here has offered tremendous advice :)
My opinion is that your decision becomes much easier when you move from Banking, where your bonus is a sizeable portion of your all in compensation (sometimes up to 100% of base salary at the analyst level). In this case, it likely makes sense to stick it out for the duration of the year and have the bonus hit your bank account before departing. In this situation, only a compelling role would make it worth your while to leave (e.g., a surprise CFO position for a PE backed company offering comparable all in and a substantial options package; an exploding PE offer; etc).
When your bonus is in the periphery of 10-25%, I think it's prudent to move in most cases most of the time if they are offering a sign on with an incremental compensation boost commensurate with the YE bonus you are expecting. In some cases the company may offer you a stub year end, which should help lessen the opportunity cost of moving. Furthermore, the trajectory of the new role could outpace the old one. In theory, you would end up accelerating your YoY compensation growth by a factor of [ ] to [ ]% at the expense of a YE bonus less any stub/sign-on monies.
Ultimately, it's a decision based on i) size of potential bonus, ii) time to realization of the bonus (how far out in the year you are), and iii) the potential opportunity that presented itself, and whether you feel it's compelling enough such that you would be hard pressed to find a comparable opportunity in the immediate future. Barring an immediate need for cash, I think it makes sense to make a move :)
Use a bonus expectation as leverage for a signing bonus at the new firm.
Once you've got a firm hooked on you as their next candidate and are negotiating start dates, pop in the comment that it's bonus time and you'd like to leave ASAP but want to get a bonus before you leave.
If the firm really likes you, they'll play ball (although I doubt you'll get 100% of your expected bonus), and if not, you're in exactly the position as you started in.
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