Help, Am I Being Lowballed?

Going through the interview process at a Boutique IB, for an institutional sales role. Role is FT and office is located in FiDi, NYC. The recruiter said that 12/14hr days are common and that this role, especially starting out, will be difficult. Essentially I will have to warm call institutional clients and work with them to execute trades. Comp is Base of 30k + 10% commission on sales. Being that this is NYC, I am not a fan of that base salary and I'm not sure how much volume I will move in the first year so I don't want to depend on the commission. They tried to justify a very low base of 30k because "they are a small boutique firm" I'm not sure if I buy that and I am also not sure how to negotiate a higher base salary given that NYC CoL is quite high and especially that others in S&T starting roles make 90k+ base in most BB, MM and EB. I obvious understand why I cant for a 90k base salary but 30k is way too low. How do i navigate this, especially because I don't have any other offer/interviews from other banks. 

9 Comments
 

Sorry if i was unclear, they said that they would take the time to train me to make client calls and bring me up to speed on the current accounts and the types of equities that they offer (mostly Healthcare) and they would also sponsor me to get a series 7 license. I do agree with your take and that 30k is def not enough and I cannot count on a lot of commission in my first year. The main issue is that I've really struggled to find other S&T roles and I don't want to be SoL in a month or two after I graduate. 

Someone told me that even if I end up on the shittiest desk on the street, at least I have a foot in the door and its better than nothing. I want to believe them but I also don't want to be taken advantage of and not be paid accordingly

 
Most Helpful

Avoid this job at all costs.

This sounds just like a cold calling broker scam type job, not a real IB boutique S&T job. It's still a hot job market and this is a bottom tier telemarketing financial advisor type role. Definitely not where you want to be. 

My suggestion, keep looking for anything else. Even a back office or PWM job would be vastly better than this nonsense role that offers zero skillset development and uses/abuses young grads with a fake boutique IB company headline. This is not real S&T and no real firm will ever hire you after this nonsense. 

I mean $30K! WTF! This bank should be investigated for mistreating employees. Time to get AOC on this.  

 

Thank you for the advice, im still applying to new positions every day and keeping my options open. I agree with your sentiment, this feels like MLM at the highest possible level. A shiny turd is still a turd. 

 

Get access to a Bloomberg terminal, use the JOBS function, you'll find better stuff there than anyplace else. Even go for a BB BO role, that would at least get you to a stable career at a real firm with decent pay. I also suggest looking into corporate or commercial banking, credit training is a good foundation skillset.    

This job isn't really a job, it's a death knell for your career let alone quality of life. 

 

Nope, got office space in FiDi overlooking the water. Their IB is incredibly boutique and I think they are trying to build out their S&T division. They were hit very hard in 08 and have done a lot of restructuring and been on life support since. 

 

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