IB Associate Churn after 3yrs
As everyone know, several juniors have been leaving banking so this week I ran the numbers of how things look at my EB.
I'm an Associate class of 2018. I would be promoted to VP next year (if I stay, which is a big IF right now).
Please see below and comment if this looks normal across other banks, also would be great to know if this is more churn than expected due to COVID or if numbers are similar vs previous clases:
35 Associates joined full time in 2018
15 are still here (43%). Majority of the 15 are internationals (visa constraints?)
Of the 20 that are gone:
6 fired
6 Corporate exits (Big tech, startups)
4 MM/regional buyside
1 Bulge Bracket
1 entrepreneurship
1 rage quit without a job
Lol the only mba bankers nowadays I see staying are internationals with Visa issues too lol.
The fact that so many internationals at your bank survived the visa lottery is quite Interesting. Maybe you guys hired candidates only from countries that have some kind of a special immigration treaty with the US (e.g. Singapore)? In contrast, most of my bank's international associates were gone by the second year (~80%) after the lottery. (NYC BB M&A) I hear the lottery win rate is only 33%. In fact that is exactly what were seeing right now- the annual visa lottery was a few weeks ago and now we're seeing internationals packing their bags and sending good bye emails left and right. Same thing happens every year.
Are they transferred to another office?
No, I follow most of my associate class on Linkedin and according to their profiles none of them got relocated - whether it was involuntary or not idk. They now all work at different banks at their countries - mostly local banks, some boutiques, and 1 at another BB. Not an expert on this topic, but I hear from my 'international' colleagues that it's a common misconception that everyone at a large bank can get relocated, if they lose their lottery. The reality is that there are very few openings at regional offices (even at larger cities such as London) given their smaller sizes compared to NY and A2A culture being more common in most (if not all) other countries outside of the US
Can you elaborate on why the 6 people were fired?
Have great attitude, treat analysts well, follow your MD/VP directions but ALWAYS ask smart questions. Learn as much Excel and PPT as possible.
Identify early the best people to work with so you do not get stuck in projects with awful people (my biggest mistake).
Well they are making shit more than the analysts underneath them even though they are dumber than them
Yes they're super dumb, they didn't know about IB when they were sophomores at 19/20 and so they had to get an MBA to break into IB, can you believe that?
Here are the stats for my bank for 2018 associate class
14 joined in 2018, very few had prior finance backgrounds
3 are still here, 2 at their original IBD groups and 1 moved to capital markets
3 went to Corp Dev (2 fortune 500 and 1 tech)
1 went to a secondary fund
1 pension fund, investing role
1 tech-focused PE
1 social/impact fund
1 went to join a startup
3 went back to their countries (no internationals remaining)
BB SF Tech 3rd year ASO here
- 6 joined
- 4 left before year 3 → Went to tech/pharma/healthcare firms in corp dev or strategy type of roles, all in Bay area
- I'm currently interviewing for M&A strategy role at a mid tech firm, so +1 pretty soon
Tbh only reason I stayed this long was to pay off student loans
Noticed there are a few people who are curious about comps for corp dev positions - pretty comparable to consulting or big law associates from what I saw. Plus stocks and all kinds of fringe benefits, and subtract 30 hours a week. This level of comp wouldn't have been achievable of course if I hadn't worked in banking and had my salary boosted - this becomes the benchmark salary for your next job.
Not quite there yet but I can tell you why I'm not going to stick around.
Because shit doesn't get any better after VP. My VPs and even Ds are grinding just as many hours as associates.
Because this life is not sustainable - all these hours and sleep deprivation is killing my body and making me suicidal.
Because I have zero time to meet friends and family.
Because I don't want to die young and alone with a six figure bank account that I never got to use .
Do you work in Canada?