[2nd year Asso] Am I getting fked over?
Folks,
Background: 2nd year associate at a megafund (think BX, KKR, Carlyle). Joined a tiny emerging specialist team 4 years ago as an analyst after a two year stint at a BB. I was the first junior to join and closed multiple deals in the past 4 years. Even sourced and originated one of the deal. No idea on my precise performance ranking but consistent positive feedback and it has been reflected in my bonuses.
Situation: The two man team I initially joined is now triple the size. I was expecting a promotion to principal in 2-3 years time, given that I was promoted to associate 2 years ago. The team is currently already pretty middle heavy and they are hiring another associate, which has exactly the same (and likely more) years of experience as me. I start to feel that I’m getting low-key fked over, as it is already crowded up there (currently 2x more VPs and MDs than juniors) and they are putting even more competition around me.
Appreciate any thoughts. Is it time to start looking around and bounce? Thanks a lot folks!
they don't give a shit about you (professionally speaking, I am not speaking to their character or your personal relationships) and there's no longer org structure gaps above you
Yea I certainly feel stronger and stronger this way over time.
Seems like any middle heavy teams are big red flags for juniors in terms of career progression...I guess they probably expect me as a natural attrition...
they probably don't expect anything one way or another, they're just planning for immediate business needs
Sorry to hear man. Have you had any conversations with your manager about what career progression looks like with the team?
That is definitely what I will put on the table during appraisal discussion in the next month.
Make your situation known to your team and ask what your promotion path looks like. Once you communicate your intentions, the group will hopefully take that into account when it comes to new hiring. Best of luck
Thanks man, appreciate the feedback. Will certainly try to discuss openly during appraisal to get an idea what's going on
Others have made similar points, but I would say three things you should always be doing is 1) know your career and development path (mostly demand this from your management) and 2) make sure to be reinforcing your value (not in the suck up and annoying way, you just need to be reminding people of the work you do) 3) and maybe more importantly make sure that you are getting the right exposure (are you working with people who are the decision makers?)
When I was earlier in my career (similar spot to where you are) I just assumed that if I worked hard and was a top employee that people would take care of me. That was only partially true; in highly structure programs/firms (I.e. BB IB) that mostly happens (standard bonuses, progression, you mostly know where you’ll be - although you can get screwed at the upside because of all that structure) and up to a certain point it works (many times your boss can only take you so far). But many times your manager has a lot going on, many people that report to him/her, projects, etc and it is so much easier to just keep things “standard” than fight to get someone a big promotion, etc. So I learned that I had to make sure my manager (and their manager) knew what I was up to, made sure I understood their view on my development, and forced the conversations around my pay, etc when I didn’t agree with it. Many times it was not malicious, it was just ignorance, or even laziness (maybe too strong of a word); it is much easier to go with the flow than disagree and push for changes in your team/department. And many times I left meetings frustrated but at least knowing what I needed to do and whether it would work at the firm I was with.
Anyway, a long way of saying that I think leaving or looking for another job isn’t the right first step. At a minimum get a sense from them of how they view it and give them your view; you need to give them a chance before just leaving. Getting star/very good employees at this level is extremely difficult, you may be surprised on how they view you (they could also be terrible at communicating).
One last quick story, I had a manager who was pretty quiet and I though he was “on my side” from meetings and projects but he rarely talked about that directly. I kept thinking I was going to get screwed, I thought my pay was low relative to others at similar levels and while I had raised it to him he was hard to read. Anyway, one day (not close to end of year or during “on cycle” pay changes) I realize my deposit into my checking was higher than normal (a lot higher) and I ask him, and his response was “oh cool, that went through, great” - some people are just hard to read and they fight behind the scenes and mostly don’t involve you. Just make sure you have the right picture.
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