Analyst Lateral - Now or Wait For Bonus
Hi all,
I am considering changing banks (BB already), as I am in a product team that does model (M&A/LevFin) and I am not 100% keen on being in a product team. I started last summer in that team so been doing this for 6-7 months now. I am much more interested in being in a coverage group where I get to dig deeper into sectors and industries.
I see quite a few banks recruiting now for roles in industries that could be of interest. I am considering applying but not sure if I should move now or wait for my bonus (June/July analyst type of schedule). I don't really need the money, although would be great, I am more worried about the "6 months" of experience before moving and moving after the 1 year mark would make more sense in my view.
Do you know if BBs also recruit around the summer for people to move then?
Also considering applying to untargetted banks (ie MMs) to pratice now my Lateral interview experience (assume will be much tougher than SA) before going for banks that I care about - would that be stupid? Could that impact my image.
Let me know your thoughts, questions may be stupid but are genuine ones. Note that this is for London.
Thanks!
Start applying and interviewing now. Interviews will take at least 1-3 months and another month for onboarding and two week notice. So 7 + 4 = 11 months (even more for you to get an interview that you want to pursue.)
I would just note that if you jump now, expect to stay at your next shop for at least 2 years.
I understand that this would be the expectation. I thought that lateral interviews would be much shorter i.e. 1 month only... Will look seriously into it now then.
In a similar boat. Trying to leave now (6 months), within the next month or so. I think if it gets to the 9 month point I'll plan to stay the full year, but otherwise trying to leave ASAP. Have been networking and recruiting since early December and involved in a few processes, though I will say they are pretty unstructured and tend to take a lot longer than FT processes, so definitely be mindful of that.
Coverage groups aren’t good (Bb cov group). All we do is ppt, would rather be in the numbers vs making them look pretty. Maybe if I was TMT I’d be more interested
As said above I am in no rush to move hence would likely focus on industries of interest/where I have experience in
My advice is make sure the group models (ie Barclays or GS) or go EB. You don’t want just PPT experience
6 months go by so fast. I would stick it out and not miss on the bonus. The same type of opportunities (and probably even more) will be available when you complete your first year. As that is when analysts are most likely to jump ship. I think there's no harm in waiting. Even more so considering you're not miserable, just looking for something marginally better.
Got it, guess I will wait then. This was my base case but just wanted to sense check how I was thinking about this as I saw quite a few job offerings opening last week or so.
Definitely wait it out. Lots of options to lateral as a second year (better/more opportunities than the one-off backfilling going on now) and your current bank will be less upset if you at least make it a year.
Only time I'd leave now is if you are projecting bottom bucket bonus, firms will ask your ranking after a year.
No clue where I sit bonus wise. Overall getting good indications (ie emails from seniors saying well done) but with WFH it's super hard to know how hard/well you work relative to others.
New firm probably would pay you out.
You’ll almost certainly get a full-freight bonus from your new bank.
Just made a lateral move to a BB. Was promised that I’d get a full year bonus this summer on cycle their usual cycle (after 6mo). Just get your offer and ask when they give you the call
Thanks that's useful so definitely look to be moving and now wait I guess. And about the 1 year rule any thoughts? Most people seemed to be focused on the loss of the bonus but I don't want my CV to be a red flag either.
cant give much insight for you as I wasn't a first year, but I'll say this - if you're going to a visibly better firm or group, I wouldn't worry about it. Nobody would question why you jumped from Piper to JPM after 6 months, etc. Just have a good reason and don't be evasive.
edit: Also, don't be negative about your prior group. Stick to lots of "I really liked the people at xyz bank and I didn't want to leave, but I was really interested in working on x type of deals and xyz just didn't work on very many of those types of deals - I explored internal moves, but ultimately felt that moving to ABC gave me the best opportunity to work on the type of deals I was most passionate about"
From experience, I would say BBs/EBs in London (Assuming that's where you are) will pay you a full bonus in line with the normal bonus cycle even if you join halfway through the year
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