Bonus information for head hunters - do I need to be fully transparent?

jim_beam:

Thanks - makes sense that large bulge brackets will have thorough background check processes and potentially PE funds too, and I will be transparent with future employers. But as far as headhunters are concerned, assuming bonus info is for their own internal purposes and they won't disclose this to future employers?

Why do you think they won't disclose this to future employers?

I agree with this in general and in principle but the thing to keep in mind is that you don't want the HH to think you're playing games, especially since comp (both base and bonus) for analysts is in a pretty tight band (relative to higher levels). In addition, I get the feeling that comp at most PE firms is standardized for associates, so I think the main reason HH's ask for bonus info is to indirectly gauge what bucket you're in.

Tell them that you know you are valuable and ask for an on-site interview. Tell them you are willing to go through a few case interview so they test drive you. If you convince them that you are worth more than what your salary says, they might just believe that you have a cheap boss. Hey, they have nothing to loose by giving you an in person interview. I'm not sure how PE firms hire, but isn't the objective of a phone call is to screen for an on-site. Show them that you are willing to take the initiative steps to be proactive and not reactive to their comments.

All the best, Ju

here is what i did before i got my 30% bump. note that i went from a lower paying industry to higher.

i told them that my base was around a certain level, down to the 10,000s level of precision. however, i told them that there would be a performance based raise ardoun 15% and a promotion bump around 10%. i also put in the highest COLA range that my firm would allow, around 5%

if i did stay, who knows if i would have gotten all this. but they basically matched it penny for penny and i had the sense that that was as high as they would go anyway. btw, i am by no means a star hire.

I just talked to the HR lady at my firm, and she said that the firm does NOT divulge an employee's compensation if asked. Hence, I can choose not to reveal the information to headhunters or I can just give them a broad range or even make up an exaggerated number since no company would be able to verify.

Here's a bit of advice from someone who has worked for a search and recruiting firm but not in finance (yet).

I used to work in a recruiting firm over the summers when I was younger because my father is a partner. And generally when he saw people who seemed severely underpaid there was one of two things going 1) the job wasn't actually fulfilling the job responsibilities normal for that position at other firms or 2) the person was just underpaid and didn't seem to know it.

If 2 is your case than it's not going to be a problem looking for a new job. The recruiter should be able to go over your story with you and you just need to make it clear that yes, you were fulfilling those responsibilities but that you simply hadn't known you were underpaid till you started looking for other work/you really liked the firm so you hadn't looked earlier. It really shouldn't be a problem with a good and trusted headhunter.

Part of the problem may be that 1, you may only be dealing with researchers who don't actually do any recruiting. For instance a lot of recruiting firms have researchers who find account leads by cold calling, monster/dice/etc searching, following news leads, etc. But those researchers are just screening candidates and finding leads, the candidate or job will then be passed over to an actual recruiter who has more knowledge. Sometimes these researchers talk out of their ass because they are hoping to become account executives. 2 you may be working with a firm that isn't specialized and the recruiter may not know a lot about your area. Some firms/recruiters trying to just grab whatever job and candidate they can find in whatever industry and don't know a lot about the industry.

tl;dr you should be fine if you can make the case that you are doing the same work as someone who makes more. And a lot of it comes down to how well the recruiters know their clients and how respected they are. Some recruiters do a great job screening candidates and have great relationships with clients who trust them fully.