Competition

Very interesting/new topic...i would like to know as well...since analysts are "ranked" (top/middle bucke

Not sure about other's experiences, but I've noticed that it doesn't seem like all of us are competing with one another, but people will start to get pissed if someone doesn't pull his weight/do his fair share.

Analysts actually don't compete with each other directly that much because most deals are only staffed with 1 Analyst. Occasionally you will have 2 but that is usually only for mega-deals (of which there aren't anymore).

Generally the "competition" takes the form of Analysts thinking others aren't working as hard, leaving too early etc. Very rarely do people complain that others are getting "all the good deals" unless they really never get deals to work on... a.k.a. if they are bad as Analysts.

At bonus time people generally get more pissed if they think someone else got the same as them but worked a lot less or had an easier time soemhow. In the end it's really stupid because there honestly isn't much of a difference in a few thousand dollars, especially after taxes; plus, the person with better experience will have better exit opps.

As well as the lazy people, you find you tend to get pissed off with some muppet who kisses ass all day and will use the last 5% of available energy to essentially whore himself out (always cancelling his holidays etc). But generally, you kind of develop a seige mentality whereby you're there to help each other out, chat through what you're going through, plan next career moves etc. I found it was a bit like uni in that it is pretty much the last chance in your life to be around very like minded people of the same age and you'll settle into your group during training while getting along with most people.

No backstabbing in the group I was in.  The entire analyst class was there to help out each other, we got very close.  It's one of the things I miss the most about banking.  Our first bonus season we were most concerned with how things would shake out in terms of tiers.  It was pretty clear that there were multiple first tiers but we were pretty sure only 1, maybe 2 people would be paid top-tier.  The group actually chose to give 3 top tier, so it all worked out.

Technically you're supposed to keep it confidential... and this is what you're told when the senior people tell you what your bonus was, but in practice everyone just tells everyone what they got.

Sometimes if the group of Analysts is really paranoid, they might just write down the numbers on scraps of paper, throw them into a box, and then pull them out to look at.

But either way everyone finds out what everyone else got. Actually there was 1 Analyst in my class who refused to tell people, mostly because he was insanely paranoid, and everyone just thought he was a tool.

In PE, at the junior level at least, base and bonus has far less discrepency between individuals than banking.  Most PE shops will tell you what to expect for bonus (it's not market driven like banking is) and pay you that amount unless you do a terrible job.  If there's any difference between associates pay, it's very minor. 

patek, i'd imagine it's harder to get away with since many PE shops tend to run a lot more lean, so by the very nature of most firms having much smaller headcount, it would be tough to put their bonus figures in a hat and expect to remain anonymous. of course, people are often still liberal about sharing bonus figures.

on the banking side, i agree with dosk17 in that people tend to speak pretty freely about bonus figures. in addition, when you're going for buy-side recruiting, the headhunters will have all the data anyway in order to determine which analyst fell into which bucket, since they will ask you how much comp you earned.

Well coming from a Top BB I can give you some examples, I hope.

If a bank has 40 analysts there will be 4 buckets of personality, we will call them B1 (5), B2 (15), B3 (15), and B4 (5). The parenthesis are the number of people, from the 40, who are in each bucket.

B1 = The paranoid

These people are ULTRA competitive, and not necessarily great or even good analysts; however the top analyst in the group is usually in this bucket. They will check your work on shared drives and critique it to see if you have any errors. They will lie about their GPA, SAT score, girlfriends, parents’ jobs, sports they played in high school, etc. Everything to them is a ranking system. They will fly back on Christmas to shine their MD’s shoes. They do not really get along with anyone, not even themselves, but you have to invite them out. They will join you and it will be awkward because you cannot be yourself.

B2 = The nice and good

These people are great analysts who realize that this job sucks so lets make it fun. They will have good stories, will go out on random nights, and will always help you out if you need it. They can sometimes be paranoid because of their nature, but good people.

B3 = The nice and slightly less good

These analysts are very close to the B2 but they might not of had a SA, might not have a family member in the industry, maybe went to a low ivy, etc. However, they are very open, honest, and nice. They will go out and help out people who need it.

B4 = The lazy

They are as lazy as the B1 is paranoid. However, as an analyst in the B2 and B3 you hate this group the most. They will leave you hanging if you ever have to tag team a project. They will always be gone for personal reasons, family reasons, apartment issues, flights delayed, overslept, too busy, etc.

Now among these groups there is not any inherent competition, let’s face it you all got there for a reason, and if it was because you knew someone you will learn to pull your weight or become a B4. Only the B1 actually try to outdo other analysts. Come bonus season, we are not MDs it does not vary that much. One year it was like $60K-120K with 70% getting between 90-100, therefore, chances are you and your friends got paid evenly. Also, you know how busy you were so if your friend Joe got $5K more but never hat a Saturday and you had 10 to yourself, you will not complain. There are cases that great analysts get overlooked or overpaid, but that is life.

One time an a good analyst, that just did not have good deal or MD luck, got screwed and he brought it up in a team meeting how, he did not mention names, but you knew who he meant, got paid X and he got Y and if something was not done he would leave. Nothing was done and he went to MS, that is life.

As far as exit opps a lot is dependent. There was a B4 who got on a deal with a former Blackrock MD and he got him a job there after his stint. There are also Top B1-B3 who just do not network and get just MM exit opps. However, you do a good job and you will get a good exit opp. If you do amazing work you have a better chance to get an amazing exit opp but you probably will get a good exit opp, however, you will bring that amzing work with you and will some day get noticed.

Now I was a B2 and I believe I had one of the top 5 exit opps of my class, such is life.

PM me with questions

Does which undergraduate school you come from matter that much in your job?

tbroker (intentionally or unintentionally) you sound like a complete tool.   b3 classification: "low ivy"  "might not have a family member in the industry"  and for this they are "slightly less good?"

let me guess, you went to a private school, had a great SA ur sophomore year that daddy got you, a ski home in the swiss alps, and ur parents may have been generous donors to ur "high" ivy.

BofA