Hey monkeys — need your input on my current situation and would welcome any advice / thoughts (sorry for the long post in advance):
Background:
I graduated from a non target in the northeast last year and accepted a IB job at a lower tier MM IB in NYC (think stifel, rayJ, cantor, piper) working in the healthcare group. I wasn’t exactly set on IB coming out of college and didn’t have great internship experience so I was happy to receive the offer. I understand that a lot of you will sh!t on me and say this is a crappy job etc. but that’s not what this discussion is meant to be about.
The issue:
So I’ve been at this bank for over a year and I can say it’s been a nightmare (more than usual for a first year according to my friends at other banks, even B.B.) My associate is horrible and my director is even worse. Associate is more just bad at his job than anything which makes me have to take the associate role over sometimes as far as delegating work, communicating with seniors on projects, planning out projects, etc. and my director is just a trash human being (everyone at the bank actually hates the dude and multiple juniors have quit citing him as the main reason for leaving). He has said many things to me that are over the line and his rep on the street is not good (have talked to many people and they hate the dude) I love my MD and he is aware of the problem with the director but whenever he talks to the director things get good for a week or so and then go back to Normal. My MD and the director don’t get along at all since I joined the group is pretty dysfunctional/ not a good work environment at all due to said director. The associate doesn’t help either but I think the main issue is the director. I know I sound like I’m whining but from talking to other people this doesn’t seem to be the norm. On top of it I work 80+ hours a week (most of it is for the director who brings in little to no money and has me doing ridiculous stuff my MD would never give me. He is addicted to banking and is always working so he likes me to do the same. On top of all that, my base pay is street but my bonus is horrible (hence not worth putting up with this BS)
I’m getting through but I honestly don’t think I can make it another year or 2 here or even want to. I now realize this bank is not great and my exit ops would be a joke after 2 years if I wanted to do anything buy side. I feel like if I stay here I will be an associate and hate my life working under this director and just never be happy.
So my question to you all is:
1. Am I just over reacting and this is common at other places as far as how senior bankers treat juniors?
2. How hard would it be for me to make the jump to a top tier MM bank (would like to stay in healthcare as I do enjoy the space) or a low tier BB for a year or 2 so my exit ops are better (I have contacts at other banks and feel that I would be able to get interviews at a lot of places I just don’t know how much of a disadvantage I am at since I’m not coming from a great bank)
3. Have any of you had similar experiences with really shitty seniors / associates and how have you handled them?
Thanks in advance for the comments / guidance as I really am just at a roadblock and not sure what to do. I think all signs point to myself needing to leave this firm ASAP but wanted to see what my monkey friends thought first. I get life as an IB analyst sucks for the beginning of your career but this is getting to the point where I’m miserable and hate coming to work in this hostile / dysfunctional work environment.
Thanks guys!
Hi Midtownbanker1, whoops, looks like nobody chimed in here.... maybe one of these discussions below is relevant:
I hope those threads give you a bit more insight.
Don't underestimate your exit ops. If you put yourself out there and present well, its not as hard as your implying. You're at least at a known place.
Thanks, appreciate the input. Any tips you would give me to better my chances other than networking with other folks from diff banks? Would like to go as high as possible with this move (ideally some sort of B.B. just not DB lol)
I'm guessing you're at Stifel.
I guess the culture there really is Stifeling.
Nope but good guess
Im guessing you're at Cantor
Sounds like it's just one senior banker though? Are you only working with 1 MD and 1 Director? Might talk to your staffer about getting staffed with other senior guys and position it as you want to get exposure with some of the other teams.
It's probably not too difficult - there are plenty of guys who started at smaller banks (or even non-banks and then lateraled).
Shitty associates are just going to be a part of life as an analyst. Since there's a new crop from school each year, it's not all that different than analysts as a group in that there will be some good ones, some bad ones, and a lot of OK ones.
You can manage a shitty associate, but unfortunately IDK how much you can realistically do about shitty senior bankers. Your job is to support their deals, and that's kind of it. You can try to talk to your staffer about working with other senior guys but not sure outside of that.
BTW, in general in you professional life, if your boss sucks, you can either (1) grit it out and hope he leaves one way or another, or (2) just leave yourself. #2 is both much faster, as well as a guaranteed result, and has the upshot of oftentimes coming with a raise (better than what you could get than staying in many cases) in today's economic environment.
What exactly is stopping you from leaving (or at least trying to)? It sounds like you don't think you'd be missing out on much.
Hey thanks for the response this is great input. As to my team it’s a super lean team (1 MD 1 Director and 1 associate) so unfortunately can’t pick to work with one over the other and most of my time is spent with said director. I’ve been able to deal with associate pretty well I think by basically telling him how it’s going to be (more or less doing part of his job for him since I know he is incapable) as far as director I have had many talks with him and have talked to MD which agrees with me that director isn’t greatest person or even we’ll liked in bank.
As to your question of what is keeping me around? Welp that is bonus szn and once that hits my bank account I’d be surprised if I wasn’t gone within a month or 2 as I just can’t deal with this director ruining my life or trying to at least. Still a bit worried on how high I can ladderal transfer to. Would really like a B.B. spot for a year or so before going to buyside to pad rezzy as well as get experience on bigger deals with better economics.
Sounds like a plan then. Get paid and get out.
Best bet might be to get that fatty bonus and bounce. Easier said than done and just wondering when your bank might be paying bonuses out.
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