JLL Capital Markets - Chicago

Bonus structure in JLL's Chicago office is different than in many other JLL offices.

In other JLL offices, analysts are bonused / tipped on a deal by deal basis at 3 - 4% of the total fee. That 3 - 4% is split between the analysts working the deal based on seniority / value-add (ie. a senior analyst running QB on the numbers / OM prep / investor DD may take 75% of that fee, while the junior analyst who is working under that senior analyst gets 25%). A senior analyst, on a high producing team, can earn their way into the $200k total comp figures that others have quoted. It just takes time (~2 years) to ramp up into that position, where producers trust you to run the analytics on deals, and you as an analyst have a full and rolling pipeline of deals (fees) that are closing. As a junior, your fee splits are worse (because you're less valuable) and it takes time to build a pipeline, which is why your earnings in the first couple years are lower (and especially in year 1).

In Chicago, management chooses to "smooth" analyst bonuses. Bonuses are fully discretionary and not tied to that 4% cut of fees - instead, that 4% goes into a bonus pool and is discretionarily bonused out. This is good for new analysts or analysts on less profitable teams - you will likely receive a bonus that is larger than it would be if your comp was tied to deal production / fees. But, for senior analysts or on teams that are crushing it, your bonus is typically lower than it would be if you were tipped out on a deal by deal basis. Total comp is capped for senior analysts at approximately $110 - $140k. New analysts should expect total bonuses in the $15k - $30k range. That's just how Chicago does it.