Kkent - I’ve seen both sides of the coin in banking. The reward: One of my best friends made MD at 27 years old (incredibly young) due to circumstance (he was in the right place at the right time), hard work (especially his first 3 years), and mostly charm (his bosses loved him). Last year, he pulled in about a million and felt he was underpaid. He winds up taking me and our other friends on vacations and always pays the $1,000 bar tabs we ring up (actually I think these wind up getting expensed back). Another of my best friends who I played bball with wound up doing two years in banking before moving to private equity - he’s now going to U of Chicago MBA and wants to go into IM afterward. When I asked him if he’d ever return to banking he said, “NEVER. It was the worst two years of my life. I never left before 12 AM - EVER.” I rarely saw him during those two years and when I did he was a pale, skinny mess. He probably hooked up with as many girls in two years as I did in an average weekend (he was a guy who had them lined up in college). He never hung out with any of his friends, didn’t have time for his girlfriend and was generally miserable. Having said that, he now has great opportunities ahead of him, but he paid a heavy price. What is most interesting is that neither of these two guys is especially smart…they actually had the lowest SAT scores of any member of our basketball team (keep in mind I went to a highly academic school). What they did have in common was that they both are very (extremely) personable, work very hard, and fit into the “system”. I’m rambling here, but the bottom line is that banking will tax your ass, but you don’t need to be the smartest to be very succesful. If you can suck it up for two years (which is tough to do), then you’ll have some good exit options in front of you. I’d pursue the job like you really want it and after you get an offer then decide if its what you really want to do. Either way, the process will help you flesh out what you like/dislike about banking and sharpen your interview skills for future opportunities. Good luck with it.
There is a reason the BB don’t have many grads from Chicago/Caltech/MIT etc the like. You need diff qualities and skills to be a banker, but truly those are the same qualities most top f100 CEOs have. Most CEOs worked extremely hard and were very flexible. Consulting has the same sacrifices. My last boss in corp finance at a f100 company, put in 65 hours a week, for a job that needed 40. The result was is division made more money and everyone in the company loved him and respected him. He got a crazy promotion out of Canada to NYC after just 12 months on the job, where he now has a cushy job for the next 20 years. If you are real damn smart then go be a Steve Jobs, or go work for the fed and save this damn economy that we have right now.
DirtyZ, great insight. Those stories don’t surpise me at all (except for the 1k bar tab! Good Lord!). ade, if I were smart, I would definitely work for the Federal Reserve. Unfortunately, I’m just an average joe with a big work ethic and a passion for the markets.
nolabird032 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > didn’t you turn down a job for $70k during your > last job search? is that extra $10k worth the 40 > more hrs/wk you would have to work? and how is > this job going to be any better then your last IB > job? Yes, I did. You’re 110% correct on all counts. The difference now is location (10 minute commute by foot), $10k more (~25-30k more than my last job), and a mother who is about to kill me because she’s sick of paying my bills. All motivation for sucking it up for a year or 2. Honestly, fear of mother is the biggest motivating factor. And I don’t have an offer yet from them. So we’ll see.
Haha…oh, we can drink. And you always are thirstier when it’s free! It’s like in Super Troopers, “open bar dude!”
Double baco cheeseburger. It’s for a cop.
Ill have six schlit-lits-itses…WHATEVERS FREE !
LOL! I love it.
The same reason why training hospitals work 1st year residents 80 hours a week, when there are many people in the field. Look at the big picture. More analysts mean more managers which means more money, or same mangers, but they would need to increase their salaries for more work. There is more than meets the eye…
^ that topic is over. conversation has moved on to super trooper quotes. im sorry bruce. these boys get that syrup in em… they get all antsy in their pantsy.
Hey, let’s pop some Viagras and issue tickets with raging, mega-huge boners. - Farva
hahahaha
Meow, do you know how fast you were going?
Movie references aside. I think that many of the embedded cultural arguments make sense (I spent years in management consulting before making career change, similar mindset. My wife is a physician, so I have that perspective too). Ultimately, it comes down to exposure. An analyst (or medical intern or consulting junior team member) will have much greater opportunity to learn the more they are at the office. It’s part of the reason that people coming out of IB and consulting get to move up the ladder faster. If the average person works 2,500 hours in a year, the IB or consulting person probably worked 4,000 or more. In three calendar years, the second person is going to have as much “on the job” experience as the average person got in twice that time. I also agree with the idea that it’s the economics of the biz. Consulting businesses of all type have ebbs and flows to the demand for their work. Keep staff down and you dont need to start throwing people overboard once things get a little thin. Finally, I think that the argument about being the right “type” is key in all industries. You never really leave high school, everyone just gets better clothes and cars. Good Luck to All
You are way underpaid if you’re only making $80,000 in IB coming out of college. See the back office message thread where all the millionaires on this board were making bank clearing trades and processing expense receipts before the age of 23. Totally unrealistic for you to be making less than a million.
Only a Global head in BO is going to receive a Million +. Believe me, I have friends who work in BO and do well (GS, ML, HSBC) but they are far from being a millionaire. I’m not sure if you are trying to annoy everyone with this ‘million’ comment but it does not happen for 23 yr olds in IB BO!
Seb, farley’s comments are tongue-in-cheek; about a week or so ago, there was a debate on here about what a 22-year-old college grad could expect to make working in the back office of a NYC investment bank (or was it in general in NYC? I don’t remember). There was a pretty big divide on the issue. One group swore on their soul it was $80k easy, the other swore it was in the mid-30s. The truth, I’m sure, lies in the middle. But I’d say $80k for a new college grad in DC, even working 80 hours per week, is obscene and should be outlawed by Congress. 
you’re right. A buddy of mine who just graduated from college is in BO at goldman and hes making $60k.
There ya go.
kkent - thks for updating me. I have helped our HR division recruit for IB - Several internal employees have to help present the different product areas to recent grads and I know what we pay all of our divisions… The Global Markets Operations start on £30k pa (Bonus up to 30%) - therefore could be up to GBP 45K - (USD 90K - but GBP is strong so $80 is more realistic). All the FO schemes - Markets/Capital Mkts/IB/Corporate/Research - grads start on GBP 41K (sign on 5k) and Bonus is normally capped at 100% - Realistic Bonus 40-60%