We’re approaching end-of-year — I want you to think how quickly 2022 passed by us. I still remember last year’s New Years trip and me turning 30 years old and now before you know it, I’m 31.

I remember my form CTO was rather big on this — every single year he said ask yourself, are you doing the best you can be doing. This is the one time of year where you give yourself a personal review, can you get paid more somewhere else? Can you seek more fulfillment in another role? Are you being your best person at your current company? While he managed over me and was part of my review, it was refreshing coming from someone that arguably could be the reason that I was looking to leave every year… now the question is (and I’m not putting this on our readers for no reason) but are you pushing yourself to your limit by working where you are?

Some think that we’re a Private Equity Prep/Coaching Company — the reality is we’ve helped many individuals move into various different divisions of finance… not necessarily only PE, we are a premium service firm that helps individuals move into their dream firms — if you want to stay in banking, I’d advise moving to an EB, if you want to go PE I’d say go UMM>Megafund, if you want to get to a Hedge Fund, get to P72 Academy Program as fast as possible, if it’s corporate development/strategy & operations, go somewhere small and get a lot of equity and upside… Only question for you as you read this is are you optimizing for success where you currently are?

Note: This blog piece was written by a senior investment banker who has ~10 years of finance experience — mainly in investment banking (both at BB & EBs). Disclaimer: This blog piece gets VERY real, very quick.

Over the past couple of years, it’s no secret that juniors (namely analysts) have had the upper hand against their firms, which no doubt has created a better environment for all. 

Group heads encouraging folks to take their vacation and unplug if not on a live deal during the holidays/late in the summer and leaders taking more of an initiative to over-communicate and express their appreciation for a job well done (irrespective of a closed deal) is a welcome change/example. In the midst of that though, we’ve created an environment in some groups/firms where junior complaints and their push for a better lifestyle at the detriment of work has been toxic.

New joiners are picking up and learning habits that won’t be sustainable for themselves as the pendulum shifts back in favor of firms/employers. Showing up to work as they please, missing meetings, the old “train was delayed” excuse for being a few minutes late to a meeting and in general not caring what their perception amongst seniors is... In this new environment where folks aren’t protected by layoffs, I expect not only under-performers to be culled but also folks who perpetuate a toxic attitude amongst the bullpen, even if they are top performers.

It was the case when folks in my rank were coming up — we had a decent performer from a work product standpoint, but he perpetuated some sort of culture where we had two factions within our bullpen, i.e. group A and group B, and started pissing off VPs by punting work even when he had capacity — he was let go in favor of someone who wasn’t as great from a work product standpoint but frankly had a better attitude.

My instinct is that going forward, folks, unfortunately, shouldn’t feel “safe” and simply because you think you are top bucket or one of the highest performers doesn’t mean that you’ll always be safe in the context of layoffs — especially if you’re perpetuating a bad attitude. Taking from my previous post, financial firms are recalibrating, like our clients, and that likely will mean more layoffs in the coming year. (The good news is that the labor market is still tight and on average it seems as though folks are landing jobs within ~3 months of a layoff). I think in the new year it’ll be more and more important to couple that hard work with a strong attitude if this is an industry you really see yourself continuing your career in. I’ve sat in roundtables and have been a part of recruiting now at 3 large firms. It may not make sense while you’re on the job, but the reality is analysts are dispensable.

If you’re bringing a bad attitude to the table and creating a toxic environment for a bullpen, I can guarantee you that seniors won’t hesitate to let you go if they’re asked to cull headcount. Why? Because there are dozens of other kids who would want your seat and we replenish ranks quickly through new analyst classes every summer. The movement towards a two-year analyst program situation doesn’t help this case, either. If you’re unsure what the appropriate culture within your group is, I’d take some time to get to know more mid-levels, junior MDs, and seniors to have a better sense of general expectations, and not only what they’ve articulated to the group on a broader scale, but what they’d expect from a high performer and what expectations were given to them.

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