Bank on Banking

Nowadays, working hard, long hours in this ailing business is all but a certainty and, as such, generally means a similar lack of sleep for far less pay. Odds dictate that at some point, if not many points, throughout your first year (and 2nd and 3rd) you will be scolded for something that you messed up and/or something that was completely outside of your control or possible breadth of knowledge, yet, as the analyst, it easily trickles down the chain to become your fault (sh*t, afterall, rolls downhill). While this may all seem terribly unfair, ‘tis life, deal with it and focus on minimizing the occurrences and fattening your bank account (as much as you can). I know many guys and girls that were burnt out after one week, let alone two years, so if you can survive the full 2 years you should definitely save a few pennies. It is this “fattening of your bank account,” that we’ll focus on today – the means of boosting your performance to, ideally, maximize your bonus (the actual savings options will come in a follow-up article, so fear not, my banker attempt to describe the benefits of various savings plans is stumbling through and on its way).

In this market, the question is no longer whether your bonus will be 1x, 1.5x or 2x your base salary, but rather, whether your bonus will 25%, 50% or, ideally, 75% of your base salary (disclaimer: different banks, boutiques, and bulge brackets pay differently, which makes these figures estimates that are not meant to encapsulate everyone’s payout). The question now becomes what can you do to separate yourself from the rest of the pack and put yourself in the best possible position to, say, break (read: at least approach) the 6 figure mark your first year – in other words, what can you do to earn that 5 or even 4, vs. that 3/3+ rating. The key, in every market, whether boom, bust or anything in between, is not only to step up above the rest but also to STEP OUT.

Stepping up involves the “manual labor” side of the equation – in other words, when people ask how to separate themselves from their fellow employs, the answer is usually work harder and work longer. This is a pretty simple concept to grasp and is a surefire means of stepping up in the workplace. Take on additional projects such as willing to stay late and help out some colleagues turn a pitch book or revise an info memo, and volunteering to run with a new project if given the opportunity. Go the extra mile in terms of taking on smaller tasks that are necessary, but perhaps boring or tedious, such as spreading some general comps, organizing files and folders, or pulling together research for projects that you are working on and projects that other teammates are be staffed on if they are swamped (note: be VERY tactful and courteous as it pertains to helping others with their projects – you don’t want to step on anyone’s toes and create animosity – always ask twice before “helping”). Needless to say, I completely agree with this philosophy as a means of stepping up and shining. For some groups, stepping up and performing your tasks well will be enough to rock superstardom, but for others, you will need to take it up one more notch and try to step out.

Stepping out, although related to stepping up, involves stepping out of the traditional analyst mold; stepping out of an analyst’s typical comfort zone, if you will. Just as with virtually all situations or problems in the banker world, it’s easy to throw words and phrases around without any concrete meaning behind them. Therefore, let me actually describe what, in my humble opinion, it means to step out as an analyst through a few examples that I absolutely encourage you to try, build upon, and modify to best fit both your and your group’s personalities and dispositions (disclaimer: as hinted to, everyone’s situation is different, which means that all of these opportunities will not be available to everyone, but hopefully at least a few of them are available to most of you).

Offering your $0.02

In meetings (internal especially, but if spoken to, don’t be afraid to give full and confident answers in client meetings as well), during discussions regarding pitch book materials, information memo tweaks/additions/deletions, and modeling changes or sensitivities, make sure to actively participate in the conversation. By actively participate, I don’t mean nod along and chuckle whenever someone makes a small joke, but rather, actually become engaged in the conversation, courteously of course, and contribute. Obviously don’t rudely interrupt someone to make a point, but when you see something, say something – if, for example, there is something on slide 23 that no one has mentioned that you think should be changed, corrected or deleted, don’t wait till later to say it, mention it during the internal roundtable – get yourself involved and stimulate the debate – even if nothing ultimately happens from your comment, just making the comment leaves an impression in everyone’s mind. Essentially, you want to mold yourself to be the analyst whose opinion is asked for, not merely injected from time to time, and offering your $0.02 is how to get that ball rolling.

Expanding your knowledge of your industry and its specifics

Learn your industry, learn your deals and learn everything in between. I’m not telling you to spend every waking moment studying up on terminology, technology, and everything in between, but I am telling you to make a conscious effort to learn the financing subtleties of the industry, in general, learn all of the big players, some of the growing players, the mature players, the current technologies that dominate the market and potential innovations, some the bigger problems/threats/competition of the market and of your representative players, current deals in the market (including pricing, tenor, and types of financing), and general market sentiment towards the industry and its respective deals. I know that this sounds like a lot, but you should be learning these things over time and as they come up through deals and pitches. The trick here is to realize that you will never know everything on the list, but that’s ok – you just want to know a fair amount and be able to contribute to documentation drafting and discussions. Just as with everything else I have described already, the main goal here is to shape yourself into an integral part of the team – anyone can revise a pitch, some will do it better than others, but the bottom line is that not every analyst can revise a pitch they have more or less written. The more knowledge you have, the more freedom you will be given to run with tasks.

Be an individual

I know that in banking, there will be many people who tell you to be just like everyone else, blend in, and do what everyone else does – I’m here to tell you NOT to do that. Now I am absolutely not telling you to ignore senior requests for work or staffing responsibilities, to talk back for the sake of being argumentative, to act in a stubborn or adolescent manner when it comes to working late (or on the weekends, or when you wanted to go to the gym, a date, a movie, etc), or to ignore deadlines. That said, I am simply telling you to be yourself (unless yourself would entail any of the aforementioned “do not dos,” in which case, be yourself without that stuff). By be yourself, I mean show your personality, your intellect and your, presumably, unique way of thinking. Talk about your hobbies, and take an interest in the hobbies of others – if you have never done something that others are talking about, simply ask questions. I know that this one, perhaps above all of the others, sounds incredibly intuitive, but I know so many people that simply conform to the banker mold, nod at everything, keep to themselves, and seem to be some sort of successful Hulu goo-like creations (note: I absolutely love Hulu, but I don’t recommend acting like someone whose brains really have turned to goo – if you haven’t seen the commercials this may not make sense) – simply put, corporate drones. Bottom line, not everything is funny, not everything sounds fun, and you don’t have to go for a beer every day just because a colleague likes to. If you like to work out, make it happen, if you like to make the occasional joke, do it (crude humor can be left at home though, thanks) – just be yourself – no one has ever been truly great, or truly exceptional by trying to be just like everyone else, or by trying to be someone else (sorry if it sounded like a rant there for a second, but do visit Hulu, and no they do not sponsor this site in any way, though that would be awesome). At the end of the day, it is your unique character that will carry you further than any drone out there.

Stay tuned for future posts on Networking, Interview 202, Savings Plans, and much more. Also, keep an eye out for my soon-to-be-released Resume/Cover Letter service, and Interview Prep service – suggestions are, as always, quite welcome.