In your investment banking group, how much exposure do analysts get to people above associate?
At your firm, are analysts almost entirely in contact with associates and VPs? Do they often interact with directors and MDs directly or is that limited to rare occasions?
I think KKR guy said it well. If you are at a boutique, very likely you will spend time with all roles of the ladder. It only matters if you are able to show your value to these people, whether it is your ASO and VP recognizing you and giving that feedback to your MD or your MD seeing it for himself firsthand. Just do good work and try to avoid getting on people's bad sides. The work itself at investment banks are not hard, managing people is what makes it difficult.
Daily exposure. I think it is very important for junior staff to get exposure, that is, directly talking to and emailing with, senior people on the deal team. It is a privilege and not a right; by that I mean you have to first show that you are a great executor and process manager, and then you have to show you can think beyond your immediate role and understand the bigger picture. You also need to have the maturity to know when and what to ask or talk about. Once you develop closer relationships and a working style with a senior, it can really blossom into something that can benefit the rest of your career.
It’s pretty common in our group. Often times, MDs and Directors will have smaller projects where they work directly with analysts, which is great exposure. On live deals, it really depends on the MD or Director. Some are very hands on and will be on the phone with the analyst combing through the model or giving comments on the materials. Others are much more high level and work more directly with the VP / Associate. Both can be good and both have their downside (e.g., do you really want the M&A MD calling your desk and poking through your model?). In any case, it’s never a good thing to limit analyst exposure, because the more they take on, the faster they’ll grow and the better the deal team / office will function.
Depends on what bank you are in and also sometimes dependent on groups. My friends banks think of Evercore Lazard’s of the world, they don’t get a lot of exposure above associate/VP. Could be because it’s very hierarchical. Some groups at major banks, the nature of the job would be to communicate to different industry groups so they may get more senior level exposure. Don’t think there’s a set answer for this and it is really case by case because I have heard some wild analysts / MDs stories.
That’s helpful - was curious how structured the layers were at larger shops. I’m at a boutique and feel like I’ve had exposure to my whole deal team up the chain and had a lot of direct interaction with senior deal team members. I had gotten the impression that this was a function of having a leaner shop and that some places really kept the analyst off to the side jamming on models for the associate/VP while the associate and up took on the vast majority of lower level client interaction and higher level deal team interaction
At the end of the day, those MD’s will ask your correspondent associates and VPs how good you are. And if you get positive feedback, they will test you whether you will be fit for an associate role, one way or another. You may not end up talking to your MDs, but then you would be put into a position dealing with external counterparties, which is far more important than just trying to impress your MD. They are always watching you and your potential for stepping up.