I made Associate in TMT a few months ago and it really didn’t get better, got worse if anything. Not only am I the person that has most “expertise” in one particular subsector (which I’ve been covering for 3 years), I have previous coverage going live, related deals happening, people selling me a “quick review of analyst doing most of the work” that turns into 20-page decks..
At any point in time I have 3-8 projects, most of them being deal execution
Additionally, while when I was a senior analyst I often had no Associate (working with VP or ED directly) and could manage my time, I now have junior analysts which made tons of mistake and there are a lot more turns than when I was an analyst. So I have not only to review them, but sometimes also take over because they can’t deliver, which is an issue when you’re on say 5 projects instead of 3. At the end of the day I finish at 1-3am on average while analyst years were more midnight. Also more weekend work because analysts can’t deliver during the week.
Anybody having the same issues ? It doesn’t seem sustainable if the pace continues.
It can get better, a lot better.
but it won’t get better until you can train your analysts to become good and get real leverage from them.
my view from my own career (I was A2A) but generations after me is that for good analyst promotes, the workload spikes exactly as you say it did in the manner you did. The single most important differentiator of those A2As who succeeded was how they built leverage below. If you can succeed in doing that, you’ve solved the next five years of career and wlb.
Thanks for your feedback and good to hear
Do you have any specific advice to build more leverage from below and train your analysts better ? What worked for you practically ?
Treat them like the subordinates they are and perhaps then they wouldn't make as many mistakes /s
This is horrendous advice. Analysts have all the power in banking. Associate is the worst job - you're supposed to "manage" the Analysts, but they're doing everything and with the rare exception for A2A's, they're usually more competent and understand how banking works better.
As I mentioned, as an A2A you're in a different position than MBA Associates, but if you treat Analysts like subordinates it will backfire on you and people will not want to work with you. This will have negative impacts on your career long-term. The reality is you are their peer. Your job is to manage deal processes up through the Director / MD and check Analyst work and serve as a pinch-hitter for decks and models.
Analysts are not your subordinate until VP / Director.
It's really really good advice and second. It's the same every time you move up. Having a rockstar analyst when I made associate and a rockstar asso when I made veep made all the difference.
To answer your question, what worked for me was a combination of the below. Keep in mind different strokes for different folks.
- Keep them involved - I have them listen in to all calls, sit in on any internal discussions, really anything that gives them the full picture. I find it encourages ownership when they understand the "why" behind a piece of work rather than just getting instructions. I don't offer this as a free for all, you have to earn trust with good work to sit in with clients for example. Nobody has disappointed yet
- Be a good supervisor - Spend the time training them, be constructive with criticism that sort of thing. Don't pass blame, don't throw anyone under the bus, be a team player / mentor. Sometimes you have to take the hit for something a junior messed up, and that's ok, just take it. Frankly, you probably should have caught it anyway, so the blame goes all around. This is the kind of stuff that breeds loyalty, people will want to work for you.
- Keep the bar high - If you can motivate someone through (a) and (b), you really don't need to do this. People who want to work with you will generally give you their best. When they don't, let them know in a constructive way. People want to work for those they like, but also perceptions of success matter.
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