F7, F7, F7, F7, F7, F7, F7 !!!!!!!

To all prospective M&A folks out there - Before sending off your final exhibit ALWAYS do the following:

  1. Run a spell check (F7).
  2. Run a spell check (F7).
  3. Run a spell check (F7).
  4. Run a spell check (F7).
  5. Run a spell check (F7).
  6. Run a spell check (F7).
  7. Run a spell check (F7).

Then send your preliminary exhibit to your boss, for his review so he can do the same at least 7 times. That's right 7 times...

Always do this no matter how many all-nighters you've pulled, how tired you are, or even how busy you are, because the client doesn't give a $%^$#!#@$%%&%&&& about how hard the WHOLE TEAM worked.

21 Comments
 
curiousmonkeyGod, I am so glad I am going straight to the buyside out of undergrad.

You'll still get your a$$ chewed out for sloppy work.

 
wingman
curiousmonkeyGod, I am so glad I am going straight to the buyside out of undergrad.

You'll still get your a$$ chewed out for sloppy work.

I was reading through this thread and about to make the exact same comment. Working on the buyside means less bureaucracy - but make no mistake, your work products have to be that much better. Your write-ups / analyses / models are either 100% spot-on or complete trash... there is no middle ground.

 

Also need someone who's awake and alert to check over your stuff first. If it's internal stuff I'm almost past the point of caring now that I only have a few months of banking left, but usual a good idea to have someone else check...

Also print things out and check them, you find a lot more errors that way.

And yes, having no need to hit F7 constantly is just one of many advantages on the buyside.

 

I had a boss that tore into me about an email I sent him. I typed it in hast, he let me know in not so nice a way. Never did it again, lessoned learned.

 
Best Response
themilkmanI had a boss that tore into me about an email I sent him. I typed it in hast, he let me know in not so nice a way. Never did it again, lessoned learned.

First years do this all the time, I think it was 6 months into my work experience when I started to read and re-read my emails before sending them out (even when they were to less senior folks, just to make sure I didn't come off sounding like an idiot). The other major flaw in first-year emails has got to be the UNBELIEVABLY awkward wording of their emails - my guess is that over time people just read more and more well written emails / related materials and learn to type emails that don't sound like they came from someone under the age of 16 or over the age of 60.

You guys do realize that MS Outlook has an option to auto-spell check everything before emails are sent, right?

 

Most people spell a real world, just not the intended one. Like fiend instead of friend, butt instead of but, etc. So spell checkers aren't foolproof.

 

Cheesy but relevant:

Eye halve a spelling chequer It came with my pea sea It plainly marques four my revue Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.

Eye strike a key and type a word And weight four it two say Weather eye am wrong oar write It shows me strait a weigh.

As soon as a mist ache is maid It nose bee fore two long And eye can put the error rite Its rare lea ever wrong.

Eye have run this poem threw it I am shore your pleased two no Its letter perfect awl the weigh My chequer tolled me sew.

"When I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead."

 

Yeah, I've got my share of failed-to-hit-F9 stories, Relinquo. It can be pretty miserable and make you look like a complete idiot.

Ironically, now that I work at a firm where we leave autocalc turned on, I reflexively shoot my hand out and hit F9 after every single cell entry, just like the old days. It has led my office-mate to call me "Twitchy". Bah.

 

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