Hey fellow monkeys. I'm a A2 thats not getting a third year Analyst offer, and I'm confused about the path forward. I enjoy finance but I take way too long to do things / am not that good at modeling. Any thoughts on what career paths to look at next? Thanks.
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Do you know the reason why it takes you so long to do things? Also have you tried to improve on your modeling skills? Just want to learn from your mistakes if you don’t mind sharing.
I think I'm just naturally slow at things / my mentality has always been to go slow and steady. Thats definitely not what Wall Street expects. Everything here is do it as fast as possible. So my modeling is not terrible, its just that I haven't had that much experience with it / I can't start or build things from scratch easily. I've done Training the Street, and thats been really helpful. I just think I need more reps with a model. Also I didn't have the best mindset going into the job. My favorite part of the day is finishing work, not actually doing the work. I think that has had a pretty big impact on me.
Plenty of opportunities in FP&A or corp biz dev for someone with a couple of years of M&A experience under their belt. Could also look at Big4 transaction advisory o consulting. If all else fails, go to business school.
Thanks, this is super helpful. And what is the modeling / hours for these jobs?
Depends.
Big4 TAS is going to be 50-60/week generally and the work will be comparable to banking. More Q of E and valuation work, so standard modeling comps, trx, dcf, and lbo is the norm.
FP&A is closer to a standard 9-5 and modeling would probably be minimal. Closer to an accountant that looks a little more forward than normally expected.
Consulting...no idea, but at a big firm hours are similar to banking.
Business School is always a option too. It's basically a two year vacation and you can recruit into corporate LDPs if that's what you want. Money is less, but you get a good WLB.
I see, thanks for the descriptions. Thats helpful. Yeah I think the FP&A roles sound more interesting, given the better work life balance and seemingly less intense work. I think I'm going to try and avoid banking like jobs, just given the fact that I've been incompetent in this industry so far.
I know this is not the way to think and I should be seeking jobs that are challenging / teach me something, but are there roles in finance that as easy as (or almost as easy as) putting numbers into an Excel / plug-and-chug? Basically roles that don't involve that much brain power?
Obviously important to learn from mistakes but wouldn't dwell on it cause 95%+ of Analysts leave after 2 years (if not earlier) anyways. It won't affect your resume and job search. You could probably lateral to another bank if you enjoy banking, if not switch to Corp. Dev. or FP&A.
Would also check to figure out how your relationship is with team cause I've seen plenty of "slow" analysts get promoted to Associate cause of high attrition. It could be that some Associates/VPs you worked with put in overly negative reviews.
The only way this would be due to being to slow is if it was borderline slow to where people think you are not doing your job. Like there is generally a low hurdle to get over, so maybe going to another bank may not be the best as you may keep seeing the same thing happen.
Thanks, I appreciate the support. Yeah it looks like corporate or FP&A roles are the way to go. I'm basically looking for something that's still finance, but easier / with lower expectations of me. My team was great. The culture at my bank is very good. The only problem was the fact that I was given a lot of responsibility on two deals with two very very very strong Associates, and I couldn't meet their expectations. I think that screwed me.
Banking isn't the end all be all. I'm sure that you'll be fine and getting some quality of life back is never a bad thing.
Yeah I was slow to the point where people got annoyed about why things take so long / I wasn't being as productive as I could have been. Have tried to figure it out but have probably only gotten marginally better. Yeah definitely not going into banking anymore. Wall Street is above my level, at least right now.
Consider commercial banking or specialty lending groups within commercial like ABL or leveraged lending.
Thanks, that sounds interesting. Would be related to what I currently do. Is the work easy?
Also I hate PowerPoint. I'm not good at making slides and / or making them look pretty. As you all can tell from my posts above, I'm also slow at working (at least slow for banking). Sorry for the constant negativity / over emphasizing my flaws. I just want to get as much advice out of this thread (which you good people have kindly provided so far) that I can.
If you hate PPT, I'd probably steer clear of traditional MC at MBB or derivative firms.
For clarification, are you slow because you're deliberate and fastidious with every little aspect of your deliverables or do things simply take longer to click? If it's the former, I'd just work on your communication skills by providing updates to whomever you're working with, I found success down this path as someone who takes a little longer to quintuple check things due to anxiety / borderline OCD and through communication, the team knows I'm simply trying to ensure quality rather than slacking / not grasping concepts; if it's the latter, I'd try to pin point what exactly is causing the bottleneck in the process.
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