How can I become a great analyst?
Hello everyone,
I hope everyone is doing great!
This is my first discussion here and I hope to get your advice.
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Context:
I am currently an MSc in Finance candidate at a top 4 French Business School and have completed a master's degree in engineering in Lebanon before this. Currently doing an off-cycle internship at a small boutique bank in M&A, I really appreciate the work and hope to pursue my career in advisory.
I consider myself very ambitious and want to keep learning about finance, however, I feel that given I made this switch, I still need much improvement (and I can feel it when talking with peers and classmates who already worked in IB before or did business/econ majors).
I want to know what differentiates a good analyst from a great one from your experiences and what advice would you give to a career switcher like me to really understand finance.
What I am struggling with also is interpreting the financial news. I have been reading a lot recently about what's happening in the markets but keep failing at developing an opinion on the topics.
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I would welcome any advice/tips for me to grow and learn.
Thank you in advance and have a great day!
go start a company my dude
You don’t. The bonus differential in this market is not worth it
As an analyst just do what you're told.
The only time this doesn't work is when your VP tells you to do something, you begrudgingly follow their instruction it after they ask you countless times to send out some deliverable, and then try to make you look like a moron by following their instruction
Just try to be helpful to your team and not make mistakes
Getting more reps in
Asking good questions
Being resourceful
Build a list of mistakes or constructive feedback you've received so you can review them every now and then to make sure you don't do them again
Get along with your team - more important than the above
As far as keeping up with current events and the markets, it’s not as important that you necessarily have to have an opinion, but more so that you understand and are aware of what is going on. However, my (likely lackluster) advice for fostering opinion is to try to find some sort of interest in it all and feed off of that. Interest can turn into passion, and passion will likely lead to the birth of opinions.
Add value by making your superiors job easier.
1) Minimize mistakes but don’t get too bogged down checking things over. Better to deliver a 95% correct work product with no major errors and ample time to review than a ‘100%’ product that likely still has some errors with little time to review / late hours
2) Have a great attitude, be social and lighten the moods (people are too stressed in this job, if you’re a good analyst AND cool everyone will love you)
3) Be responsive and over communicate
4) Have a view, but don’t die on any hills (propose how something should be structured / laid out if you genuinely think it’s the right / better way to do something. This is more for when you’re working with associates rather than VP+)
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