How to be a Successful Associate
The "How to be a successful analyst" thread got great feedback and wanted to start one for associates - I will likely be an A2A promo in the upcoming year (group has verbally communicated this) and was hoping for feedback on what makes a great associate. I was a top bucket analyst and strived for perfection (at the cost of working harder than most / sacrificing health / personal time), however one of the key attributes that makes for a successful manager is knowing how to utilize your resources wisely without breaking those below you, which I am afraid I'm not great at.
Open to feedback from all positions whether you are a first year analyst or an MD browsing the forum.
Dont tell an analyst to do something you can’t do yourself. Show them how to do everything and help them. Split work when you can and dont leave your analysts behind. Dont go have a great weekend while dumping all the work on them. Stick up for them and be their leader. They will respect you for you, not your title. Most of my leadership experience has come from my time in the military but it has served me well thus far in civilian jobs. My associate does a great job of always trying his best to lay it all out for me. Splits almost all the work with me and have seen him tell people to leave me alone and unimportant tasks will come later. Just remember you were an analyst once and do the things you liked from your associates and things you wish they did.
Be respectful.
If you treat your analysts like dirt, that word will spread.
Also, be a team player.
You see your analyst is swamped? Split up tasks and kill them together.
Most importantly - Congrats on your A2A.
As an A2A you will have lots of rapport with the seniors. Protect your analyst where you can - you have a better idea of how urgent something is and if you know they've been pulling late nights, push back on the timing of the next draft. Give them credit with seniors. Be willing to help out when there's a ton of work.
In the next year, start thinking about how to check work. This seems simple but analysts don't have a ton of incentive to make sure work is 100% correct - that is your main job now. If you can get a role in training A1s or summer analysts, this is a good starting point where mistakes will be obvious and low stakes.
Really though if you're a top bucket analyst you will probably be a top bucket associate too - once you get past the first 6 months feeling awkward telling people what to do.
Don't have an MBA
This is funny - I had an MBA when I joined as an associate but I had actually spent a few years on the buyside BEFORE banking. During my interview, the first rounds were with analysts and I said 'guys, please don't think of me as an MBA associate. Think of me as an associate who has an MBA'. They all laughed and we were instantly on the same page. When I started, I took the analysts aside and said 'listen, I'm going to be learning a lot from you over the next while so bear with me while I catch up but I think once that happens, I'll be able to help out and get us where we need to go'. It went over really well - I maintain great relationships with analysts and more than 50% who left ended up staying in touch with me and even reaching out from the buyside to me directly for RFPs. Always treat your analysts with respect, many will go on to do big things down the road and they will always remember who treated them well in banking.
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