How to be the best analyst in my group without seeming overly competitive against my fellow analysts
Hi guys,
Bit of an odd one this. I've just started my analyst stint a month ago and am in the process of getting up to speed and introducing myself to everyone on the team. I have certain team-partners and mentors due to some new HR stuff and am supposed to have 15 minutes with a senior member every week. My question is, I want to very clearly state my desire to be a stand-out performer from our class. Not because I want "top bucket bonus" or have some weird narc energy - but simply because I genuinely believe in my ability to grind, work hard and produce results with consistency. I also see myself in this career for a long time and to be the best I can be, I want to begin setting standards now. I also have no ill-feelings against the analysts around me. I think all of us are obviously talented and smart which is why we are there.
My question is - how do I describe this to the senior team members in the best way possible? I'm afraid it might come across as "too try-hardy", "braggy", or even as someone not fully a team player. I want to have these discussions because I want them to see this energy, give me the right guidance to channel it and even challenge me to exceed expectations and limits. Any tips on how to handle the matter?
You can’t. If you truly wanted to be the best without sounding like a Dick you’d refrain from directly comparing yourself to your peers because you will never have full visibility into their workload, ability, or how the team views them (which is usually >50% of what determines your bucket if everyone else is generally strong).
Instead of telling your seniors you want to be better than rest of your class like a twat - ask them what are some of traits their best analysts in recent memory had. Burn that into your brain and do what you need to do to emulate, get your peers’ performance out of your head because you’ll end up competing with some fucked up delusion in your head and will crash and burn all of the bridges this stint is supposed to make. Chill out - don’t be weird, don’t make mistakes. That’s how you get top bucket. Jeez
If you really believe this, I don't see a point in having to communicate how great you think you are to your seniors. Why not put your money where your mouth is and let your work speak for itself?
Like the other comment said, people are not evaluating your value as an analyst relative to the how good the other analysts are. If there is another analyst that is just as smart and hard working as you, that should be a win for everyone. Asking how "not to seem overly competitive" when your goal is just to be better than others is kind of contradictory - and you wont find a good answer because the reality is that the best analysts are always thinking about whats best for the team, not just themselves.
You should not be commenting on comparing yourself to others. Period. You can think it in your head, but it will be politically foolish to say it out loud to senior members on your team.
Instead, you should be talking about how you want to do the best job you can, learn from everyone around you (including your peers) and help advance your team’s objectives. Make the conversation about your team, not you vs. others.
Word of advice (and I think many older members on this forum can relate, especially those who have worked for a few years): in this industry, there is nothing more off-putting than an arrogant early 20s kid who think they are hot shit because they landed a front office finance job. Don’t come off as “that guy”.
cringe dude
I believe the MD/VP would cringe hard if you mentioned that. I think you should be more vague and say that it is important for you to do well and ask for their recommendations on how to quickly get into the role. I would also like to give you a tip from my own experience. Everyone is a hardo in the beginning. However, when you have been totally fukked and worked until 2-3 am every weekday the last months and had to work most of the weekends, being the "best" analyst suddenly does not seem important. Instead, you begin focusing on just surviving and you do everything that you can to not increase your workload even more. With that said, stating your high ambitions to your seniors will not do anything good for you. It will only result in them having even higher expectations of you, which makes you look like a total failure when you are burnt out after 6 months and no longer want to take on a lot of extra work. Yes, I know, that would never happen to you. Just keep in mind that this happens to pretty much every banker and they are all extremely motivated and bright people with excellent track records.
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