How to be useful as an MBA Associate?
I’m a CB Analyst with an acceptance to a deferred M7 MBA. On the spectrum of relevance to IB, my team is very, very far from IB and much closer to Risk (I.e., zero modeling, no meaningful role on deals, very internal-facing work), so I’ve done what I can in my own time to become competent – rebuilding models on deals I’ve been on, practicing at nights and on weekends, etc.
I’ve tried for about 8 months to move to IB, but between the tricky market and the fact that what I do is more “corporate” than “banking,” interviewers have (understandably) opted for folks with more relevant experience. So, while I am by no means going to stop my efforts to transition, I’m slowly accepting that the MBA may be my best shot and that I may become one of the MBA Associates that are the subject of so many Analysts’ ire.
It’s pretty common knowledge at this point that MBA Associates aren’t always a net benefit to their teams for a variety of reasons, but I have to think there are some who have bucked that trend. So, has anyone had experiences with MBA Associates who noticeably defied the stereotype? What did they do (or not do) that made your life easier, or at least minimized the pain required to ramp them up to be useful?
Broadly:
1) if working w/ tenured analysts realize they know more than you and let them run the show
2) if working with a 1st year analyst realize you both don’t know anything and work together to figure it out
3) thinking your only job is to review analyst work is lazy, entitled, and results in you both working later. The boat has 2 people in it, if you both row it’s a lot faster. Given you’re asking the question I don’t think it applies to you
4) the “mba associates are useless” thing gets blown out of proportion and really only applies to 3. At worst a new MBA associate is the same usefulness as a new analyst. At best they’re already good at excel/ppt and have developed soft skills in their pre-IB job (managing up, communicating across teams, etc) that new analysts don’t have (because they haven’t had a job). That stuff is valuable
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Don’t be an idiot
Whenever you're about to do something, think, "Would an idiot do that?" And if they would, DO NOT do that thing.
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