Hello everyone,
I am currently intern in a small boutique and I have some issue with an associate. I would like to have your opinion about his behavior and if you can tell me if it's pretty normal in the industry or not. If it's not normal, how can I deal with that guy?
The team seems happy with my work but every day I have a tight feeling in the stomach, I am really stress right now, normally I can manage the pressure but for me it's kind of too much at the moment.
I like what I am doing, I've learning a lot so far. I want to work in M&A for few years before to start my own business. M&A is for me, the best way to learn how to work fast, hard and efficiently.
Some facts / examples:
(In reality there are many more)
Micro Managing
1) Every 30 minutes he is asking me ''what are you doing right now? When are you going to be done? Can you work faster?'' And if told him that I am going to be done in one hour but in fact i am done in 90 minutes he is going to tell me ''why did you tell me you'll be done in 1 hour? Why are you lying?''
Anger
2) Once, he was checking my work in live (I was doing some valuation on excel) and he get fucking angry because I was not using the short cut he told me something like ''what the fuck is wrong with you? why are you not using the short cut? We have a lot of work, don't waste time, understand?''
Mixed Messages
3) During the first day of my internship, the phone rang after 7 PM, then he told me ''reply, reply, quick, quick quick!!'' So I replied. The following day, the phone rang again after 7 PM, I answered and after the call he told me ''Why you answered the phone? This is not your job, we have other shit to do ok?''
That Graph...
4) Last week, the MD asked me to add a graph on a pitch, I had 5 minutes to do the job before he was leaving for his meeting. He told me to do something very fast and without the company template in order to be in time. Once I get back to my desk, the associate questioned me about what I was doing:
Him: ''what are you doing for the MD?''
Me: ''a graph for xxxx, he is leaving for his meeting in 10 minutes''
Him: ''what graph?''
Me: ''a graph about xxxx for xxx company''
Him: ''you can to use our company template for the graph, understand?''
Me: ''he told me to do something very fast, he is leaving now''
Him: ''you should always use the template, otherwise your work is shit, now tell me where you put your file, so I can check your work in live''
Me: ''I just started, I did not save anything right now, I need to do something very fast, please let me finish my work...''
Then, he was still asking me question about that graph!! Finally, I was late...
VP vs The Associate
5) A VP asked me to do a memorandum and he gave me some specific instructions for the template. Few hours laters, that associate asked me what I was doing (he was not involved in that deal at all), he asked me where did I save the file and then he checked my work.
Him: ''seriously, why are you not using the template?!''
Me: ''because xx (the VP) told me to do like this''
Him: ''No, you always need to use the template, understand?!!''
Him: ''what why that slide is like that xxxxxx?''
Me: ''because the VP told me to do like that''
Then that associate went to see the VP and started to blame him for not using the company template.
MD vs The Associate
6) Today, I made a mistake. I was done with a pitch. Then, the associate asked me how many pages I had. I said ''X'' but when he checked, it was ''X+1''
Him: ''why you told me that it was N?!''
(I was looking for the file at that time to see and fix my mistake by adding another slide ''comments'')
Him ''look at me when I am talking to you, what are you not looking at me?!''
(I looked at him like 2 seconds but they came back to my computer to open the file)
At that time, I saw the MD got up and came back to our desks. Then the MD said to the associate: ''Calm down! What are you doing? We are not working like that, ok?''
More Anger...
7) When he is talking to me, he is always angry (I also see that he was also talking like that to the secretary)
Thank you guys!
its obvious that you go complain to HR and the MD who told him to calm down. and then talk to him 1 on 1 and tell him you're only human. if all else fails, get your best buds and mug him on the last day of the internship.
This is wrong. You're an intern. You can't complain.
Unfortunately, there are these people in finance.
You just need to take it and be super professional. Your only hope is that other people will notice how hard you're trying and what a dick he is. You can also try to ask other people if you can help them on their projects... that way you get exposure to other people besides him and form relationships away from him.
Sounds like a total bastard.
No, that's not normal behavior in the industry or otherwise. Arguably not a ton that you can do as an intern, especially at a boutique, but at least it's just an internship. I'd suggest that you find a couple minutes to talk to him to let him know that you're working hard to improve, that you're trying your best and that you would appreciate it if he could be a bit more understanding. Not a comfortable conversation to have, and not saying I would've been bold enough to bring it up, but it's probably the right thing to do.
Hopefully he realizes that he's being unreasonable and unnecessarily abrasive and gets nicer either because he feels bad or respects you for bringing it up. Alternatively, it's entirely possible that this behavior continues
For what it's worth, most people in banking aren't like this and people like him tend not to survive for long. On the bright side, this is just an internship (i.e. not that long) and you'll undoubtedly walk out with much thicker skin. I realize it's easier said than done, but try not to let it bother you. Just do the best you can and focus on getting a full-time offer somewhere better.
Real sorry you have to deal with this individual. Maybe it's just the group I've worked in, but I've never had an associate/VP like this, and I'd like to think that this is not representative of the industry broadly. You will not last very long if you're abrasive and combative. Not only is it poor for morale, but it also hampers productivity when you are hovering over an analyst/intern
Some of it could be perspective. Sometimes the issue could have less to do with you and more to do with his specific situation. Perhaps he is under a ton of stress from his superiors, and he is taking it out on you. Perhaps he isn't leadership quality. Perhaps still he is going through life problems, or worse, has bipolar personality disorder or thereabouts. Speaking to the associate 1 on 1 may be of some help, at least in terms of effective communication. At first blush he seems quite strange in my view.
Truthfully, this is quite the untenable situation, but I wouldn't let it get you down. The one thing working in banking will teach you is intestinal fortitude and will make you thick skinned (along with the usual attention to detail, endurance, and presentability qualities that are sold for an analyst position). Life is far too short to worry about what some individual is doing or saying. Letting things bounce off, not taking them personally, and pushing through with a positive attitude is half the battle, and will allow you to maintain your sanity as you move forward
There are assholes in every wake of life., with banking being no exception. The upside to your experience is that you'll find your future banking forays to be quite a degree more pleasant :).
Such is life in french M&A
Very common scenario. Do not try to "deal with him", in the sense of retaliation. Thing is, the Associate's behavior has nothing to do with you personally. His ass is clearly on fire because he's probably scared out of his wits to get slammed by the VP and/or MD for your mistakes. Most likely a 1st year promote who's hasn't adapted to having "leadership" responsibilities piled on his roster.
Bitching to the management about his behavior will accomplish two things: One, it's going to make you look like a wimp. If you can't handle a petty Associate as an intern, how will you handle sadistic pressures of megalomaniac MDs when you're a full-time Analyst?
Two, it will make things worse between the two of you and it might burn bridges with the guy. As the wisdom goes, "Don't spit in the well - you may need to drink from it one day"... You may not want to work for this company again, but who knows where this guy will be in 5-10 years?
Your best bet is to ask him to grab a beer with you, or whatever, and talk over your problems & concerns. In my experience, if you have an issue with a co-worker the optimal route is to settle it this way. In a neutral setting. You should NEVER involve the management on presumed personal mistreatment. It's unprofessional and ends up backfiring. Bring them only serious issues that have the potential to compromise the team, project, or the company. It's all part of the learning. Bonne chance.
@French_Farmer", I really hate to be that guy, but most of these are not results of the associate being an asshole, but they're just results of you needing to improve. Hopefully some helpful criticism can serve you well.
You need to manage expectations better. If you know an assignment will take you 15 minutes to complete, tell the associate you'll have it done in 20. By promising the assignment in an hour and then taking 90 minutes, you're telling the associate that you cannot manage time. This is a red flag for analysts.
The associate taught you something and you not only disregarded it, but you disregarded it in front of him. Don't do this. Take the time to learn the shortcut and save yourself some time.
I'm not sure what you mean by this.
I'm taking a guess here, but I assume the associate doesn't trust your work. The reason he's riding you is because you've demonstrated in the past that you cannot perform error-free work and therefore wants you to stick to templates. I apologize if I assumed incorrectly, but if my experience in IB is anything like yours, this is probably the case.
This one puts you in a tough bind. I think what you did was correct (the most senior banker's choice of format always wins), but again, I the associate is probably on your case because he knows if you make an error, he will be the one the VP yells at. Try to go back and see how often you're making errors and work on that.
Ya, the associate should have handled this better and came across like a massive asshole, but normal people don't get this mad after just one mistake. Again, I might be assuming incorrectly, but I'd venture to guess that this page count mistake was just the latest in a long series of mistakes, which is what angered the associate. He's probably tired of getting yelled at for your mistakes.
If I've assumed incorrectly in my previous bullet points, feel free to ignore my post, but if you're anything like the SAs I mentored (I left IB after two years as an analyst, so I never was an associate), you're probably making careless mistakes on a regular basis and are getting upset when the associate tries to help you. This creates a situation where the associate gets yelled at my his VP because your work is error-ridden and where the associate has to constantly check your work (i.e. he wastes a lot of time that he could be spending at home). I hope my reply isn't too harsh, but this is what I'm getting from reading your post. Good luck.