How to improve as a terrible analyst?
It’s only been 4 months and I already feel like I’m completely failing at this job. Every day feels like a reminder that I’m not cut out for banking. PowerPoint destroys me, I somehow mess up the simplest stuff like aligning text boxes or pasting in Excel tables. The few things I do manage to get right take me forever, and even then I’ll miss something obvious that gets called out right away. I double check formulas, print things out, try to slow down, but there’s always some small simple error that slips through. It’s like no matter how much I try to be careful, I just can’t get it right. And it’s starting to show. I can tell I’m getting weaker staffings now, only pitch work, internal tasks that nobody will look at, administrative work, etc. No one says anything directly, but it’s obvious when you look around and see who’s getting pulled onto the live deals and who’s not. I can read the room. The worst part is I don’t even know how to fix it. I’m trying, but it feels like everyone else just “gets it” and I’m playing catch-up every single day. I’m scared that by the time I figure it out, if I even do, it’ll be too late.
It’s tough to feel like you’re falling behind, but the good news is that many analysts have been in your shoes and turned things around. Based on the most helpful WSO content, here’s a roadmap to help you improve and regain confidence:
1. Master the Basics: PowerPoint and Excel
PowerPoint:
Excel:
2. Build a System to Avoid Repeated Mistakes
3. Add Value Beyond the Basics
4. Seek Feedback and Mentorship
5. Practice Outside of Work
6. Focus on Efficiency
7. Build Confidence Through Small Wins
8. Maintain Perspective
By focusing on these steps, you’ll not only improve your technical skills but also demonstrate resilience and a commitment to growth. Remember, even the best analysts started somewhere, and the fact that you’re seeking to improve already sets you apart. Keep pushing—you’ve got this!
Sources: Investment Banking Analyst: 15 Things I Wish I Knew, What I Wish Every First Year Analyst Knew, Ways of Underperformance - and how to avoid them (Part 1), Everything I wish I knew in Banking
Bump would love any advice
I think it’s best you write down your mistakes , helps for sure as silly as it sounds. Every comment I’ve gotten or guidance I receive I make a note of physically writing it down either privately or in a doc for reflection / a reminder.
Again sounds dumb and simple but it’s a start. Sure more experienced folks can chime in
Great advice. I’ve done the same before and it really helped reinforce the things to look for. Also, put little sticky notes of things you often forget to check in a final review on your monitors. Very nice to have something that you see frequently as a reminder of what you’re missing.
No direct advice but I use to almost cry daily and have constant anxiety attacks in banking. You just get better with time and reps. Just trust the process and stick it out.
How do you not let it demotivate you and how do you actually improve to be top bucket as a junior?
Genuinely have to stop worrying about which bucket you’re in - it will just drive you insane faster. Apply that obsession to never wanting to make a mistake, which will be a combination of your drive to get “smarter” about the business overall and your ability to tactically execute on progressively more vague directions with more accuracy.
Remember - there’s only two kinds of mistakes in banking and only one ruins your reputation:
1) Mistake #1: This deliverable you’ve provided is actually wrong/incomplete/not up to standard. (Ex: Numeric mistakes in your model, skipped comments in PPT or details on your pages are wrong/stale)
2) Mistake #2: This deliverable is right, but we have more to add on / want to change things due to senior whims (Ex: Let’s change the model assumptions to X, Kill this page and replace with another etc.)
By virtue of many unnecessary layers of middle management, you will *always* have comments or “mistakes” because someone above you have to make themselves not redundant. Your goal is to get to a point where you never do the 1st type of mistake again and only deal with the second type - then you reputation and ranking will follow.
Honestly, from my experience your success as an analyst comes down to luck. You were smart and qualified enough to get the job. No question.
When you get in, it changes. Is your team supportive and do they offer the resources and mentorship to succeed or are you just thrown into the grinder? Are you staffed on the good deals or getting the leftovers? Corporate America is just politics.
Is there any way to improve my luck in this situation or get staffed with better people?
You know the team best. Do you think it's redeemable or does your gut tell you it's not going to get better? If that's the case, you need to lateral and get out while you still have the chance.
Make a pre-submission checklist that you run through every time before submitting work. Make sure everything is aligned, numbers tie, etc.
Make an error log if things you’re fucking up and add those to the checklist. Basically you don’t want to repeat any of the same mistakes twice.
Any idea of common things to have in said checklist?
Firstly, anything you have gotten dinged on in the past. Then a few more that come to mind:
Check pg numbers, spellcheck, confirm ppt elements are aligned, make sure excel paste-ins are refreshed, make sure all comments are incorporated.
Kudos for at least identifying and accepting your weaknesses. The worst juniors are the ones are bad but don't know it.
Great to print stuff out. I would recommend taking at least an hour between the creation and the review. Your review won't be objective if you were just writing the words 30 seconds ago.
When you review put yourself in the perspective of the client / your VP. What do those people care about? If you don't know what you're solving for you will never deliver the right product. For me personally things that jump out to me are:
Good luck!
Questioning the use of diamonds instead of boxes for bullets? You need to get laid
Android user spotted
Bottom bucket reply.
Based on your assessment I would honestly rec using more shortcuts - for example it’s a lot harder to mess up aligning objects if you just have to do Alt 1 (quick access toolbar) vs using your mouse. Or Alt E S V for Excel values, then Alt E S T for the formatting etc
You can read a few books!
A funny one is: Discussion Materials by Bill Keenan.
Of course you should read some serious economics books too.
Use copilot more
I was exactly like you and struggled a lot at the start of my junior years. Sounds like you are a hardworking fella but the mistakes keep happening despite your effort.
Most advice you’re going to get is in being MORE detail-oriented with practices like making checklists, reviewing your work, etc.
However, an important nuance is you have to know what to focus on when dedicating your attention to detail. If you spend 2 hours reconciling a number that has a 0.01% impact on value and run out of time to catch a more important error, that can be really bad.
That was my problem. We naturally want to be perfectionist, but as the other commenter said, step back and think about what the analysis is trying to illustrate and focus on what matters.
To give you a tangible example, in a DCF, if my capex is 0.5% of revenue, I’m going to deprioritize checking that because I’m focused on making sure the big needle-movers like the terminal value is calculated correctly.
If I see a one time tax adjustment in my company’s non-GAAP financials that doesn’t recur, I’m probably not spending too much time researching the tax laws around that.
Tl;dr think about whether you’re spending your time on the right things. Take a breath and step back to think bigger picture about what you’re trying to accomplish.
Bitch and whine about DEI and H1Bs getting unfair advantage at the job. Voila - you are the better choice out of the remaining, no need to worry about improving anymore!
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