Incoming Associate - Advice
I've seen lots of posts giving advice to incoming analysts ('What I Wish I knew before joining bb') but I haven't come across any for incoming Associates. For background, I'm joining a BB (London) having worked in a family office role for 3+ years.
I'm mentally preparing myself for the increased hours - anyone willing to get the ball rolling on some best practices for a novice Associate?
I used to be a VP at MS. I wish someone had told me:
Don't get stuck being the glorified "fourth-year" analyst. That reputation will hurt you as you are looking to move upwards.
Be friendly with the analysts but don't become their best friends. You will have a hard time having them respect you down the road as their boss if they see you as one of them.
You were hired because your group thinks that you have the potential to be a senior officer of the firm in the future. Act like it. Have presence. Speak up in meetings. Take ownership. Be proactive. Look the part.
Be proactive in building relationships with the people who matter in your group, as if your career depended on it. Actually, your career does depend on it.
Understand that the associate job changes each year and what made you successful as a first-year associate is not what will make you successful as a second-year associate. And what made you successful as a second-year associate is not what will make you successful as as third-year associate.
Figure out quickly if banking is what you want to do as a career. Life is too short to spend an extra 1-2 years in banking if you don't have to. Conversely, you are more likely to be promoted if people believe you are committed to the job and going to be there for the long haul.
There are no shortcuts to checking models. Trust me. Over time, you will realize that analysts make the same mistakes over and over again so you will learn to check those areas first.
Don't hog all of the credit. Give credit to your analysts when it's due. They will appreciate it immensely and do a better job for you.
Position yourself to work on the transactions that matter in your group. Everything else is a waste of time.
Lastly, be kind to everyone including the assistants, IT guy, the guys working in the print room. These people will make your life a lot easier or more miserable.
Hominem crushed it in the post above, on the dynamic with analysts I just want to add you should hold them accountable to do analyst level responsibilities but don't be afraid to step in and roll-up your sleeves on something you need to get done and they are either struggling or too slammed to get to it. Sometimes that can be a good way to get respect as it shows you have the same (or hopefully better) skills that they do, are committed to getting the work done, and have some respect for them and their time.
Just reading some of the posts here you can see how it goes. You don't want to be the zero-value-add associate but you don't want to be the 4th-year-analyst associate. Understand when you need to delegate and when you need to get it done yourself.