Keep missing deadlines
How do you guys go about deadlines? Got slammed on 3 pitches in the same day and I missed the deadline to the associates in 2/3. I’m working myself to the bone and still not meeting expectations
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1) Communicate up to the associates as soon as you think there may be issues with the deadlines
2) Discuss workload with staffer if you really have 3 pitches in one day. Even if you make the initial deadlines, very unlikely you can manage all 3 that day as you'll get hit with comments...
Can I complain as a first year tho? I’m on a dead bake off and 4 pitches (3 on 1 day and another the next day). My group is spread thin and we can’t use India. Is that a reasonable work load?
If you message it correctly, it comes off a communicating, not complaining.
Don't know your group, but would think it would be viewed favorably if you discuss in advance with staffer/associate whether your workload is reasonable given required deadlines.
It is much better to communicate and get ahead of potential issue instead of missing deadlines and pissing people off. When you miss deadlines other people are scrambling to figure out what to do, and if they find out after the deadline that sucks.
There are many things that could be going on but two main things:
1) you aren’t doing a good job and being efficient - you should ask others and get feedback and see
2) you are being overworked with unrealistic expectations
It isn’t complaining to raise this. But if you are in camp #1, it is obviously something to sort out and make sure you are improving. Either way it is good to know.
.
3 full pitches in 1 day and 1 pitch the following day is unreasonable based on my experience (different story if some are fairly standard BD books with a lot of off the shelf pages). You’re bound to get last minute comments on all the books that require quick turns, which won’t be possible if you’re on three books. If these are all fairly involved pitches, you should flag this to your staffer. Worst case, the staffer can let the teams know so expectations are managed and the associate / VP will help out more. Blame also will no longer fall on you for delayed / missed deadlines.
In other cases where you have multiple competing deadlines but it’s not to the point that it’s impossible for you to do, flag it to your associates and they can determine how to prioritize your time.
What are you typically working on at a given time? Also remember I’m a first year who still doesn’t know what I’m doing while still being the sole analyst on the pitches
It changes every week. Really involved pitches or live deals can eat up almost your entire capacity. Otherwise, it’s pretty common to have 2 or so pitches with rolling deadlines and a couple live processes with a steady flow of work.
My staffing sheet had 90 hours every week for the last 4 weeks and I’m still getting staffed. How should I go about that?
It’s tough to do when you just started, but say no to the staffing if you’re actually underwater. I also felt obliged to say yes to every staffing email for the first few months, but it will come to burn you and people will continue to take from you until you pushback. It’s okay to say no when you are jammed and to pushback on unreasonable deadlines (Saturday morning, etc). You’ll develop a sense for what is actually important and what can wait. No need to change your plans or ruin part of your weekend for work that can wait IMO.
Once your 3 pitches happen, it will probably be hard to have a genuine reason to say no to a staffing though.
It’s just that I keep getting shafted with Friday staffings. I haven’t had a day “off” since late august. My group doesn’t do Saturday/weekend policies. So the work finishes, then my weekend blows up and I can’t reset. Haven’t been outside in 4 weeks, literally.
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