No mentorship as a first year analyst
How common is it for experienced analysts or associates to mentor new analysts? From my networking calls at other banks, I've heard there's usually a few people who take time to help with modeling and set aside time for go over things. Unfortunately, the one associate who mentored the previous analyst classes left just before I joined. I've been on the desk for a month and noticed there's little mentorship from experienced analysts or associates. When I ask for help I either get told to ask someone else or those I approach don't seem interested. It’s frustrating because the analysts who were mentored have no desire to give back and seem to have a bad attitude about the job.
thats just how it goes
Not common to get much mentorship, tbh. Intern class has it pretty easy / structured program, but as a FT you are tossed into the deep end
Best case scenario, ask a senior analyst if you can sit with them and watch them model. Usually you get very little though, people say completely untrue stuff on networking calls so I wouldn't think your bank is some huge outlier (it's the same as "our culture is super flat, we can go to our seniors with anything, analysts present to clients"). Just talking steam up your ass.
You will be in their shoes in a year, trust me - this job sours you quickly.
At my bank, rare to get good mentorship. Completely up to the ANL2/ASO on if they feel like teaching you and guiding you through things. So it depends on their teaching style. What’s more likely is you’re thrown in the deep end and learn from your mistakes
You need to seek out your own mentors. Forced mentorship is better than none but not even remotely close to the benefits of doing it organically.
Was speaking to colleagues about this tonight and they agreed that you either are good or you’re not in the perspective of standards in the industry. It’s a dog eat dog world with difficult intense people and they expect you to get it or figure it out. They’ll encourage you to ask questions however if it becomes a point where these questions signal that you may not be up to par as others you’ll quickly be pushed out and fired. It happens, that’s why you need to self mentor through courses before hand or choose another industry where your skills best align with the job. Sorry to say this but this is how it goes and I also thought that mentorship would be a thing.
So, am I just screwed now or is there something I should be doing? I don’t really subscribe to the idea that you either figure it out or you don’t. I think there are ways to be proactive to give yourself the best chance to succeed or at least be competent.
What exactly are you struggling on? Is it technical understanding? Navigating nuances? Or modelling?
Everyone saying this is ok is full of BS. I just started at JPM and we got paired with experienced analysts to be our “mentors” and to shadow them and are staffed with them on deals for the first few months to learn the ropes
Learning should come from staffing where you learn from senior analysts and associates.
Random people haven't got the capacity in this lean environment to teach you.
Then as you become a senior analyst or associate you're expected to teach the juniors.
You need to speak to tbe staffer and flag that you'd like to work with someone on your next project who has more capacity to help teach you.
bump
Lazard’s new MD in the consumer space will happily mentor a junior. Possibly explore lateraling that way.
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