SA first task went badly, how to fix?
Intern at a BB working with an analyst on a semi-urgent task (first task with her).
Basically, I was overconfident in my ability and not able to finish the task on time.
Handed in a incomplete version with some parts untouched and told the analyst I didn’t understand some basic admin stuff. The analyst was kind enough to explain how each part should be done and gave me extra time to do it. I apologized and admitted that I was too confident and had wasted the team’s time.
Handed in a much better version (I still found two formatting errors later though). She said thanks and continued to work and never got back to me.
I really like the team and wanna return, and I fully understand it’s my time management problem. So what would you guys suggest me to do to fix this relationship and regain trust?
Thanks.
Chill every interns work sucks. I expect any work I give the intern to be wrong and need to be redone essentially
It's kind of sad to say that this is a huge relief LOL
Yeah I know so I really appreciate any work they give me. But this time it’s purely I was overconfident so I didn’t allocate enough time to it, resulting in no time to review, some extremely stupid mistakes like putting revenue growth in net income chart and some extremely basic work undone such as no data source.
Would you suggest maybe schedule a short call with her and explain, or ask for work again to prove myself? Thanks.
It's chill man, it happens to everyone, just make sure that you don't rush through things next time. The way I think about it, I'd rather spend the extra time to walk away for half an hour and come back and quadruple check things rather than immediately turning in something that'll need to be turned 2-3 times more. (for reference, my first set of comps I did a few weeks back took me 4-5 hours but now I could probably bang it out in 2- you get better but just start slow)
Think about it from the analysts perspective, they're probably busy af and if they think they can't trust your work and have to essentially redo everything you turn in they'll just stop giving you stuff to do- you'll need to build back rapport if you want to develop a good relationship. Just show that you're not someone who makes the same mistake twice on future tasks, no need to call etc.
A call I think would be awkward and not necessary. Everyone has a story similar to this when they first started out. All interns at some point make mistakes/take a long time to turn something. Part of the learning curve. Just don't do it repeatedly
When interning I talked with my analysts to try to diffuse any growing disdain, if I messed up moderately badly. The key is for your underperformance to not be the main topic. Hopefully you get a bit more work from this analyst, and then I’d say after 7-10 days, I’d ask if you can talk on the phone about your performance to date and where you can improve (leave open ended). Then, your underperformance will likely come up, and talking about learnings from it will diffuse any distance it caused (if any). But bottom line, don’t worry too much about it, just learn from your mistakes
Just make sure your work in the future are completed asap (before the deadline they give you) and double, triple check everything. I made a similar mistake in the beginning of my summer internship and thought the analyst hated me, just tried to be better from there on. Gained her trust and she became a friend/mentor and helped me secure the return offer.
Do you mind sharing a bit about how you regained trust? If I just went to ask for work tbh I’d expect she would be thinking “this kid made me waste 5 more hours on the shit he did”.. would it be advisable to schedule a short call with her and lay out some plans so that I won’t make the mistake again?
Been there done that, you're not going to get dinged on a return offer for staffing work unless it's complete garbagio. Key thing is to communicate, give your analyst an update every 20 min or so thru chat on how the progress is going and don't be afraid to ask questions. Everyone expects SA to know nothing going into the program
Yes spot on. I believe communication is key. When I started to realize that I might not be able to get it done. I just didn’t want to tell the analyst that nah it’s not gonna be done on time, which actually causes more serious problem.
What made you overconfident in your ability to get it done quickly? Just wondering how different the actual work is from what we're able to do on our own as we prepare for the role (understanding technicals, rebuilding models, spreading comps, etc)
Everyone expects interns to mess up on everything given on the first try and helps people see where you really are. That said this analyst did the right thing and corrected it with you. The key to evaluation is not repeating the same mistakes, not asking the same questions, and limiting the mistakes to near 0 (there will always be some and anyone who says otherwise is lying).
The one thing I’d more worried about is why is took so long and if that will be a continued problem. Because of you being slow you didn’t have sufficient review time to prevent errors. I’d be interested (to the extent your willing) to heating more about the ask and what you think held you up (analysis, formatting, etc)
Thanks for the comment.
I must admit that the first and foremost reason why it took me so long is that I underestimated the task. When I was given the task two days ago, I had a chat with the analyst and I told her how I thought about it (not too complicated task), and she agreed but said it would require more thoughts than I would think of. I didn’t take it serious enough, but she was right. The more I did, the more I found that I needed to take care of, formatting, logics, overall layout, etc..
I was only right about that the task itself was not hard, just like it’s not hard to speak for most of us, but we have to consider the way we speak, the volume, gesture, etc., not just make sounds.
So that’s why it took me so long. I didn’t see the big picture, finished THE task quickly but only found that I had many other things to do to actually finish the task.
Gotcha just be careful not to be the cocky/confident person then fail. If you’re going to act confident towards the team member and say you’re good to go, you better nail it. It’s just one thing you are fine but don’t let it happen twice
From what I’ve noticed so far during my stint, it seems like these internships are just for the team to see if you can play ball. If you’re logging off at 6pm, not being proactive and asking if they need help, and not showing a positive attitude they’ll dump you and find another 21 year old to do it. As long as you learn from the mistakes you made and improve it seems like you’ll be fine.
Analysts are not going to ruin your return offer unless you are completely unresponsive with no work ethic. They've been in your shoes. If she explained it all to you she wasn't that upset with it.
Good lesson for you in time management and checking your work. Now you know how to do this task the next time
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