I'm just about making the step up from excel / execution monkey to origination and bringing in business. So far, its been a very difficult, albeit exciting transition for me.
Tons of misses, very hits and a lot of jumping through hoops for clients. I'm starting to understand why VPs and above tend to be strung out, wired up clowns a lot of the time lol.
Would love to hear some stories, perspectives and advice from some of you older monkeys on how you tackled this move up. Tips and advice would be wonderful.
Are you a VP now? Sorry to jack your thread, but could you talk about how the transition actually works?
Does your group head come up to you and say "associate mode off, VP mode on"? Just want to understand the mechanics of the transition. What is your strategy for bringing in business/reaching potential clients?
I'm at an EM country so roles and designations are slightly different. Analyst roles are mostly the same, a lot of grunt work, a lot of execution work. After being bumped up to Associate, I ended up leading deal teams and working on deal execution strategies with a bit part role in origination. In terms of comparable positions, I would say I'm an just at the tail end of Associate 2 (though my designation is junior VP).
For the last few months, I've been training up an analyst and slowly handing off the work so I have more free time for origination. I'm guessing in a couple of months, I'll have no part in the grunt work and will solely focus on bringing in business. Group head has already started to jack up the pressure, revenue targets, business strategies etc, but so far so good. I go out in volume and cherry pick the quality clients when I can (so far don't have a choice until I build up my rolodex I guess).
Its rough, its a very connection and family relationship oriented country, none of which I have, and my age really doesn't help given most origination is typically done by group and division heads here. But its kinda fun and I'm hoping to see a couple of transactions close by the end of this year.
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