What made you a valuable junior banker?
I know everyone is going to say that ‘valuable junior banker’ is an oxymoron, but what was/is it that made you into a someone your bank wanted to keep and promote. We aren’t cheap, and everyone says the same thing about how they were the person that kept learning or that they just clicked with their team, but I want to hear the things that truly set you apart as a value add (examples bringing in deals, connecting the bank to PE firms, having valuable conversations with senior bankers, etc.).
I reply emails at 2am
This has been posted before, but it really comes back to learning, hard-work, and practice. First, like all lifers, you need to watch your senior mid-managers and appreciate what they do. Once you watch a few times, you can begin practicing. Start with a pinky and just tease your butthole a little gradually working it in. Once you can do that comfortably, work several fingers and eventually your fist. Really valuable analysts are the ones that can fit an entire foot inside their asshole, and ask for another, as their relationships fall apart and they slowly lose the twinkle from their eye. But it’s worth it. Even though private equity recruiting now happens 6 months in, being known as a valuable analyst will certainly pay dividends. Eventually your reputation as the valuable analyst will carry all the way to hedge funds and the biggest of megafunds. You will then get to tell people at bars on that rare Friday you have off that you work for a tigercub and the look of envy on their faces will tell it all. Pathetic chumps couldn’t hack it, but you could. You are a valuable analyst.
The absolute best thing you can do is to specialise early on
What you’ll find is that a lot of analysts / associates get dicked around with staffings across multiple sub sectors, resulting in a pretty shallow understanding of each until they are pushed / forced to specialise later on
There isnt anything inherently wrong with that 1 some people need to see new things every day or they cannot keep mentally engaged. However, in banking and perhaps in society in general, you are vastly rewarded if you some world class at one thing.
I know people in my class at a top bulge bracket who out of intellectual curiosity become very interested in the supply chain, chemistry of iron ore. This person spent some of his own time going deeper and deeper, reading books on the subject, primers etc, resulting in him being the go to person for any deal involving the subject. MDs with 15-20 years of experience over you will be asking YOU for advice etc
Find a good niche (ideally something countercyclical that still has growth prospects in a boom) and become a beast at that.
I will disagree with this. Short term, it can be helpful, but long term I think you don’t want to specialize early on—you want to see different business models and industries.
Early in my career I was very software focused and got exposure later to things like payments, consumer, internet, and more and they actually helped me better understand how to model different businesses and unique attributes to different spaces. When you are young I would argue you almost want to get as wide an area as possible, so when you do specialize as an adult you know where to specialize and can apply concepts from other industries.
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