What makes a good analyst?

So, I keep hearing about star analysts etc. Since I am going to be an analyst next year, i was just wondering what does it take to become a star analyst. Is it mainly Excel skills? Is it having your shit together in all aspects? Is it asking intelligent questions and offering good recs for pitch book pages? What does it take? Who are the people who get top bonus?

Like for example, when I interned last summer, one of the associates told me that out of the several summer analysts in our group, I had the best reasoning and analytical skills, and that was really valuable. He said that even though my excel skills were lacking in comparison to two other summers, reasoning and logic were a lot more important for the job. In the end, what is the key factor?

13 Comments
 

Attitude is the key factor.

There used to be a handout that went around the office with "101 ways to be a good FA" or something like that. It had a good set of rules to follow and consider as an analyst. Maybe someone here has it and can scan it for you?

 

You have to see the exact situation in your office environment and adapt to it. Hopefully, get staffed with good-natured people, do a good job for them, prove yourself, and get rewarded. Be warned though... sometimes, no matter how hard you try, you won't be a star. Everyone's intelligent and everyone knows Excel in ibanking.

 

i asked this question of an associate today, and he gave me the following response

1-When your top guys say jump, you say how high 2-Show initiative 3-have a good attitude towards work

 

i used to wonder how much value an analyst could add. most of the times, i think not much. so how do we justify someone being a star analyst and getting a much heftier bonus?

 

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Once more into the breach, dear friends.

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