Always make mistakes
I've been on the buyside since undergrad, and I still make small mistakes (about 4 years now; I'm a senior associate). Is this common? Does anyone have advice on how to eliminate these issues? I love the job, but I’m concerned that these mistakes might affect my long-term success.
There is always an allowance for mistakes but repeating the same mistake is when you start to put yourself in a poor spot. In banking, you have the hierarchy to flesh out mistakes and limit your exposure. You're preparing the work and then relying on the review layer for quality control. That isn't always the case on the buyside and I suspect that is what you're suffering from.
Whenever I have a run of mistakes (9 years in, still happens) I try to slow it down. When you're wrapping up a deliverable or processing comments you can get sloppy and eager to re-send (e.g., you made the change in the back-up, forgot to repaste the exhibit). Taking an extra hour to send something that is complete and correct is always better than sending something sooner with mistakes (obviously, sorry to patronize).
If all else fails, keep a running list of mistakes you've made and run through it like a pre-flight checklist before you send anything.
Taking the next step in your career is about moving from just processing the work to actually understanding the work. That is, why are we showing what we're showing? What are we showing that we want to highlight? What are we showing that someone is going to jump on and what is our response? It takes time but this mindset is helpful to have when you're preparing materials for your bosses (or your bosses bosses).
Every time you are about to send your work, think of this guy. Triple check, safety first!
This seems to be a common problem with the associates I manage that went straight to buy-side. They seem to be better at thinking about investments and how companies operate, but are substantially behind their IB peers when it comes to the basic associate tasks of putting together analyses, slides, etc. quickly and error-free.
Whenever you update something in a presentation, think about a) whether it makes sense and b) whether it's consistent with the other pages. Do a print review of your materials, models and presentations. Print out your comments and highlight the ones you complete as you go, so you don't accidentally skip one and then forget about it.
Those are some of the basic checks from banking. The comment above is right in that IB has a very structured review process where you are grinded for very little mistakes - perfection is beaten into you. In PE, we simply can't continue to treat you as an analyst - we don't have the time, error-free work is just table stakes.
Some stuff can slide, but frustrating your seniors with careless mistakes will create a negative impression on your reputation.
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