I am not allowed to make any errors

I regularly catch errors and modeling mistakes from my Senior Associate and VP. Just yesterday, I found an issue with the MOIC calculation in a live deal model from my Senior Associate and fixed it. Today, I corrected an error in a DD Q&A that my VP sent out for review. He responded with his usual "thanks, good catch." Yesterday, my Senior Associate sent a model out to an investor that was off by $1 million, and there were no repercussions. However, whenever I make a mistake, the reaction is different. Yesterday, my boss came running over to my desk 10 minutes after he sent me a deck, asking where it was. I quickly forwarded it, but I missed one word out of all of the comments, and I got chewed out for it. Hes now not talking to me. I understand that small errors add up, but is this just the nature of private equity, or am I dealing with unreasonable expectations? On top of that, I’ve raised concerns twice about my workload and potentially missing deadlines on high-intensity deals. My staffer didn’t respond to either message, and later criticized me for not telling him I didn’t have the capacity. When I reminded him that I did notify him, he said I should have followed up again. One of my MDs regularly sends me Microsoft Teams messages about live deals until 2 a.m. I was working on a high-intensity deal and sent him a series of clarifying questions in real-time so I could implement them immediately. He complained that I should have compiled everything into a single email instead of sending multiple messages. However, later he also complained that I wasn’t being communicative enough. Last month, I went on vacation for the first time after being with the firm for a year. I told my deal teams I’d be flexible if needed, but they took that as me being fully available to work. Later, they said I should have either fully committed to working or not responded at all, instead of trying to manage it part-time. I was trying to be accommodating, but it ended up backfiring. It’s starting to feel like I can’t win, and it’s leaving me feeling defeated.

27 Comments
 

I think it's more of a firm culture issue. They just don't like you and are piling up random reasonings. I'd look to jump ship as soon as possible.

PE gig is hectic but if you fit into the culture it's a lot less stressful without having to worry about the drama and backfirings. 

 

Welcome to the life of an associate, the existence of a living breathing spell check & #REF repair bot. We all went through it. And it'll be tradition to continue the trend once we're promoted out of it and are required to focus our attentions on big picture stuff. Suffer and strive for the promised land brother. 

"If you don't have any enemies in life you have never stood up for anything" - Winston Churchill | "It's a testament to the sheer belligerence of the profession that people would rather argue about the 'risk-adjusted returns' of using inferior tooth cleaning methods." - kellycriterion
 
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Later, they said I should have either fully committed to working or not responded at all, instead of trying to manage it part-time. I was trying to be accommodating, but it ended up backfiring.

Learnt this lesson the hard way in the military - either don't do it, or fully commit. Half-assing things while thinking you'll be given a pass/commended for working on leave just means you get screwed twice as hard both ways. Just how it works...

 

Experienced the same when starting out and, whilst the pressure and striving for error free work is expected, this is generally a firm culture issue. I‘d recommend you to monitor their performance feedback on you closely and if it deteriorates to lateral asap. Huge pain to work for seniors who produce errors themselves but are not open to communicate, teach and mentor juniors along the way.

 

had a quick question - is promotion cycles harder in PE you think than IB? less seats and theres no incentive if im a partner to share the carry and promote many people to the top and let them sit below partner rank

 

Serious PE firms aren’t firing people to save on their bonuses. Bonuses aren’t where the big dollars sit, it’s all about carry. 

 

Missing comments usually pisses people off because you aren't doing something someone directly asked you to do vs making an error somewhere

 
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Definitely agreed that this fucking sucks, they sound kind of toxic, and doesn't sound like a place you want to be long-term. And also, very easy to feel like people are just being hypocritical and not even self-aware. That being said, a few things you could think about:

  • Re: communication, I assume there's a generational element to this. In your example, assuming it's a late night and MD is pinging me about something I am confused about. I think the more "accepted" way would be to say that X piece is confusing, is it okay to send over a list of questions or quickly hop on the phone to discuss. A lot of boomers really don't appreciate the way "we" type (yes, I'm including myself in this) with 1-line messages that don't seem to end. I think it's an expectations thing - if you're constantly asking one-offs via Teams or email, they don't know when you're gonna stop asking questions / have figured it out, they themselves need to keep checking their phone, and it's hard to timeblock. Take their perspective: they're probably home with the fam. If they know a deck or questions are coming in, they can expect that and put that on their plate, versus constantly being online not knowing if what you're asking is truly urgent or if it can wait. I think that's what people mean by "better" communication (quantity !+ quality)
  • Re: seniors making mistakes. This is true, and fucking annoying. However, keep in mind that their job is to first and foremost review your work, and then they "produce" whatever they produce without anyone checking anything they did, of course their shit is gonna slip through the cracks more than yours, because yours have been caught. There can also be an element of context to mistakes. TBH, I don't think tiny errors in DDQs or models are a huge huge deal and can be fixed up and iterated when the time comes. But if it's an IC memo or important pres that's already coming late then yes I imagine anyone would be a little salty if comments weren't turned, for example.
  • Re: vacation and time off...I sort of agree with the idea of setting expectations. It really depends on how you frame it and how explicit you are. If you say, "hey, friends and I are gonna go to a buddy's lake house this week, but can be free if needed" that's a death sentence. If you say "We're taking a vacation to this lake and have a bunch of stuff planned each of the days. I can be free to jump on this call on Wednesday b/c I'm running the workstream, but other days will be more out of pocket. If there are small things I can handle at night then I will" that will set their expectation
  • Attitude overall: I've found that taking an "ownership" attitude over workstreams works well. So for instance, trying to self-troubleshoot things before asking questions about tasks ("Hey I encountered this, maybe we do X to address this? what do you think?"). Not saying you or anyone has an attitude problem at all, but I think showing that you "care" in some way can kind of soften the blow sometimes if something gets fucked up (instead of defaulting to "oh they're lazy/don't care").

Like I said, chances are the place you work at is shitty with shitty people. But I'd think about things above to see if anything does apply and maybe can help make your life a little better in the meantime while you decide what to do. Bad market so would try to dual process leaving with increasing morale at your current place.

 

Lmfaooo living the dream man. 18 hours of responding to comments from narcissistic neurotics a day. Stand proud... this what you recruited for.... you who are one of the few

 

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