Do's and Don'ts - First Time Analyst Gig on the Horizon

How to be a great versus average analyst:

Do:

• Take in the culture initially, read the work landscape before imposing your will so you can figure out best methods for working with your boss, coworkers and teams effectively.

• Establish your reputation as a hard worker for at least the first year, a strong first impression will get you way more flexibility down the road. This typically means getting in and leaving after your boss and your bosses' boss.

• Always be willing to roll up your sleeves, particularly in "emergency situations" - pulling that late night with your associate or jumping on a grenade project early in your employment can earn you a lot of respect for a relatively small time commitment.

• Believe in the importance of details, details, details - in any work product you put together make sure you are at the very least consistent - use the same font, font size, color schemes, decimal places and formatting (for example $0.0 vs $0.00 or $1.0MM vs $1.0 million) - this sounds petty but if you have constant inconsistencies as a detail oriented person I will start to get distracted by aesthetics versus paying attention to your analysis plus if I cannot trust you to get the little things right, why should I trust you to get the big ones correct?

• Go above and beyond your job description - this will be easier at a smaller firm with less structure and process but that folder structure that everyone complains about? That one weekly task that your Associate dreads doing? Go ahead and do it for them. This is classic "ask for forgiveness rather than permission." You will show proactive thinking and drive and in the worst case scenario you will have to apologize for overstepping boundaries but that is way better than under performance.

• Check your work - especially if you are in financial analyst position, for a final check always print any materials and get out a physical calculator. Do the math for every calculation, you will be shocked by how many easy mistakes you will catch and make.

Don't:

• Ditch out early - see above, the exact opposite is true. This will vary by company culture but in general don't expect to move up the ranks if you are a "9 to 5er". The right organization will support a proper work-life balance but working hard with your team is important.

• Ignore critical feedback - if your associate or manager is sharing feedback in real time, stop and listen to what they are telling you. They likely are trying to help you improve and nothing is more frustrating as a leader when you have a team member who is unwilling or unable to change and repeatedly makes the same mistakes.

• Be afraid to ask for help - always try to make your best attempt at figuring it out on your own before seeking help but do not be afraid to ask for further clarification. Examples include asking about priority levels of certain tasks, a technical question that is directly impacting your ability to get a critical path project done or clarification on an assignment.

• Be embarrassed about not knowing it all - no matter what level of knowledge or stage of career progression you are at, we all started from square one. In a field as complex as development or private equity, the best are unabashed in their ignorance within certain focuses and work hard to learn daily so they can improve so do not be ashamed if you do not have all the answers.

• Show up to meetings without a notebook/laptop - whether it is taking notes for your own learning or for documentation purposes, if you have a good leader they will issue action items as you close any discussion so a notebook helps you keep track of these for yourself and others.

That's just a couple off of the top of my head, I will brainstorm further - this is a great blog topic so thank you for the suggestion.