I am struggling at my new job. I think I was mishired. How to proceed?

Hi All,

I will try to be brief here, about 1.5 years ago I interviewed for a IR role. I was working as an analyst in a HF and on the interview I said that I didn't like the analyst job and I wanted to shift to a client facing role that would involve talking to clients, making presentations, a people job. And then covid happened.. 

My HF analyst job contract ended and this new IR offer got hanging in the air until 2 months ago when I finally received the contract.. ..that said "investment analyst" I was like.. wtf.. this is not what I interviewed for, but I was unemployed for more than a year so I just had to accept it. 

So now they think I am an Excel wizard, something I was pretty explicit I didn't like. Bear in mind I have 1 year of analyst experience. I was asked to build a huge fund valuation model that I am totally struggling with. I had to restart like 3 times, took 2 weeks, did really nothing so far and there is NOBODY in the office who knows excel more than SUM formula. Nobody knows modelling, there is no decent previous models to look at. 

Basically I was hired for something I suck at, don't give a sht about and don't want to do. Btw I was given a very short contract, so wtf do I do?... Do I tell I don't want to build models? But then what? What if I get fired? Do I keep "building" models? I suck at it and hate it. My colleagues started to notice it.. 

Should I tell my boss that I struggle and want a change of tasks? Or should I suffer for a few more months and search for something else? Like should I even search for a job 2 months after starting a new role? How can I explain it on an interview?.. 

BTW, how long should it take to build a full blown fund valuation model? Like several assets with a bunch of dynamic assumptions that flow into a BS, CF and Income statement.

Should someone with my profile even be asked to build it after clearly saying that Excel wasn't my thing? 

Best!

 
Most Helpful

If you're building from scratch and don't have any real training, then that really sucks.

Does your firm have sell side relationships? Or do you know anyone on the sell side covering the companies you're trying to model? If so, ask them for their model. Go through it in detail to understand what the variables/business drivers are, what the assumptions are, and how its constructed/linked together. From there, I would attempt to rebuild it for youself so you not only understand it but also because you don't want to pass someone elses work as your own. Also, depending on the sell side model you may want to recreate a more simplied version any ways. Having tons of inputs can be stupid when there are really 2 or 3 things (drivers) that really matter or are critical.

Make sure to review the assumptions and forecasts used by the sell side. Try to determine if they're bs or not. Come up with a logical reason for why something should be x or y. That will be the challenging part given your lack of experience but thorough research on the company and industry will help you there.

 

Thanks for the answer! 

I should have mentioned that the model is for a fund of FI assets, so basically there must be loads of different variables that all interact and it all has to come together at the end as a BS, IS and CF. It's one of those 20MB files with 5000 lines x 200 rows and 15 sheets, all connected.

Unfortunately there is really nobody who can guide me with this, the people who built the previous work left long ago and the model they did looks like ancient Egyptian to me. 

I must say that the company seems really cool, like chilled and open to new ideas, so its such a shame that I was hired for something I really can't shine at. I want to show that I can perform, but they just gave me the task I am weakest at I guess. I spent a few weekends in the office already and I am still spinning the wheels with this af.. 

But I am uncomfortable approaching my boss with this tbh. At the same time I am scared of just taking another 3 weeks and then having to admit I simply can't do it.

 

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