Who has been fired (or know someone) for bad attention to detail
I have bad attention to detail. Sometimes I'll scan my work for errors and not notice something obvious. It's stuff I don't think about or stuff I miss. I've started trying mental checklists. It helps a bit but sometimes its like my heads spinning and I'm just staring at words and numbers on the screen. Sometimes I feel confident in my work and do a quicky scan and then BAM I miss something. Does anyone understand what I'm saying?
This might not be the career for me but I'm in too deep to quit. I'm not pretty enough to be a model either.
Due to the nature of the forum, I suspect someones got to know something. Looking for people who had problems and fixed with or without getting fired. Ideally looking for adderall and ritalin free solutions, but who knows if they're even the right solution for me!
Usually interns that REALLY lack attention to detail/ struggle to pick it up just aren’t hired. For full time, honestly they generally just don’t get staffed on deals, are abused to the point of quitting, or are let go in a downturn. However, in terms of someone getting fired—you really don’t see it. The reason being, an analyst stint is really pretty short and it’s hard to build up a case for someone being so bad you’d rather not have them. Also, the progression really looks like this:
Separately, I think you are looking at attention to detail the wrong way. It’s a very trainable skill in banking, that people get better with over time. If you suck at attention to detail, try doing the following:
1) make a list of things to review before sending something out and manually check through it. This sucks, but really is the way to ensure no errors. Read the checklist manifesto if you want proof of that. The book more or less argues, anything complex you need a checklist because the human brain is crap at multitasking. If you are “winging it” you are setting yourself up for failure.
2) Stop listening to music or watching tv as you work. You need to be hyper focused to avoid errors.
3) SLOW DOWN. Way better being a slow analyst than an error prone one. Take a 10 minute break and just sit there with your eyes closed, or go for a walk then return to your work. You will notice errors looking with a fresh set of eyes.
4) print things out and pdf them to reread.
5) learn tricks to ensure efficiency or avoid common mistakes. Common examples: use logo intern and alphabetize so you don’t have alignment or alpha issues with logos. Search excels for error messages, search ppt for double periods, double spaces.
6) don’t obsess over every error, but if you make a mistake possibly add it to a list of things you double check for going forward.
7) Keep showing up and don’t get discouraged. People might yell at you for a missed comma and even note it on a review, but it might in the larger scheme of things not be a huge problem. If you just keep showing up with a positive attitude and tenacity to be better, other analysts will gradually slack off, quit, or begin behaving negatively which will make you look comparatively better.
What's the IB workload like on a daily basis? You guys are on max effort somedays but do slow down others despite being at the office for long hours?
I do need to slow down... Right now if you didn't add anything new to my plate it would take me at least 2 weeks max effort to finish everything (only 45 hour work weeks). I guess that's kind of setting me and my colleagues up for failure.
The late hours are partially due to unrealistic/ demanding timelines and bottlenecks in the process. The most common thing that happens in IB that creates late nights is comments. I.e. you have a ppt presentation that you work on and you send to a senior individual at 4pm. They have meetings until 7 and then commute/ have kids so they don’t get you comments until 11pm. He/ she demands a ton of changes and the presentation is tomorrow—now it’s a 3am night.
Hours depend where you are and the week. On average, I think 9am—12:30am Sunday-Thursday is probably accurate. That said, that’s an average so that includes random weeks between staffings where it might be lighter. When I’m on a live deal, it’s not uncommon to have every night be past 1am and a few 3ams.
When you mean abused—does that mean you’re over-staffed?
It means people treat you horribly—call you names, continuously assert that you are producing a poor work product/ aren’t putting out work at the level of other analysts etc. This can be pretty emotionally abusive and it gets people to just leave eventually.
I always keep a notebook on hand and list all the errors I make. Initially, all it teaches you is that you are incredibly creative at finding new ways to fuck up, but after a while you'll start memorizing the errors you make and be able to remember to correct them as you go. After you reach that stage, you'll be able to bucket the types of errors you make into categories and start working on them. The key is to flip through your notebook before your day starts and after your day ends and then to reevaluate weekly, monthly, quarterly. Requires an annoying level of diligence to maintain but so does work.
This is an excellent idea! Thanks!
I tried doing this mentally but I'm going to start writing it down tomorrow.
Print everything and review manually. That is still the best way to spot formatting, font or similar types of issues. They stick out like crazy when you look at it off screen.
you just need to let the document sit for a while and come back to review it. 1 day if possible.
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