How to be a successful 1st year analyst

Common pitfalls and how to avoid them

This series is meant for graduating seniors about to start a new corporate job (think Investment Banking, Management Consulting, Private Equity, strategy and corporate finance, any finance job…, etc.)

Master the basics before you start your job

Once you master the basics, you can move onto the more interesting parts of your job.

What’s your start date? Well, 8 weeks before your start date, master all these skills. Try to practice all these skills on a Windows computer (go to your local library if you don’t have one at home).

1. Master excel. Take this course over the summer. Do not use a mouse or your cursor. You should be able to do everything from saving copies of files to changing the column width

2. Master powerpoint. Look at templates and look at how

3. Master shortcuts for Excel, Powerpoint, Windows, Google Chrome, Slack, Zoom,

4. Master financial basics. Go on YouTube. Know how to model

Once you start the job:

1. Master all the tools that you need in your job to succeed. There are internal tools, vendors, etc. etc. Familiarize yourself as quickly as possible so you can hit the ground running

2. Message ‘seniors’ (ie. think of them as upperclassman) and gather advice

3. Network. Send emails every week to people that you would want to work with to schedule a coffee. When you’re in between projects, try to see if there’s ways to collaborate with them.

Be aware of the planning fallacy

• Everything takes longer than you think. When giving time estimates, just double it or add an hr. Better to deliver early than ghost and be silent with no updates.

Be proactive

1. Every day, before your first meeting, send your manager a list of everything you plan to do that day (in order of priority). Also mention how you plan to prioritize everything and let your manager give you feedback on that

2. Listen to the types of questions that your manager and clients asks you — the next time you prepare to present, pause and predict the questions your manager will ask. Now, prepare materials to answer them or address them outright.

3. Be an expert in the industry you’re working in. Read books, listen to podcasts, watch YouTube videos about how things work, find the obscure industry magazines or websites to gather info outside of work hours or before you start a project. Your knowledge and context will shine especially in fast-paced environments

4. Once you’ve mastered all the basic skills and are competent at your job, you will move on and up to do the more interesting things. You’ll have the grounds to ask the more interesting questions, and you’ll be given more responsibility.

Know how to tell your story

1. Practice and be able to articulate well — why do you want to work at this company? What are your goals? What industries or functions do you want to master? What specific teams

2. Shape the narrative of what’s spoken about you. Read books on Power and Presence.

3. All of your comms both written and spoken (whether you like it or not) is judged and used to shape an image and narrative about you. Think hard about how you want to present yourself, how you present yourself with your team is how they will perceive you present yourself with clients.

Good luck!