Congratulations, you broke into banking and only have to stick it out for two grueling years before moving to the buyside. All the hard work is done and your banking years are just a quick stepping stone to the buyside.

In reality, your first two years out of college are the most important when it comes to developing your reputation. Your bankinhg job is likely your first full-time professional experience and your career path going forward will be highly dependent on how good of an analyst you are during your initial years.  

Almost every single recruiter / interviewer will ask about your reviews and your strengths / weaknesses. In addition, every single job offer you get down the road will be dependent on reference checks. So I hope you can see the importance of developing a good reputation and being able to have at least two co-workers think highly of you.

How helpful is being a top-bucket analyst for recruiting?

I worked hard during my first two analyst years and was fortunate to be top bucket during my second year. To this day, my reviews and references received from my time in banking continue to help me find new job opportunities.

A couple of my old coworkers in banking introduced me to their friends at various funds, which helped me get initial interviews. If people did not respect me during my time in banking, then my old coworkers would not be helping me with recruiting.    

My reviews also helped me determine my true strengths and weaknesses. While you may have a sense of the areas you are good at and the areas that you need to improve, you never really know until someone who you have worked closely with tells you.

What I learned about my strengths and weaknesses?

When I started working in banking after college, I have to admit that I was pretty intimidated. I grew up in a small-town thousands of miles away from Wall Street and was never exposed to anyone who was really successful (read more about How it All Started). Once I worked in banking, I had direct exposure to the directors / MDs and also various CEOs / CFOs of multi-billion-dollar companies.

I was always a shy / introverted kid to an extent, but being surrounded by all these successful people exacerbated this weakness. Additionally, I was told by some of the older analysts to just do what you are told and not say anything stupid. Ultimately, this caused me to not speak up, ask questions and give my own opinions.

Even though I was working hard, had really good attention to detail and could figure out things independently during my first year in banking, I still did not receive top-bucket because I did not take that next step to speak up and give my own opinions. I realized that once you gain the respect of others, they really listen to you and value your thoughts.

The advice I received from older analysts was wrong. Once you are able to do what you are told, you need to take that next step to own your work and be able to effectively communicate.   

Once I was told that this was my main weakness during my first-year review, I made sure to improve going forward. Fortunately, at the beginning of my second year I became the lead analyst on a large-cap M&A deal. I was given the responsibility to step up and I did. I owned the analysis, talked about issues / questions that I had, and communicated the results and my opinions to the director on the deal. I also was able to work directly with the SVP of the company we were trying to sell, which allowed me to start being comfortable communicating directly with clients.  

The only reason I was able to be a top-bucket analyst during my second year was because I listened to the criticism that I was given and reacted by trying to improve my weaknesses.

The #1 lesson that I learned: listen to the criticisms from co-workers and work hard to improve them

I have seen TONs of analysts get really defensive when they are told that they are not doing something right. Do not make excuses for anything and figure out what needs to be done to improve going forward. Yes, you may have been top of your class or graduated from Harvard / Wharton / Yale / Princeton / etc., but nobody cares in the real world. I know a ton of Ivy Leaguers who I would hate to work with.

Even if you think you did nothing wrong, accept the criticism and try your best to improve the situation. Those analysts that make excuses and never try to improve will not receive top-bucket. They are usually the ones who nobody wants to work and are never put on live deals.          

How do you become a top-ranked analyst?

1. Learn Excel and Financial Modeling

There are so many analysts who start their internships or full-time gigs in investment banking that have no idea how to use excel or model a company’s financials. You do not want to be that person heading into your first job out of college.

I remember I always preferred working with interns/analysts who could hit the ground running day 1 of the job. Sure, you’re not going to know that much when you start, but if you know the basics it makes life so much easier.

I can guarantee you that you will not break into any investment bank without a good understanding of financials of a company and how to value them.

One of the best courses I have found online is from Wall Street Prep that teaches you everything there is to know about 3-Statement Modeling and all the Valuation methodologies (DCF, Trading and Transaction Comps, M&A and LBO). Get 15% off the Wall Street Prep Financial & Valuation Course below by using coupon code ‘BUYSIDE’.

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2. Highlight all mark ups

When you are given comments to make changes to a presentation, make sure to highlight EVERYTHING. Once you make the change in the actually presentation, then take a highlighter and highlight each of the comments. I usually go through and make the easiest changes first and then I can circle back to see what items are still not completed.

You do not realize how annoying it is to ask someone to do something twice. You will be very busy working on multiple work streams and will definitely forget to make certain changes unless you keep track through highlighting.  

3. Always have a positive attitude

Nobody wants to be in the office past midnight, but it happens all the time in banking. It is extremely annoying to hear an analyst complain about working late or make huffing / puffing sounds.

Do not even complain to your fellow analysts. You are what you say you are. The more you talk about hating the job, the more you will actually hate it.

Nobody wants to be around someone who always complains, whether it is at work or with your friends. I guarantee the more positive and happier you are at work, the more people will want to work with you. It will actually be easier to work late nights and on mindless tasks if you stop complaining.

4. Print and check every document that you hand to someone else

There are three main items that you should check for when creating slides:

• First – check for spelling. Self-explanatory.  
• Second – fix all formatting mistakes. Each slide should be created in a similar manner, meaning the titles at the top, sources at the bottom, headings, colors, indentations, etc. should all be structured and positioned the same way. Make sure your numbers / dates / percentages / multiples are all formatted in the same way. Go through each and every footnote as well to make sure there are no spelling / punctuation mistakes.
• Third – tick and tie every single number. I do not care if it is a 10-page deck or 100 pages; every single number should tie to the same number shown on other slides. Financials / valuation / comp tables / etc. should all tie and be updated as of a specific date.

Every time I made changes and updated a presentation, I checked everything. I would isolate myself from everyone, put my noise cancelling headphones on and go through with a red pen to make sure there are no mistakes. You should do the same.  

5. Do more than just the excel work

A few months into banking, I was creating company tear sheets in PowerPoint. Initially, I did all the excel work, update the presentations and left TBUs for areas that needed written words (which I thought was the associate’s job).

I told my associate that I was done over email. The next day when I came to the office, he sat me down for 20 minutes to discuss how I did not finish the materials and should not expect others to do the work for me. The lesson I learned was to act as if nobody else was going to check my work before handing it to the MD.

There are a lot of workstreams that need to be done when working on a deal. The more you can accomplish, the easier it is for your associate when he has to check everything.  

6. Be the first in the office

If you want to stand out from the crowd, be the first one in the office every day. I usually arrived at 8:30-8:45AM when most would show up at 9-9:30AM. Nobody remembers those who stay late, but people always remember those who show up early. Yes, investment banking hours can suck as you stay past dinner time practically every night. But being the only analyst in the office first thing in the AM will guarantee that you stand out amongst your peers.

7. Always respond to emails within 15 minutes

Double check to make sure your phone sends instant notifications when you receive an email. Associates and above hate to wait on analysts if they have a question. If you need access to a computer to answer the question, still respond and acknowledge you received the email so they know you will be working on it.  

8. Do not take weekend vacations away from the city

There are countless times when I thought I would be free for an entire weekend just to receive an email on a Saturday / Sunday to show up to the office. Imagine being an associate that just got his weekend blown up and needs your help. All it takes is that one time you say you can not show up to the office to work because you are away from the city. Believe me, that associate will never want to work with you again.

I am not implying to never take a weekend vacation. Apparently, there are protected weekends nowadays (lucky you!). Just be upfront and communicate to your staffer and associate if you are going to be away one weekend. I usually would say I have my laptop available in case anything comes up.

9. Be a team player and offer to help if you do not have much on your plate

Do not just sit there at your desk reading WSJ / CNBC all day long. Go to your staffer / other associates and offer to help with anything that they are working on. If you see someone working late, ask if you can help them with anything before you leave.

10. Communicate about deadlines and do not bullshit

Whenever you are given something to do, make sure that you and whoever you are working with agree on a deadline. If you have too much on your plate or have to prioritize more important tasks, then make sure you communicate this to that person and your staffer.  

If you do not know the answer to a question, do not try to be confident and act like you know what you are talking about. It is extremely easy to know when an analyst is BSing. ALWAYS say you do not know, but will look into it and circle back.

And lastly, make sure to read about Job Burnout to learn how to prevent it during your analyst years.

After Investing Banking, Then What?

There are so many different career paths you can take post investment banking. Optionality is a huge problem with people early on in their careers because they have no idea what path to take.

If you are interested in moving on to the buyside, learn about all the exit opportunities in private equity vs. hedge funds.

There are other paths you can take as well, so make sure you know about all the Highest Paying Jobs in Finance to figure out what is best for you and your skillset.