If you are reading this, you are probably focused on becoming an investment banker out of college. Or maybe you are a few months into your job or already have an offer.
Probably the best piece of advice I could give would be tomake sure you set your expectations straight before starting out as aninvestment banking analyst. Your satisfaction in any job is determined by howyour expectations meet reality. If you can prepare yourself mentally, then thejob will be a lot easier to deal with than if you had high expectations goinginto it.
Even if you are already a banking analyst and are looking to transition to the buyside, make sure you do not hype up that buyside role in your mind to the point where you are just setting yourself up to be disappointed. This is exactly what happened to me when I joined a large multi-manager hedge fund. I initially thought it would be my dream job, but turned out to be exactly not what I wanted to do longer-term. I quit that role despite the amount of money I could have potentially made.
So set expectations low and you are less likely todisappoint yourself and disappoint others. As sad as it may sound, I use thisin all aspects of my life because it keeps the stress levels at bay. Whether itcomes to my job, my relationships or just making plans with friends, if you setlow expectations you can easily surpass them.
In terms of your job, if someone asks you if you areknowledgeable about a certain subject or are good at doing somethingspecifically, then just tell them the truth. There is no need to make themthink that you are an expert in a specific subject when you actually are not.
For example, when I first interviewed for my current role as a distressed hedge fund analyst many years ago, I told them upfront that I knew extremely little about distressed investing. Practically nothing! I was not in the restructuring group during my days in banking and only skimmed through a few books on the subject.
Turned out that all my bosses wanted was someone who was smart, hard working and could learn things quickly. By telling them I did not know much about distressed investing upfront, they had low expectations, which I was able to easily surpass within six months of starting the job.
Don’t set yourself up to disappoint others
In terms of your relationships with others, don’t promise todo something (ie. go to an event or on vacation) when you know therepotentially could be a chance that you would not be able to go. Especially ifyou are in a type of job where work can pop up last minute (like in banking),always say to others that you would love to go, but will not know for sureuntil the week before.
By not giving others your word that you can go, you are essentially hedging your bets and being honest with the other person. Yes, it absolutely sucks to not have control over your life or your schedule, but it sucks even more to have relationships ruined because you have to cancel on them all the time. You do not want to be seen as an unreliable person who cancels on people last minute.
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Below are a few other things I wish I knew before startingmy investment banking analyst program:
1. You will be judged from day 1
Your performance from day 1 matters. Those first few monthsare the most crucial when it comes to determining your reputation within yourgroup/firm. You do not want to be that guy who comes in late, leaves early, iserror prone, does not have a good attitude, etc.
Buckle down for the first few months. Try to make yourself stand out from the other analysts by coming in a little early and asking around if you can help on anything before you leave. Show that you are hardworking and are hungry to learn. Know that associates have a huge say when it comes to determining which analyst they want to work with, so you want to be seen as one of the better analysts.
Even though you will be working harder, you want to be chosen to work on deals because that is how you learn the most. Do not be that analyst that nobody wants to work with. Remember, investment banking bonuses and promotions will depend on how well you are liked in your group.
2. Be careful with the Seamless
Yes, you may have had a great metabolism in college, but you do not realize how active you were then compared to how active you will be in your first job. $25 of Seamless for dinner goes a long way if you order at cheap restaurants. You can easily order more food and sides than you actually need.
Remember the Freshman 15? Well, there is a Banking 15 aswell. I have seen many analysts go from being in good shape to gaining 15+pounds in their first year out of college.
So watch what you eat and do not mindlessly eat to relieveyour stress.
3. Sign up and go to the gym when you can
You need to get into the habit of going to the gym wheneveryou can. This is not just advice for bankers. Everyone in their 20s needs toget into a habit of going to the gym on a daily basis. You will realize onceyou are in your late 20s / early 30s that your body starts to slow down andyour muscles / bones become a lot weaker. Best way to prevent aging is keepyour body in good shape.
Get an equinox membership a few months after you start. Yes,$200 a month seems expensive for someone coming from college, but it isdefinitely worth it. Use it to relax and let off steam. You need a way torelease any anger or frustration with your job in a healthy manner.
The sooner you get into the habit of staying in shape, thebetter.
4. Always print your work and check it
Nothing is worse than being called out for presenting wrongnumbers to the client. Usually it never gets to this stage because yourassociate / MD will catch almost all of the mistakes. But you never want to be knownas the guy who is error-prone because then nobody would want to work with you.
So always print out your work and check it before handing itoff to your associate. You save a lot of your associate’s time if they do nothave to be worried about constantly checking your work.
When you get to the buyside, you will realize that nobody checks your work. I promise you will not last long on the buyside if you present wrong numbers to your partners.
5. Start thinking about the buyside from day 1
This of course applies to only those who want to transition to the buyside. Recruiters reach out to you very early during your first year right out of college. From what I hear nowadays, they reach out within the first month or two. Crazy I know! Like what does someone straight out of college know yet about finance and private equity / hedge funds??
But buyside firms want the best candidates and once one bigfirm starts recruiting, all the big firms start recruiting. So make sure youstart preparing very early on for interviews otherwise it will be harder to geta job on the buyside later.
Hedge funds are a little different. They will recruit randomlydepending on need, usually at the start of the year.
6. Never ever complain
Nobody wants to work with someone who complains. Yes, banking hours can be tough, there is no doubt about that. But everyone in banking knows that the job can suck a times, so the more you complain the harder it will be for yourself and for those around you.
You are what you say you are. So if you keep tellingyourself this job sucks I want to quit, then you will likely be miserable andmove to a different role. Always keep a positive attitude. You are making oversix figures right out of college, so realize others would kill to be in your shoes.
7. Admit to your mistakes, especially if you are working on a live deal
You won’t know it unless it happens to you, but the feelingof noticing a mistake after you present it to your MD or your client is one ofthe worst feelings ever. What is even worse is if you get called out for it midmeeting.
If you notice a mistake in a meeting with a client, do notsay anything unless you are asked about it. Bring it up after the meeting with yourMD / Associate so you can all discuss what to do about it. This mattersespecially for fairness opinions, which are viewed as legal documents and are scrutinizedby lawyers during lawsuits.
The worst thing you can do is not say anything about it. Sobe humble and admit to your mistakes.
8. Prepare yourself for a grueling two years
Like I discussed before, keep your expectations in checkwhen you start your investment banking job. Realize that this is just a twoyear boot camp where you need to prove to yourself and others that you can doit.
Your performance during these two years will define you. It willseparate the good analysts from the bad and help get you your buyside role downthe road.
9. Don’t make vacation / weekend plans, unless you get them approved
You may think I am crazy when I say this, but you should nothave done banking if you wanted to have a work / life balance. Banking is forthose who want to set themselves apart from others. It shows future employers thatyou have what it takes to be a good employee.
One of the things that absolutely stressed me out during mybanking days was having my plans constantly cancelled because something came upat work. I know, it sucks to not have any control over your life and schedule.But what sucks even more is getting so excited to do something then having tocancel it last minute. It will stress you out and make you angry.
Better to try to make plans last minute so you do not haveto deal with the anxiety of always thinking about if you are able to go to anevent or not. The anxiety will distract you and you will become more depressed andangry if you have to cancel plans.
10. Get off social media
Social media is the biggest waste of time ever. If you think about it, you already have very little free time in finance, so why waste that time on social media? The most time spent on social media is right when you wake up and when you go to bed. During those times people probably spend an hour mindlessly scrolling through Instagram and Facebook when they could otherwise spend the time hanging out with others or working on improving themselves.
Read a book, work on a side hustle, or prepare for yourbuyside interviews. Best advice I learned was to not use my phone as an alarmclock. Go on Amazon and buy one of those old simple alarm clocks so you don’thave to look at your phone every night.
Also, checking to see what your friends are doing on a Friday night or on the weekends when you are working is depressing. Better to be oblivious to what your friends are doing and try to finish work quickly.
I was fortunate to be a top-bucket analyst during my bankingdays. Luckily, I had an older analyst teach me how to be successful at the jobbefore I started.
So, make sure you follow what I said above and also read the Top 10 Ways to Become a Top Bucket Ranked Analyst. One of the easiest ways to land a buyside role and stand apart from the analysts is to get that top bucket ranking, so make sure you follow the lessons I learned during my time in banking.
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