[22F] I work in corp finance in M&A and have only been at my role <1 year. I feel like I should know more by now? I don’t feel like I have much autonomy and always need my manager to tell me what to do or what I did wrong. He doesn’t make me feel bad about making mistakes but maybe I’m just hard on myself because I thought I’d be more helpful at this point of time. It’s been about 8 months and I still feel like I need my hand held. I used to work in a tax role in a Big 5 and they let me do whatever I want. Granted I made a ton of mistakes and no one ever trained me so it was really all up to me. I had a lot of autonomy in that role and was there for a year. I got my degree from a UC in economics so it didn’t have much to do with finance in general. I’m wondering if I should return to school for an MBA? Would that help me understand more? I would love to continue to develop a career in finance. If anyone in my position or has been I’d love some advice. TC: 90 Edit: Thank you all who left kind words! I’m very lucky to be in the spot I’m in and I’m very grateful for my managers who are incredibly kind to me. I feel very cherished at work, just want to help support the people who support me!
Pretty standard to feel this. Understand what you are lacking, use manager and other seniors as a resource to get better. Ask them for advice
Echo what the above two said. Would also recommend you compare your progress to more junior folks on the team. Not saying everything should be a pissing match where there’s a toxic environment amongst analysts, but benchmark against their progress not the expertise your managers have as they’ve been at this a lot longer than you. Definitely convey a version of this post to your manager (appreciate the guidance, enjoying my time, feel I can learn more faster, any advice / people to reach out to / etc.)
This. I’m in year two and I constantly feel like I could be picking things up faster, understanding projects to strategy more clearly, making more meaningful recommendations - but then I work with a senior PM or someone on my team and see how confused or unprepared they are - and it reminds me how hard I am on myself. I would say I’ve also worked with a ton of clueless MBAs who don’t know how to apply their bschool frameworks to real life. The answer is to keep exposing yourself to good examples of problem solving and you’ll gradually start absorbing information and concepts better! People learn over time.
Also it’s likely you haven’t seen certain things yet and will continue to see things you haven’t. More experience will help you learn how to evaluate what’s going on and what decision / outcome / what to do, but building that experience takes time. You’ve spent so much time in school so MBA is easy to fall back, but there’s a reason most programs want to see you have 3-5+ years of experience. Give yourself time to learn it, make mistakes, and grow.
100% your boss doesn’t feel the same way about you. If they did you would know and inferring anything else is rubbish. It’s important to remember you’re not the centre of everyone’s universe (I was relieved to find this fact out).
This sounds like me! It's gonna take time for you to understand everything in the business and the process. My boss told me it would take a year or 2 to feel totally comfortable doing the work, so I'm just trying to take it slow. I think you've made more progress over the last 8 months than you give yourself credit for.
What changed? You write like a serial linkedin poster btw 🤣
Yeah this is extreme LinkedIn energy
instead of helping with your confirmation bias as in the other comments let me offer you a mechanism. deep introspection not feeling based but data driven. document everything you faced issue with, how u thought about it, what was required to resolve it. was it a knowledge gap, context gap, skill gap, comprehension gap, effort gap. are these issues recurring, do they have a pattern etc. once u have data i will have a deeper understanding of the problem and maybe what you need to do.
This. Making mistakes isn’t a problem usually, as long as they’re different mistakes. Document and reflect, think about patterns in the mistakes that you can use to identify situations earlier. Early career is as much about learning about yourself as it is the job.
100% this ^^^
Big5? Lmaoooo
Jesus, imagine being such a douche and working for a tier 2 company like pwc
Imagine making up a term like big5? Big4 isn’t even good (agreed it’s tier 2, maybe 3) but then to make up big5 lol
M&A is one of the most technical parts of Corp finance. Don't expect any autonomy until you're a Director. You've already reached a senior post, so you'll spend the next 5-10 years acquiring knowledge on how to do it better vs. be an independent practioner.
If your manager is happy you should be happy. It’s normal to make mistakes. I love team members that are independent and would recommend you to approach your boss with your own proposal of your own goals, showing that you are proactive and eager to help.
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Imposter syndrome. You’re there because you’ve earned it, and your boss knows you can do the job. It’s easy to fall victim to this mindset, but believe in yourself. Keep at it and you’ll be fine
This. Felt the same when I started my career. Keep going.
Still feel this now. <1yr in also