THE VETERAN: Do not fear the analyst assessment

The process of getting your first feedback as an analyst can be both exciting and nerve-wracking. Unlike getting grades back from an exam, the evaluation can feel like a referendum on you as a professional, or at least the early returns on your career prospects. But is it?

Feel GOOD about feedback:

Feedback is your friend. Whether it is positive or particularly if it is negative, you need feedback in order to improve and succeed. And no, it does not determine the rest of your career, although it can give you helpful pointers on where to focus your energies. The sooner you know what you are doing well and what you need to work on, the more time you have (and the easier it is) to address it and become the best you can be.

What will happn

Every firm has its own analyst evaluation system and it is important to find out how it works, so ask. Generally, the people you have worked most closely with will be asked to provide feedback, usually written, on your strengths and development areas, and an assessment of how well you are doing against a set of criteria. This will then be collated by HR and fed into some type of confidential forum where the feedback for the analyst class is presented and analysed.

Often, these forums are called "roundtables." A small group of more senior professionals from a cross-section of business units literally will sit around a table to review and discuss each analyst file. The group will typically come to some conclusions about each analyst's performance and place them into one of several categories, whether quartiles or quintiles or maybe just "high, medium, low" performance, depending on the firm.

These groupings may be used in a variety of ways including guiding compensation and advancement decisions, again depending on the firm. Generally, these "rankings" are not widely distributed, and these may or may not be shared with analysts themselves. However, the developmental messages are usually summarised and reviewed in some detail with each analyst so that they can improve.

How you can prepare for this:

The most important thing to do while evaluations are taking place, is to keep working hard and keep your head in it. Resist the urge to worry or fixate on the feedback process; this will distract you from doing your best work. I have seen analysts in the top group fall back to less lofty levels as they rest on their laurels, and I have seen others rise as they take on board comments and demonstrate personal growth, so don't worry about it. As they say, past performance is not always a good predictor for the future.

Select your assessors with cunning:

If possible, choose your evaluators intelligently. To the extent you are asked to provide input, try to select evaluators who:

1. Know your work well: this is not necessarily the most senior person, although it is important to have someone senior enough to have the proper perspective in assessing your work

2. Will take the time to give you honest, thoughtful feedback: everyone means well, but some people end up with so many evaluation requests that they are not able to give them the time they deserve, and others may be disorganised or somehow not make it a priority.

3. Who are respected within the firm: their feedback is likely to be useful, and their views will carry greater weight and credibility, especially in the event of conflicting information

If you are unsure about whether to include an evaluator, then consider asking them (either in person or via email) whether they would be comfortable evaluating you. Another way to phrase it is to ask whether they feel it would be appropriate for them to write a review for you.

This gives potential evaluators who are on the cusp a chance to opine on whether or not they feel they have something substantive to say.

As for what they will say, it is harder to tell and you have to let the chips fall where they may.

Much better to start with the truth and show improvement than to avoid the learning opportunity until it is too late to adjust your performance.

The bottom line is that it is early in your career and you have everything to play for, so focus on learning what you need to learn and becoming the best you can be.