What are some mistakes a newly hired financial modeling professional might make?

Financial ModelingQuestion: What are some mistakes a newly hired financial modeling professional might make?

Answer: A newly hired financial modeling professional may assume that his job is about building a model in his cubicle on Excel. He or she may not know that before building a model, he should strategically understand the motivation for building that particular model. The way you’d understand that is by speaking with different people within the organization, and then connecting the dots to get the big picture, much like you did in kindergarten.

A new hire may ask too many specific questions that may lead his boss to doubt his financial modeling skills, and think he wants the answers spoon fed without stepping up and formulating the model independently.

A new hire may incorrectly value parameters in the model, in ways that do not reflect their real significance within the context. Therefore, it always is important to speak with as many people as you can about your model, without giving them the impression that you are incompetent. Push the for answers to specific questions, and position your questions with answers and ask them to verify or refute your assumptions. Try not to go in with open questions without answers.

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