Speed v. Accuracy

It's your first week in the office, and you want to dazzle your new boss with your genius. You attack your assignments with vigor and excitement, anticipating the moment when you hand your boss the assignment and he/she proclaims you the smartest, best analyst they ever experienced. You work quickly, so they see what an efficient, smart employee you are. In fact, you beat all the other analysts to handing in the assignment. You can see your name lit up in glory already.


Stop.

I'm sure you all wish that could happen. But in the collection of experiences I've had working at a number of different companies, employers value accuracy more than speed. And while I'm sure you are very smart, little formatting issues are very easy to miss when hurrying through an assignment. Little things, like how a report is spaced out, borders, fonts, and size all do really matter. Larger issues, like making sure the numbers matching on multiple reports when they should, and double-checking your work to make sure what you've created is accurate is really, really important. Taking the extra time to do this will impress your boss more than being the first one to hand in your (inaccurate and badly formatted) work. Let your boss hold up your work as the example to the rest- even if that means you hand it in last. And unlike them...you won't have to go back and fix your mistakes.