Entry Level Equity Research Positions

Hello

I am a senior in college looking to get into the investment industry when I graduate.  I had a corporate finance internship but I am looking to apply to equity research positions.  I was wondering if anyone could tell me what titles I should look for in equity research for job positions?  Also what materials I should look at for interview prep?  And if anyone knew when firms usually like to make their hires for college graduates? 

Any information is greatly appreciated!

 

Unlike IB, you’ll start as an associate for most banks. So look for equity research associate positions.

In terms of interview prep, normal IB prep works just fine. The WSO IB prep is great. Work on your modeling skills. I recommend A Simple Model. Its cheap and efficient. Start working on stock pitches and building your own models. You will most likely be asked to pitch something in interviews, so have 2-3 pitches drilled into your head.

ER is less structured than IB. Its more of a hire as needed. Just network as much as you can and attach stock pitches to applications.

 

Research Associate roles are what you should apply for. Only Barclays and Goldman Sachs call their junior research people analysts. Most banks have programs like Wedbush for seniors to apply to. Some firms you can apply right away depending on your background. For example I worked in a specific subsector of tech during undergrad and it got me interviews for research teams that cover that sector.

hiring is on an as-need basis, if an analyst has a spot open then they will hire to fill that sole role. It's not like banking where they hire x many analysts every year.

Definitely know how to model, and you will have to pitch stocks during interviews. Always good to have 2-3 longs and 1-2 shorts memorized

 

This is not true and a weird hill to die on. Many banks call the lowest level of seniority 'analyst' across the bank, even if research and HF/LO clients think of them as 'associates'

 

Hiring, like everyone here said, is need-based. There should be a relative surge in hiring coming soon because bonus (whatever crumb they are giving) is paid soon. 

That said, sentiment is there is no hiring. So it's entirely possible banks don't plan to replenish any junior employee departure for now. 

 
Most Helpful

It seems like titles cause confusion. Why don't you instead just screen for both "research analyst" and "research associate" because chances are there are very few opening for Managing Director roles anyways, and then look at the job description to see whether you are qualified: if it requires 2-3 years of experience, I argue you are technically qualified.

 

This. I applied to jobs that required 3+ years when I was in undergrad but I still got interviews regardless. If you have the right skills, you can model and you can write good attach a good pitch to your application. I find that YOE isn't always a hard requirement if you can prove that you can hit the desk running 

 

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