For other junior equity research associates working on the sell-side out there, what was the culture like for you?
Right after college, I worked as a sell-side equity research associate for one year before I jumped to a buy-side fund. At the sell-side gig, I had almost zero client interaction, I guess because (1) there were not enough clients to talk to and (2) my senior was quite protective of his client resources. Is it rare? How much client interaction did you get as a junior associate? Did you get more client interaction after some time? A few months? Or a few years?
Thanks in advance for your input!
Do you mind shedding light on the type of sell-side firm you were at (MM, BB) and the buy-side firm you went to? How common is it for sell-side --> buy-side without an MBA?
I was working at a boutique and from what I’ve seen moving to the buy side after 2-3 years seems doable. I didn’t want to wait because the work itself wasn’t intellectually challenging enough for me.
Client interaction is dependent HEAVILY on your senior analyst and firm policies. Some firms (including BB) do not give client interaction credit to the senior analyst for an associate's client interaction while other firms encourage it. Some analysts can be super protective and that's really just a reflection of personality and not wanting their franchise to feel threatened.
Mine was super protective of clients which honestly was a bummer because that's how junior people can network, develop relationships, and really learn from good buy-side people and different perspectives. On the flip side (and at the same firm), my friend had a senior analyst who encouraged interaction with lower tier clients and it really helped my friend stay engaged and loyal to the analyst because there was a sense of shared stake in the franchise.
Thanks for the reply. Yeah that makes sense because I talked to some of my other sell side ER friends at other firms. It seems that they were getting decent client interaction.
The reality is that if you're junior, your SS research experience is far more levered to your analyst than the actual firm
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