Hey everyone,
I am currently networking as a college student (although I have some full-time banking experience from working at a boutique while in school), and I want to break into ER. I have done some searches in this forum about networking tips, and it seems to be a mixed bag here. My questions are as follows:
1) Do you attach a sample ER report and model with your resume in a cold email? If so, how long is said report?
2) In regards to attaching a model - I'm graduating in a month, and so I don't have much time to specialize sample reports by industry. Will people be unfavorable to a uniform pitch regardless of industry? I'm working on a report/model on the biotech industry and it's been a week, and I'm still not done. I don't want to miss out on positions that randomly pop up, because I don't have the time to create a report.
3) This leads to my 3rd question - is there another way I can show my writing and modeling skills besides taking 40 hours to write up a report on an industry I don't know anything about before starting?
4) Any other tips?
I understand this was kind of jumbled (in a hurry), but let me know if there's any clarification needed. Thanks for any opinions yall!
Curious as to why you deciding ER over IB?
second this. I’m trying to figure out if I should do IB or ER
I am recruiting for IB right now but till 6 months ago I was dead set on ER. The reasons I chose ER over IB were:
1) Starting out, it is highly likely that you will be on the sell-side. So, ER will be less about research and analysis and be more about sales. You'll be consistently on the phone speaking to people on the buy-side to sell them your research and other services. Also, many times you won't be able to analyze properly just because there is pressure to give a good rating so as to not burn the relations that the investment bank with the corporation. I ddn't like this idea of ER.
2) Investment Banking gives you more nationality. We all know that starting out as an analyst gives you multiple exit options and many more people know about it than ER. This means I could realistically go to a hedge fund within 4 years after graduating. I think the jump from ER -> HF is less common, comparatively.
3) The pay in investment bank is higher. If you are going to be in a city like NYC then you need a good salary to live comfortably and then some. The base might be similar but the bonuses wary greatly (total comp at the same bank for IB would be 140k whereas it'll be like 100-105k for ER). The pay in IB tops out at a higher level as well.
Edit: Something pointed out is that the lifestyle may make it worth it at least at the lower levels for ER. You don't work as much as you would in IB so if that is something that you like, ER would be a better fit.
4) I think if you put in the same efforts, it is much easier to land an IB internship than it is to land a ER internship. There are fewer positions in ER (ER is a cost center for a bank) and they are reducing even more. CS for example hired many more interns for ER just a few years ago than they do today (learned this from a conversation with a person who worked there). Many companies prefer to hire MBAs for ER instead. Being a person from a non-target school, I want to maximize my chances. IB works for me in that regard.
5) Finally, it should be easier to switch from IB to ER than it would be to go from ER to IB.
I learnt all of this from my conversations with people in the industry and my fam (dad started out in ER and runs a fund now).
So, that's why I chose IB over ER. Let me know if you have any questions.
You're not wrong in a lot of your points. However on point #3, early on in your career the difference in comp doesn't quite seem adequate enough to outweigh the significantly longer hours worked. But thats a tradeoff for longer term earnings if you were to stay in IB or think your exit ops are better. Not trying to say its not worth it, but you didn't address the meaningful difference in work-life-balance in your first few years in IB vs ER.
That's a very good point. Thanks for pointing it out!
how’s your conversations going with contact going? any job opportunities? I’m in same exact boat as you right now. recurring for IB, non target, wanted ER at first, and talking to a bunch of contacts.
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