Seeking Career Advice

Originally from Asia, did my STEM PG degree in the UK then stumbled into the London hedge fund world. Was hired as an intern to work directly with a senior L/S PM, started by doing ad-hoc excel sheets/analysis for him both on individual names and at the portfolio level, then learned to pick stocks. The PM is very senior and a generalist, working directly for him as a junior made my experience very unusual - he is extremely knowledgable about nearly all European mid to large caps business fundamentals, and he never discusses 'the business' with me, only wants to know if the stock is going up - I looked at all sectors but only at a surface level (drivers/key debates/views) and have to move from name to name very quickly, usually just having a rough sense of the direction of the stock without understanding the fundamentals. I don't do research per se, but outsource them to the sell side, the daily job is to constantly search for out of consensus views/inflection points/actionable ideas. 2-3 years later the PM expanded the team, hiring several sector focused analysts and my role started to diminish and was ultimately let go after 4 years.

So my current skillset doesn't resemble a typical 4 yoe analyst -> no sector specialisation, no fundamental research experience, know how to pick stocks (If this, this and that, the stock is likely to go up), and know a bit about portfolio management.

Finding a job is extremely difficult now, don't know how much is attributed to my profile and how much is to the overall hiring market. I get a few looks from the platforms, had chats with BizDev people, interviewed with 2 PMs, but was not selected.

My question is what should I do next? Been out of job for a while now. Should I develop some sector specialisation and try to get hired by the platforms?

Can you please DM me if you can help? Really need guidance from someone more experienced.

 

Velit aut est est. Voluptatem temporibus voluptas enim. Quas sed tempora sint labore excepturi qui cumque reiciendis. Sunt aliquid voluptatem numquam accusantium accusamus nihil eos quia.

Explicabo beatae perferendis id consectetur modi. Ipsum consequatur nesciunt esse libero. Voluptates corporis et eum atque ut. Distinctio eligendi ad beatae aliquam minus numquam.

Aut assumenda dolore ipsa ad nulla veniam et non. Tenetur libero est quo necessitatibus accusantium qui. Itaque illo non veritatis numquam et odio dolorem pariatur. Voluptas recusandae recusandae est architecto asperiores.

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.

Career Advancement Opportunities

May 2024 Investment Banking

  • Jefferies & Company 02 99.4%
  • Lazard Freres No 98.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 18 98.3%
  • Harris Williams & Co. New 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 04 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

May 2024 Investment Banking

  • Harris Williams & Co. 18 99.4%
  • JPMorgan Chase 10 98.8%
  • Lazard Freres 05 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.7%
  • William Blair 03 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

May 2024 Investment Banking

  • Lazard Freres 01 99.4%
  • Jefferies & Company 02 98.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 17 98.3%
  • Moelis & Company 07 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 05 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

May 2024 Investment Banking

  • Director/MD (5) $648
  • Vice President (20) $385
  • Associates (91) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (14) $181
  • Intern/Summer Associate (33) $170
  • 2nd Year Analyst (68) $168
  • 1st Year Analyst (205) $159
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (146) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”