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Wall Street Oasis » Forums » WSO Success Stories
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Unbelievable! Detailed WSO Success Story: How I Broke into Equity Research
 

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erwannabe's picture
erwannabe
      ER
 
 
(Orangutan, 270
 
Points)
 on 11/10/12 at 10:00am
steps-to-getting-equity-research-position.jpg

Mod note (Andy): this was originally posted on 8/15/12

Hello fellow monkeys,

I wanted to take some time to write this because I definitely owe it to this community. Last week, I was given a verbal offer to work in Equity Research full-time, at a well-known bank, covering a sector that I love, and signed the written offer today! You cannot imagine how excited am, especially since I thought it would never happen…but it did. In no way or form, however, did I do it alone. I had a ton of help from mentors I networked with and of course, Wall Street Oasis. The people on here who put in the time and effort to answer newbie questions are amazing and unfortunately no amount of SBs can repay you guys (please don’t calculate this), and I hope I can pass on the love.

And so, I want to describe how I did it. I hope this is valuable to people looking to break into Equity Research and please feel free to PM me with any questions!

----

I am originally from overseas and I came to NY to attend a semi-target. I’ll be the first to admit it: I screwed around for the greater part of 3 years in college. So when my senior year began, I had just one legitimate internship (unrelated to ER however) under my belt that I did in my freshman-sophomore year, and a very low GPA. This is when I sort of woke up. All of my friends had completed coveted SA positions and some had even gotten offers. For the first time in my life, I was truly envious of others. So I got my shit together. I moved out of my fancy $1,600 apartment and subletted a $700 room to sleep/study (people who live in NY will attest to how cheap and how shitty it is), began improving my English writing/grammar skills, took my classes seriously (including a public speaking elective which was extremely valuable), did two internships during the school year (loosely related to research), began reading WSJ, NYT, M&I, WSO religiously, and went through all the videos in BIWS’s Financial modeling/Excel fundamentals course.

The end result? A 3.3 GPA and no job after graduation (May). I was crushed.

Many of you will know the humiliation of not having a job after graduating. You become self-conscious of what others think of you, your parents nag you every day (because you’re living with them now), you begin to think lowly of yourself, and you begin to spray your resume around in panic because you just want to land something. All in all, it sucks.

Any of you in this situation right now, I have some advice for you. It’s not “Don’t give up.” Although you shouldn’t. My advice to you is: “you’re doing something wrong.”

People who excel, don’t excel just because they keep trying. Rather, it’s a combination of persistence AND changing your strategy to leverage your strengths and reduce your weaknesses if your current strategy hasn't produced results. Chances are, if you haven’t received an offer after trying over several months, it’s not going to happen with the way you are doing things.

What does this mean? It means, you need to have the courage to analyze what you are doing wrong and tailoring/altering everything. From your “tell me about yourself” answer to your stock pitch. If you don’t know, ASK someone. Don’t be embarrassed. 90% of the time, people understand the difficulty and will be more than happy to help out.

So this is what I did:

1. I first took a long look at my resume. I mean REALLY looked at it. I realized, I didn't really know if it had things ER recruiters were looking for. It seemed nicely written, had no grammatical errors, and listed 'great' achievements, but it obviously wasn't getting me the interviews. So I asked for help. I took my resume to friends in the industry, old professors, anyone I knew who would give me the honest truth and they ripped it apart. What you need to realize though, is that the value in doing this is NOT to come out with a great resume (although that is a byproduct). It is to truly UNDERSTAND what is LOOKED at and what is VALUED when finance professionals in your industry (ER, IB, S&T, whatever), look at your resume. It gives you an idea of what you should be studying/working on, what you are probably NOT expected to know, how to tailor your fit questions/answers, how to show focus and passion with your experience/classes , and most importantly, how to differentiate yourself.

2. However, your experience is your experience. There is a limit to how much you can study and polish your resume, and so I realized that I needed some solid experience to showcase a passion and focus for the industry. So I took an internship at a small buy-side shop doing largely administrative work. Why? Because at the firm, there were several research analysts that I knew I wanted to network with. And so, I worked my butt off for 3 months. I came in early 7AM and left later than everyone else in the office. This is where networking becomes valuable. Yes, cold-calling/emailing can help, but people are reluctant to help you when they know nothing about you. People are much more inclined to help if they actually witness that you are a hard worker and can ask intelligent questions. I excelled at the admin stuff for one week. Then during my 2nd week, one of the analysts came to ME and told me that I could ask him for advice anytime I wanted and he became a valuable mentor to me during the next 2 months. He wrecked my resume, gave my projects to work on that I could talk about during interviews (analyzing SEC filings, building models), and let me ‘help’ him come up with catalysts for positions the firm had. At first, I sucked. But I wasn’t afraid to fix what I was doing wrong. I took the BIWS online class again and read the guides everyday on the train. I pulled up every equity research report I could find and came up with 10+ stock pitches I was comfortable with. I was able to get immediate feedback to what I was doing because the analyst was willing to help me out and saw that I was extremely passionate. My admin boss would come in at 9, so I had nearly 2 hours to badger the analysts who came in at 7 and nearly 3 hours after my shift to ask if I could shadow them, help out on projects, use their Bloomberg, and ask questions about equity research. You really have to TRY writing research reports/build models/pitch stocks to ‘get’ it and get comfortable with it.

3. I spent the better part of my nights also improving my writing/speaking skills. My writing skills improved vastly from writing ER reports (these can serve as writing samples because banks are sure to ask for them for ER positions - very important!). I also recorded myself practicing every fit question in the WSO/M&I guides. I reduced my "ums"/stuttering, and exercised enunciation. After practicing so much, I had memorized answers to many of the typical fit questions. It gave me confidence during interviews and I was able to project myself as an articulate person.

4. I worked on my accounting (BIWS Course, old accounting textbook, WSO/M&I guides). I got about 10 accounting questions during my interview and was able to answer them completely.

5. I was not afraid to admit something I did not know and I never lied. The thing about banks, or ER at least, is that they know that you are still a student or are a recent graduate. They understand that we have never truly worked in the industry and that we probably don't know a whole lot. However, they do know there are a ton of resources out there that if you were passionate, you would utilize. And so, the idea is to show your passion through knowing the basics (anyone can learn these), but going into the interview and proving an extreme willingness to learn/work hard/work long hours, the ability to learn quickly so you can help out the team ASAP, and honesty. For example, one interviewer (MD) asked me if I currently invest in anything on my own. I said no, but that I had been trying to study certain names and could explain why I would buy/sell them. She loved my honesty and told me that many people who interview for ER positions feel the need to lie about having invested on their own. As an interviewer, she said that when someone says they invest on their own, they are inclined to grill the shit out of those people. If you show that you are in the process of learning, they will go much easier on you.

So all in all, I probably slept about 2 hours a day for nearly 3 months practicing, practicing, failing more interviews, recording myself talk, writing reports, analyzing stocks on my own, memorizing certain ‘fit’ answers, breaking models, fixing those models, reading everything related to equity research I could get my hands on, polishing my resume more, realizing mistakes I made and strengthening my answers, and more practicing.

The end result this time? A brand new resume, a GREAT understanding of what equity researchers look for in new junior associates, modeling experience I could talk about, several long/short stocks I could pitch, a strong base of knowledge in accounting/valuations to answer technical questions, sample models I could use if asked for, writing samples I could use if asked for (very important), and more confidence (extremely important).

Needless to say, it paid off. I was given the offer a week later on a Friday after they had checked all my references. I couldn’t believe it. I signed the offer and the 'congratulations' emails have begun to pour in from other departments and it's the most amazing feeling in the world. I even had to turn down several second/final round interviews from other banks (top BBs, but not in sectors that I'm interested in).

Sorry that this is so long, but I felt it was necessary to give as much detail as possible. To everyone who is still looking for a job: it is possible, put the work in and the results will come. Perhaps not immediately, but it will happen for you eventually.

Anyways, I just want to say thanks to WSO. You guys have been fantastic and I hope I can become more of a contributor now, than a receiver.

Good luck all! I'm going to take a couple of days to celebrate, then back to studying!

---
edit: hi guys! I'm getting an overwhelming number of PMs/responses. I will be home from my internship in a couple of hours and so I will get to everyone then! Just reply or PM me and I will try to respond by the end of the day.

Thanks for all the congratulations~!

-erwannabe

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Tags:
  • Equity Research Job Offer WSO Success
  • WSO Success Stories
WallStreetOasis.com's picture

wow, awesome thorough recap!

WallStreetOasis.com
      EN
 
 
(Human, 12,067
 
Points)
 on 8/15/12 at 8:24am

wow, awesome thorough recap! Congratulations and thanks for sharing!

WSO Conference 2013

Private Certified User Chat

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ananab87's picture

Excellent post and advice,

ananab87
     
 
(Chimp, 4
 
Points)
 on 8/15/12 at 8:33am

Excellent post and advice, you were truly determined and it paid off in the end, it is good inspiration for me.

I am in exactly the same situation you were, and it absolutely fucking sucks. Everything was going great during my degree (bsc, 1st, hons), until i stupidly accepted a scholarship offer to do an MSc in finance, I dicked around during the first 2/3 of the year, then spend the remaining 1/3 living in a basement doing modelling on excel all day and night for my dissertation, ending up with a merit, but of course with no job offer as i didn't send out a single application.

I got so close recently with a final round interview at BNP Paribas sales trading, but didn't get it, now I am just mentally wrecked and back to phase fucking 1, so sick of this bullshit job market and the ridiculous things people have to do to get even the shittest jobs. For my BNP Paribas interview I even did the CISI Unit 3 Derivatives module in two weeks, but still that wasn't enough, fuck.

/rant

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notaspammer's picture

Persistent adaptation is so

notaspammer
      RE
 
(Gorilla, 607
 
Points)
 on 8/15/12 at 8:38am

Persistent adaptation is so important. Congrats man.

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spark's picture

Congratulations. I'll need to

spark
      HF
 
(Monkey, 48
 
Points)
 on 8/15/12 at 9:16am

Congratulations. I'll need to learn a lot from your experience.

Monkey. Banana. Coconut.

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Febreeze's picture

that was awesome, bro.

Febreeze
     
 
(King Kong, 1,151
 
Points)
 on 8/15/12 at 9:45am

that was awesome, bro.

RIP WSO Chat.

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Anacott_CEO's picture

Great stuff, congrats.

Anacott_CEO
      CF
 
(King Kong, 1,259
 
Points)
 on 8/15/12 at 10:01am

Great stuff, congrats.

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erwannabe's picture

WallStreetOasis.com: wow,

erwannabe
      ER
 
 
(Orangutan, 270
 
Points)
 on 8/15/12 at 10:01am
WallStreetOasis.com:

wow, awesome thorough recap! Congratulations and thanks for sharing!

Thank you very much!

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phpmvk's picture

Congrats! You have the best

phpmvk
     
 
(Senior Monkey, 70
 
Points)
 on 8/15/12 at 10:02am

Congrats! You have the best kind of attitude towards your work and that is what is going to carry you forward in the industry. Good luck!

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erwannabe's picture

ananab87: Excellent post and

erwannabe
      ER
 
 
(Orangutan, 270
 
Points)
 on 8/15/12 at 10:09am
ananab87:

Excellent post and advice, you were truly determined and it paid off in the end, it is good inspiration for me.

I am in exactly the same situation you were, and it absolutely fucking sucks. Everything was going great during my degree (bsc, 1st, hons), until i stupidly accepted a scholarship offer to do an MSc in finance, I dicked around during the first 2/3 of the year, then spend the remaining 1/3 living in a basement doing modelling on excel all day and night for my dissertation, ending up with a merit, but of course with no job offer as i didn't send out a single application.

I got so close recently with a final round interview at BNP Paribas sales trading, but didn't get it, now I am just mentally wrecked and back to phase fucking 1, so sick of this bullshit job market and the ridiculous things people have to do to get even the shittest jobs. For my BNP Paribas interview I even did the CISI Unit 3 Derivatives module in two weeks, but still that wasn't enough, fuck.

/rant

Yeah it sucks, especially when you get so close, don't get it, and have to start all over again. But BNP is a great bank and the fact that you got so close should encourage you. I don't know much about S&T, but you should be able to leverage what you learned/did the first time, and excel the next interview you go through. I went through 2 final rounds before my offer and went through +10 1st/2nd rounds. Also, the people you interviewed with at BNP might even be willing to help you out. I was able to land a BB interview through another failed interview and also got an interview for a different department within the bank.

Spend some time blowing off some steam and then get back to work~

Goodluck!

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erwannabe's picture

notaspammer: Persistent

erwannabe
      ER
 
 
(Orangutan, 270
 
Points)
 on 8/15/12 at 10:10am
notaspammer:

Persistent adaptation is so important. Congrats man.

Thanks! Feels awesome.

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erwannabe's picture

spark: Congratulations. I'll

erwannabe
      ER
 
 
(Orangutan, 270
 
Points)
 on 8/15/12 at 10:11am
spark:

Congratulations. I'll need to learn a lot from your experience.

Thanks, don't hesitate to PM me~

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erwannabe's picture

Febreeze: that was awesome,

erwannabe
      ER
 
 
(Orangutan, 270
 
Points)
 on 8/15/12 at 10:12am
Febreeze:

that was awesome, bro.

Glad you liked~

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erwannabe's picture

Anacott_CEO: Great stuff,

erwannabe
      ER
 
 
(Orangutan, 270
 
Points)
 on 8/15/12 at 10:13am
Anacott_CEO:

Great stuff, congrats.

Thank you!

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erwannabe's picture

phpmvk: Congrats! You have

erwannabe
      ER
 
 
(Orangutan, 270
 
Points)
 on 8/15/12 at 10:19am
phpmvk:

Congrats! You have the best kind of attitude towards your work and that is what is going to carry you forward in the industry. Good luck!

Thanks! I hope so~

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eignenvector's picture

Congrats man, way to suck it

eignenvector
      AM
 
(Monkey, 60
 
Points)
 on 8/15/12 at 10:22am

Congrats man, way to suck it up and do what needs to be done.

"When you expect things to happen - strangely enough - they do happen."
- JP Morgan

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FutureBanker09's picture

Jefferies?

FutureBanker09
      AM
 
(Senior Orangutan, 421
 
Points)
 on 8/15/12 at 11:16am
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MangoBanker's picture

Great to hear! I think it is

MangoBanker
     
 
(Orangutan, 259
 
Points)
 on 8/15/12 at 11:22am
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poodles's picture

Great story, loved all the

poodles
      O
 
(Monkey, 38
 
Points)
 on 8/15/12 at 11:26am
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R0bin's picture

You da man homie

R0bin
     
 
(Orangutan, 292
 
Points)
 on 8/15/12 at 11:27am

Baby you're the perfect shape, baby you're the perfect weight. Treat me like my birthday, I want it this way and I want it that way. It makes a man feel good baby.

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erwannabe's picture

FutureBanker09: Jefferies? N

erwannabe
      ER
 
 
(Orangutan, 270
 
Points)
 on 8/15/12 at 11:34am
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erwannabe's picture

eignenvector: Congrats man,

erwannabe
      ER
 
 
(Orangutan, 270
 
Points)
 on 8/15/12 at 11:35am
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erwannabe's picture

MangoBanker: Great to hear! I

erwannabe
      ER
 
 
(Orangutan, 270
 
Points)
 on 8/15/12 at 11:36am
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erwannabe's picture

poodles: Great story, loved

erwannabe
      ER
 
 
(Orangutan, 270
 
Points)
 on 8/15/12 at 11:37am
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erwannabe's picture

R0bin: You da man

erwannabe
      ER
 
 
(Orangutan, 270
 
Points)
 on 8/15/12 at 11:38am
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Calnus's picture

Congrats man! Just curious

Calnus
      O
 
(Monkey, 48
 
Points)
 on 8/15/12 at 11:50am
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ladubs111's picture

Wells Fargo most likely.

ladubs111
      IA
 
(Senior Orangutan, 432
 
Points)
 on 8/15/12 at 11:51am
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UFOinsider's picture

WOW dude, way to go!

UFOinsider
      O
 
(Human, 10,346
 
Points)
 on 8/15/12 at 12:03pm

YOU JUST GOT TROLLED
http://www.troll.me/images/red-foreman322/dont-you...

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Flake's picture

I'm going to give you a

Flake
      ER
 
(Neanderthal, 3,586
 
Points)
 on 8/15/12 at 12:03pm

Under my tutelage, you will grow from boys to men. From men into gladiators. And from gladiators into SWANSONS.

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Febreeze's picture

Btw, what do you mean by

Febreeze
     
 
(King Kong, 1,151
 
Points)
 on 8/15/12 at 12:05pm

RIP WSO Chat.

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erwannabe's picture

Jyong: Congrats man! Just

erwannabe
      ER
 
 
(Orangutan, 270
 
Points)
 on 8/15/12 at 12:28pm
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erwannabe's picture

ladubs111: Wells Fargo most

erwannabe
      ER
 
 
(Orangutan, 270
 
Points)
 on 8/15/12 at 12:31pm
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erwannabe's picture

UFOinsider: WOW dude, way to

erwannabe
      ER
 
 
(Orangutan, 270
 
Points)
 on 8/15/12 at 12:32pm
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erwannabe's picture

Flake: I'm going to give you

erwannabe
      ER
 
 
(Orangutan, 270
 
Points)
 on 8/15/12 at 12:34pm
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Neighbor's picture

congrats my man, well done

Neighbor
      IB
 
(King Kong, 1,236
 
Points)
 on 8/15/12 at 12:36pm

I didn't say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you.

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erwannabe's picture

Febreeze: Btw, what do you

erwannabe
      ER
 
 
(Orangutan, 270
 
Points)
 on 8/15/12 at 12:38pm
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erwannabe's picture

Neighbor: congrats my man,

erwannabe
      ER
 
 
(Orangutan, 270
 
Points)
 on 8/15/12 at 12:39pm
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blueslord2910's picture

Inspiration. Just PM you

blueslord2910
     
 
(Senior Baboon, 227
 
Points)
 on 8/15/12 at 1:01pm
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ladubs111's picture

erwannabe: ladubs111: Wells

ladubs111
      IA
 
(Senior Orangutan, 432
 
Points)
 on 8/15/12 at 1:04pm
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valiant7002's picture

Reading this post was like

valiant7002
      O
 
(Senior Monkey, 72
 
Points)
 on 8/15/12 at 1:21pm
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Y2A's picture

Baruch? And me being a car

Y2A
      IB
 
(Senior Monkey, 81
 
Points)
 on 8/15/12 at 1:21pm
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thecrazybaboon's picture

its probably KeyBanc?

thecrazybaboon
     
 
(Chimp, 10
 
Points)
 on 8/15/12 at 1:26pm
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George87's picture

Congrats! Enjoy it, you

George87
      IB
 
 
(Senior Baboon, 243
 
Points)
 on 8/15/12 at 1:28pm
  • 0
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Pienaar21's picture

Awesome man, congratulations.

Pienaar21
     
 
(Baboon, 101
 
Points)
 on 8/15/12 at 2:04pm
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  •  
erwannabe's picture

ladubs111: erwannabe: lad

erwannabe
      ER
 
 
(Orangutan, 270
 
Points)
 on 8/15/12 at 2:08pm
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erwannabe's picture

valiant7002: Reading this

erwannabe
      ER
 
 
(Orangutan, 270
 
Points)
 on 8/15/12 at 2:10pm
  • 0
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erwannabe's picture

Y2A: Baruch? And me being a

erwannabe
      ER
 
 
(Orangutan, 270
 
Points)
 on 8/15/12 at 2:12pm
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couchy's picture

how did you land interviews?

couchy
     
 
(King Kong, 1,365
 
Points)
 on 8/15/12 at 2:12pm
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erwannabe's picture

thecrazybaboon: its probably

erwannabe
      ER
 
 
(Orangutan, 270
 
Points)
 on 8/15/12 at 2:13pm
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erwannabe's picture

George87: Congrats! Enjoy it,

erwannabe
      ER
 
 
(Orangutan, 270
 
Points)
 on 8/15/12 at 2:14pm
  • 0
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  •  
erwannabe's picture

Pienaar21: Awesome man,

erwannabe
      ER
 
 
(Orangutan, 270
 
Points)
 on 8/15/12 at 2:15pm
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These are the "Terms and Conditions" under which you may use WallStreetOasis.com. Please read this page carefully including the Privacy Policy below. If you do not accept the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy stated here, do not use this web site or any services offered by this web site. By using this web site, you are indicating your acceptance to be bound by the terms of these Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy. IB Oasis Corp. (the "Company") may revise these Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy at any time by updating this posting. You should visit this page periodically to review the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy, because they are binding on you. The terms "You" and "User" as used herein refer to all individuals and/or entities accessing this web site for any reason.

Neither WallStreetOasis.com, IB Oasis Corp. nor employees of IB Oasis Corp. are investment advisors. The purpose of this website is NOT to give any advice on your personal investment strategy. If you base your investment decisions on content of this website, you may lose part or all of your money.

You should not violate any other law or regulation, including, without limitation, the rules and regulations of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the national or other securities exchanges, especially including the rule against making false or misleading statements to manipulate the price of a security or the rule requiring you to disclose any compensation you may receive for describing a security.

You should not access WallStreetOasis.com by any means other than through the interfaces we provide for use in accessing our services or use any automated means, including, without limitation, agents, robots, scripts, or spiders, to access, monitor, copy, or harvest data from any part of our sites, except those automated means that we have approved in advance and in writing.

The Company, in its sole discretion, reserves the right to remove any postings, or deny access by any individuals, for any reason or no reason.

If you see something that you feel is a violation of the these Terms and Conditions, please notify us by emailing wallstreetoasis at wallstreetoasis.com.

We reserve the right to change the Terms and Conditions at any time. Changes will be posted on the applicable web page.

Use of Material.

The Company authorizes you to view and download a single copy of the material on www.WallStreetOasis.com (the "Web Site") solely for your personal, noncommercial use. By using the Web Site you are giving the Company the sole right to use any and all content you generate or publish on the site for commercial, non-commercial or promotional purposes. This includes any and all forum posts, comments, blog posts or any other material you generate on the Web Site.

The contents of this Web Site, such as text, graphics, images, logos, button icons, software and other items (collectively, "Material"), are protected under both United States and foreign copyright, trademark and other laws. All Material is the property of the Company or its content suppliers or clients. The compilation (meaning the collection, arrangement and assembly) of all content on this Web Site is the exclusive property of the Company and protected by U.S. and international copyright laws. Unauthorized use of the Material may violate copyright, trademark, and other laws. You must retain all copyright, trademark, service-mark and other proprietary notices contained in the original Material on any copy you make of the Material. You may not sell or modify the Material or reproduce, display, publicly perform, distribute, or otherwise use the Material in any way for any public or commercial purpose. The use of the Material on any other web site or in a networked computer environment for any purpose is prohibited.

You shall not copy or adapt the HTML code that the Company creates to generate its pages. It is also protected by the Company?s copyright.

Acceptable Site Use.

General Rules: Users may not use the Web Site in order to transmit, distribute, store or destroy material (a) in violation of any applicable law or regulation, (b) in a manner that will infringe the copyright, trademark, trade secret or other intellectual property rights of others or violate the privacy, publicity or other personal rights of others, or (c) that is defamatory, obscene, threatening, abusive or hateful.

Web Site Security Rules. Users are prohibited from violating or attempting to violate the security of the Web Site, including, without limitation, (a) accessing data not intended for such user or logging into a server or account which the user is not authorized to access, (b) attempting to probe, scan or test the vulnerability of a system or network or to breach security or authentication measures without proper authorization, (c) attempting to interfere with service to any user, host or network, including, without limitation, via means of submitting a virus to the Web Site, overloading, "flooding", "spamming", "mailbombing" or "crashing", (d) sending unsolicited e-mail, including promotions and/or advertising of products or services, or (e) forging any TCP/IP packet header or any part of the header information in any e-mail. Violations of system or network security may result in civil or criminal liability. The Company will investigate occurrences which may involve such violations and may involve, and cooperate with, law enforcement authorities in prosecuting users who are involved in such violations.

Specific Prohibited Uses.

The Company specifically prohibits any use of the Web Site, and all users agree not to use the Web Site, for any of the following:

  • Posting any incomplete, false or inaccurate biographical information or information which is not your own accurate resume
  • Using any device, software or routine to interfere or attempt to interfere with the proper working of this Web Site or any activity being conducted on this site.
  • Taking any action which imposes an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on this Web Site?s infrastructure.
  • If you have a password allowing access to a non-public area of this Web Site, disclosing to or sharing your password with any third parties or using your password for any unauthorized purpose.
  • Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained herein, using or attempting to use any engine, software, tool, agent or other device or mechanism (including without limitation browsers, spiders, robots, avatars or intelligent agents) to navigate or search this Web Site other than the search engine and search agents available from the Company on this Web Site and other than generally available third party web browsers (e.g., Netscape Navigator, Microsoft Explorer).
  • Attempting to decipher, decompile, disassemble or reverse engineer any of the software comprising or in any way making up a part of the Web Site.
  • Aggregating, copying or duplicating in any manner any of the materials or information available from the Web Site.
  • Framing of or linking to any of the materials or information available from the Web Site.

User Information.

When you register for the Web Site, you will be asked to provide the Company with certain information including, without limitation, a valid email address (your "Information"). In addition to the terms and conditions that may be set forth in any privacy policy on this Web Site, you understand and agree that the Company may disclose to third parties, on an anonymous basis, certain aggregate information contained in your registration application. The Company reserves the right to offer third party services and products to you based on the preferences that you identify in your registration and at any time thereafter; such offers may be made by the Company or by third parties. Please see the Company's Privacy Policy below for further details regarding your Information.

Registration and Password.

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your information and password. You shall be responsible for all uses of your registration, whether or not authorized by you. You agree to immediately notify the Company of any unauthorized use of your registration or password.

The Company's Liability.

As a condition to your use of this site, you release the Company (and our agents and employees) from claims, demands and damages (actual and consequential, direct and indirect) of every kind and nature, known and unknown, suspected and unsuspected, disclosed and undisclosed, arising out of or in any way connected with such disputes. If you are a California resident, you waive California Civil Code d1542, which says: "A general release does not extend to claims which the creditor does not know or suspect to exist in his favor at the time of executing the release, which if known by him must have materially affected his settlement with the debtor."

We are under no legal obligation to, and generally do not, control the information provided by other users which is made available through the Web Site. By its very nature, other people?s information may be offensive, harmful or inaccurate, and in some cases will be mislabeled or deceptively labeled. We expect that you will use caution and common sense when using this Web Site.

The Material may contain inaccuracies or typographical errors. The Company makes no representations about the accuracy, reliability, completeness, or timeliness of the Web Site or the Material. The use of the Web Site and the Material is at your own risk. Changes are periodically made to the Web Site and may be made at any time.

You acknowledge and agree that you are solely responsible for the content and accuracy of any resume or material contained therein placed by you on the Web Site and you agree to let any users that are identified as recruiters (designated in the sole discretion of the Company) to have access to your resume.

The Company is not to be considered to be an employer with respect to your use of the Web Site and the Company shall not be responsible for any employment decisions, for whatever reason made, made by any entity posting jobs on the Web Site.

THE COMPANY DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE WEB SITE WILL OPERATE ERROR-FREE OR THAT THE WEB SITE AND ITS SERVER ARE FREE OF COMPUTER VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL MECHANISMS. IF YOUR USE OF THE WEB SITE OR THE MATERIAL RESULTS IN THE NEED FOR SERVICING OR REPLACING EQUIPMENT OR DATA, THE COMPANY IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THOSE COSTS.

THE WEB SITE AND MATERIAL ARE PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" BASIS WITHOUT ANY WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND. THE COMPANY, TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING THE WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. THE COMPANY MAKES NO WARRANTIES ABOUT THE ACCURACY, RELIABILITY, COMPLETENESS, OR TIMELINESS OF THE MATERIAL, SERVICES, SOFTWARE, TEXT, GRAPHICS, AND LINKS.

Disclaimer of Consequential Damages.

IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COMPANY, ITS SUPPLIERS, OR ANY THIRD PARTIES MENTIONED ON THE WEB SITE BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, INCIDENTAL AND CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, LOST PROFITS, OR DAMAGES RESULTING FROM LOST DATA OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) RESULTING FROM THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE WEB SITE AND THE MATERIAL, WHETHER BASED ON WARRANTY, CONTRACT, TORT, OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY, AND WHETHER OR NOT THE COMPANY IS ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

Links to Other Sites.

The Web Site may contain links to third party web sites. These links are provided solely as a convenience to you and not as an endorsement by the Company of the contents on such third-party Web sites. The Company is not responsible for the content of linked third-party sites and does not make any representations regarding the content or accuracy of materials on such third party Web sites. If you decide to access linked third party Web sites, you do so at your own risk.

No Resale or Unauthorized Commercial Use.

You agree not to resell or assign your rights or obligations under these Term of Use. You also agree not to make any unauthorized commercial use of the Web Site.

Limitation of Liability.

The aggregate liability for the Company to you for all claims arising from the use of the Materials is limited to $1.

Termination.

The Company reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to pursue all of its legal remedies, including but not limited to immediate termination of your registration with or ability to access the Web Site and/or any other service provided to you by the Company, upon any breach by you of these Terms and Conditions or if the Company is unable to verify or authenticate any information you submit to the Web Site registration with or ability to access the Web Site.

Indemnity.

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless the Company, its officers, directors, employees and agents, from and against any claims, actions or demands, including without limitation reasonable legal and accounting fees, alleging or resulting from your use of the Material or your breach of the terms of these Terms and Conditions. The Company shall provide notice to you promptly of any such claim, suit, or proceeding and shall assist you, at your expense, in defending any such claim, suit or proceeding.

General.

The Company makes no claims that the Materials may be lawfully viewed or downloaded outside of the United States. Access to the Materials may not be legal by certain persons or in certain countries. If you access the Web Site from outside of the United States, you do so at your own risk and are responsible for compliance with the laws of your jurisdiction. These Terms and conditions are governed by the internal substantive laws of the State of New York, without respect to its conflict of laws principles. Jurisdiction for any claims arising under this agreement shall lie exclusively with the state or federal courts within New York, New York. If any provision of these Terms and Conditions are found to be invalid by any court having competent jurisdiction, the invalidity of such provision shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions of these Terms and Conditions, which shall remain in full force and effect. No waiver of any term of these Terms and Conditions shall be deemed a further or continuing waiver of such term or any other term. Except as expressly provided in additional terms of use for areas of the Web Site a particular "Legal Notice," or Software License or Material on particular Web pages, these Terms and Conditions constitute the entire agreement between you and the Company with respect to the use of Web Site. No changes to these Terms and Conditions shall be made except by a revised posting on this page.

PRIVACY POLICY

The Company recognizes that you are concerned about privacy. We are committed to preserving your privacy and safeguarding your sensitive information. The following statement describes the general information-gathering and usage practices of our sites.

Our staff, contractors, Internet service providers and others involved in this site follow this policy or similarly strict policies regarding your Information.

Disclosure

The Company is committed to fully disclosing our policies regarding the collection, use, maintenance, disclosure and security of personal information obtained from users of our site. The term "personal information" includes a name, address, email address, or any other information which could be used to contact you directly or to identify you personally.

Use and Disclosure Limitations

The Company only uses personal information about its Web site users for specific purposes. We do not share user information with third parties except when we have told users about the disclosures, when we have prior consent, or when required by law.

Use Policy: When the Company gathers personal information from users, we ask for permission first. We also disclose, at the time of collection, how the information will be used by us. Personal information is used for activities such as auto-completion of commonly-used forms and helping us contact you when you solicit information from us.

Disclosure Policy: We do not normally disclose personal information to anyone outside of the Company unless we have previously informed users about the disclosures. However, some data may be used from time to time by outside contractors, including auditors or consultants, to assist us in carrying out necessary financial or operational activities. These uses will be consistent with this privacy policy and all contractors using this potential personal information must agree to safeguard it, to use it only for the authorized purpose, and to return it or destroy it upon completion of the activity.

The Company might be required to disclose personal information in response to a valid legal process such as a subpoena, search warrant or court order.

Although unlikely, it is possible that we may have to make certain disclosures to ensure the security of our Web site, to protect its integrity, or to take precautions against potential liability. In any of these situations, we will take any reasonable steps to limit the scope of the data disclosed.

Web Logs: The Company maintains standard Web logs that record basic information about visitors to our Web site. These logs contain: * The Internet domain from which you came to our Web site. * Your IP address. An IP address is a series of numbers which uniquely identifies your connection to the Internet. Although it is possible in some instances, certain types of IP addresses may be used by interested persons to identify users but we do not attempt to identify users in this way. * The type of browser (e.g., Internet Explorer or Netscape) and operating system (e.g., Windows 98) you use. * The date and time you visited the site, and the pages you saw.

We use Web log information to design our Web site, identify popular features, and in similar ways. We do not try to identify individuals from Web logs or to link Web logs to other user information. However, if someone tries to damage our Web site or use it in an unauthorized or illegal way, we may share Web log information with law enforcement agencies. The Company may provide aggregate information such as the number of users who visit particular pages of the site, or the number of people who link to certain external sites from our site, to other parties.

Changes to Privacy Policy

The Company's features and services will change over time and our information-gathering practices and policies may also change.

While our philosophy of protecting user information from inappropriate uses and disclosures will not change, this policy will be updated occasionally to include any change that materially affects the collection, maintenance, use, or disclosure of personal information.

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