Just joined a mid-sized shop after a few years on the sell-side. Great team with a great track record, clearly in a space where I can learn a lot.
I work as a research analyst under two PMs; I'm the first (and only) research analyst they've had in this strategy. Most of my time is spent writing research pieces on potential additions to the fund. It's extremely unstructured though; there aren't many times I've been given specific things to do or deadlines. I basically just monitor for potential credits and write about them if they look interesting to me.
A few issues I think are coming together to make me anxious:
1) They're not used to having a research analyst so they're still figuring out how to use me best;
2) I'm used to having tight deadlines for specific tasks;
3) My coverage is global, so rather than having a set portfolio I can monitor I usually have to start my research from scratch (takes much much much longer vs names I'm familiar with).
I'm trying to add value by researching more obscure names that don't have much coverage already (we all get swamped with sell side research reports on the big names). Feedback is good so far, and I think I know my trade reasonably well, but I still always have this nagging feeling that I'm wasting their money. Like the PMs are busy trading dozens of names all day and meanwhile I'm spending a whole week or more researching a single credit.
I'm putting my hand up to help out wherever else I can (cleaning up exhibits for client presentations etc) but Idk, still feels like the other shoe is going to drop at some point.
Looks like you may have moved into a poorly defined role. Identify who lobbied for this position. Talk to them about the business rationale for getting this position budgeted and approved. Next, talk to the person/s who weigh in on your performance, and have them define how you will be measured. Getting definitive info like this will help you better chart your daily/ weekly activities. Once you have the aforementioned under control, ask yourself if you are losing your edge/ letting your skill set become narrower. If the answer is yes, then you should get comfortable with that scenario or look for other opportunities.
Glad I'm not the only one feeling this...
I have been in a relatively unstructured research role before and may have some suggestions that are in your control. If you think you are not providing value, I'd encourage you to be more explicit about your recommendations as well as with follow up. Even if there is no buy / sell suggestion accompanying pieces of your work, you should still refrain from sending anything out that does not have a defined "what to do with this information" statement for the benefit of the PMs / research team. A common issue I've seen with individuals new to buyside research, and have experienced myself, is not being able to communicate ideas with conviction. This is something that comes with reps and experience, and is especially hard to develop in an unstructured setting such as what you've described. So I'd encourage you to try and be more vocal about what you think should be done. Once you get a few things moved around the book, I think you'll start to feel less anxiety about your contributions. Another suggestion I have is to try and be more efficient with your time. Spending a whole week or more on a credit is entirely too long, unless you've left out some key details here. A first brush on a credit should take no more than a couple hours before you flag a high level overview to the PMs and get a go / no go for continued work. This will naturally help the work become more structured as you'll have an idea early on in the process what the cares / don't cares are. If you are spending a week on a credit before it even reaches anyones desk that is a very inefficient use of your time which I blame on the PMs. As the other user suggested, it would probably be worthwhile to sit down with the individual who recruited you / drafted the role and try to iron out some of these issues. My sense is that they likely know you are being underutilized but aren't sure how to fix it.
Not OP but Sb’d- this is incredibly helpful. Sounds like this is a more common issue than I thought in buyside research especially early in one’s career. That said if it’s getting to the point where you’re just not getting concrete feedback or learning enough, would recruiters and other firms with more “structured” roles (ex. working directly alongside a senior analyst) be sympathetic to this as a valid reason to want to make a move? Or will it look like i just wasn’t able to step up to the plate when given the opportunity to be autonomous/entrepreneurial?
I think most people will be sympathetic to the story of having to learn in an unstructured environment, both recruiters and other analysts/ PMs alike. The problem with coming from an unstructured setting is the high probability that such a role is also with a "no name" fund, even if the principals have good backgrounds. This is a problem for recruiters who have to work with you, coming from a less recognizable background, vs traditional candidates from IB/PE/etc and then on top of that problems with getting good experience in the role due to those structural issues. Moving to a seat in a more structured environment will most likely have to be done on the ground floor as most places are probably not going to give a ton of credit for your experience, so you should be prepared for that. The pitch will essentially have to be that you're on the buyside, but not learning / don't see a path to this changing and so you're willing to make a soft reset at another junior seat elsewhere. I would also caution that most places will definitely push back hard on why you couldn't make the unstructured seat work which may cause them to negatively read through to future issues with you communicating work product and ideas even in a more structured seat.
However, I would argue that the best buyside seats are the ones with less structure and more autonomy. Being an analyst who reports to a sr analyst who reports to a sector head who reports to the PM might teach you decent modeling skills and come with a name brand, but you're ultimately far away from the decision process and likely plugging holes in diligence to flesh out the sr. analysts thesis and sector heads thematic view. Personally, I don't do well in a structured environment and learned to thrive when left alone. There is a lot of entrepreneurship involved with working autonomously, so you need to be diligent and focused. But if you can make it work, those seats are the ones that offer the greatest chance to slingshot your level of responsibility and career growth.
Thanks for your response. I hear you on those points- without giving away too much for the sake of anonymity, for me personally I’m kind of in a unique place where I feel like I somehow skipped a couple steps to get to the role I’m in; I have a decent foundational skillset but maybe lost out on learning how to navigate the nuances in some of the hairier deals/situations. Like sometimes I don’t know what I don’t know (hence the anxiety) in which case I think being under the guidance of a senior analyst would be pivotal in that it is also someone dedicated to mentorship and answering specific questions day to day, vs a PM who has their own day job and is several levels above me. But in 5-10 yrs I think I’d be much better prepared for the role and would be happy to come back because I know it’s a great position. Not a no-name shop either (happens to be a pretty reputable firm in the space with $20bn+ AUM). Only been here <2 yrs but do you think I’d be better served if I got out sooner rather than later?
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