ASDF - Sophmore opportunities?
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As a sophomore going the pwm route would probably be your best bet.. it's a good stepping stone for anyone looking to get into AM in the future at a top firm
and why do you want to do AM at a bank?
PWM->AM at a bank rarely happens. Skill set has pretty small overlap. Absolutely do not listen to their pitch that lateraling from PWM is easy. Previous IB internships are probably ideal for landing an AM gig, but if there's nothing else take it and run with it.
BB AM outside of GSAM/JPMIM is pretty bad. The thing about starting out at a BB is that you still get the network of a BB. Both GSAM/JPMIM have extraordinarily qualified people with a lifestyle I can tolerate, and the projects I got to work on were really interesting.
The alternative is large asset management firms: BlackRock pigeonholes you very early on, and anything that is not PMG probably is not exactly ideal. The other appeal for BB AM is that it is almost all actively managed, so you will actually learn how to invest money as opposed to cranking out index-replication products. I do not know the amount of full-time hires at BlackRock (Chris_Marlin can probably help here) that actually get into PMG, but I'm sure the qualifications there are pretty high too.
Other big active-management shops like Wellington and PIMCO are ridiculously hard to break into straight from undergrad, you'll have to know somebody there or be an absolute superstar or both.
Hey so I'll be a first-year analyst at one of those aforementioned places in July.
By AM, I'm assuming you mean i.e. buy-side work where you just invest and position vast amounts of money, not PWM/PB.
The reason no guide really exists is that positions are extremely limited. It is not unusual to have a class size that is 1/3rd of a sell-side class in IB/S&T, and recruiting is not very structured. Certain groups in GSAM/JPMIM do their own alumni-driven recruiting at schools, and it's fairly haphazard. Even then it's not really unusual to have 1/2 the AM class in client-facing/maintenance roles, so it's pretty hard to obtain something where you help make investment decisions. Similar to the jobs on the sell-side, you'll have to make a pretty convincing case about what the hell you have to offer: hardcore quant work, fundamental valuation in both fixed income/equities/real estate or LBO stuff if you've done IB work, etc. My experience with BB AM is that groups tend to run extremely lean and top-heavy, meaning for more work but a better learning experience.
Sophomore opportunities do exist, but it's usually through a connection, a truly outstanding resume, or very VERY gracious interviewers that refer you to that division. I wouldn't count on it, but if it's what you want, network like hell and see what happens. My own breaking in story was a long and ridiculous process, PM me for details.
^^Good advice.
Can't really add much, except that I would recommend talking to the local CFA society in your area.
GSAM and JPM are definitely the top two BB AM shops.. blackrock, wellington and pimco are top notch and you can add dodge&cox to that list too.
i agree that pwm->am rarely happens for experienced hires, but what i meant was for a sophomore internship, it's probably the best thing you can get.
there actually was an intern in my class who took a full time offer from JPMIM instead, and i will say that his recruiting process was definitely not "structured". he got an interview through a connection and there were no superdays, or final rounds.. just a dinner then an offer. so knowing someone = extremely helpful.
if you're curious about blackrock specifics just PM me.
And also, all the indexing that blackrock does came over from the BGI merger.. prior to the merger, blackrock was all actively managed funds, thus the desire to acquire BGI. Blackrock has a lot of star PMs and tons of actively managed funds.
Thanks a lot for the advice guys. To clarify my earlier point, I am looking at something on the buy-side. So would you guys say networking is pretty key in getting something in AM at a BB, since everything seems to be fairly unstructured?
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