ESCP Europe MSc in Finance to AM??
I've been accepted to their program (ranking 2nd worldwide as per FT). I'm not really sure what to expect from the program. My career goal is to break into AM, starting off with working at a company like BlackRock, and stay there until making it to PM. I have very little experience. Passed CFA level 1 though, and enrolled in level 2.
Is it doable??
First of all congrats on getting the offer. ESCP is a great Business School and will give you visibility when applying for internships and jobs.
Both a degree at ESCP and already having passed level 1 are really helpful and you should be able to leverage that. I suggest you apply for internships with both large and boutique asset managers during your summer holidays as this is one of the preferred pipelines into being hired full time. BlackRock and other large AMs offer a wide variety of summer internships. While you may already have a preference with regards to equity PM or FI PM, I think it doesn't matter too much what you end up doing during that first internship. Look into when the hiring process for summer internships start, if I remember correctly BlackRock opens their applications in early fall and hires on a rolling basis. As long as you have a related internship on your CV and you have decent grades, you should be invited to many interviews when it comes to full time applications later on.
The best thing you can do to prepare for interviews is to take these two years to read a lot about what going on in the markets, be it by reading newspapers, watching Bloomberg or TV or on youtube or even by joining your school's investment club. Your interviewers are mainly looking for people who are passionate about markets and can demonstrate that they've spent considerable time learning about them. Your grades will only get you the interview, but wont actually get you an offer if you seem to know fuck all about markets. I also think that going for the CFA level 2 is super helpful, as many AM are willing to enroll their new analysts in the level 1 course. You'll be able to prove that you've mastered that content and also that you're able to allocate your time wisely between studying for uni, studying for CFA and doing other extracurriculars.
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getting into the pmg division is obviously my main goal. i'm looking to sit for the level 2 exam by the end of august, so results should be ready by mid october. i have an internship at a small brokerage company, doing ER. again, the company isn't recognisable haha
another trivial q, if you'd allow me, what's the compensation // hours like at BLK pmg (london)?
Happy to share my perspective. Regarding the CFA, the portfolio management components become more important in level II and level III specifically (somewhere along the lines of 40% of the curriculum). At the end of the day it shows your committment to studying continously and with a failure rate of around 50% you also demonstrate that at the very least you're better than half the people in your peer group. CFA is by far the most common professional certification in portfolio management, although others such as the FRM or CAIA exist. And don't forget that if you're being interviewed by a PM who is a charterholder themself, you'll automatically have something in common with them and are likely to stand out in their decision making progress. A final note on that: institutional investors (pension funds etc.) like knowing that they are entrusting their funds to full CFA charterholders as this is the most prestigious certification. You definitely can't go wrong by going for the level III exam at some point.
An internship in ER is great as you'll be learning a lot and will be able to talk about that in your interview. It's of secondary importance if you're doing it at a huge AM or a boutique to be honest. Use this opportunity to sharpen your research skills as you'll have to pitch 1-2 of your favorite stocks during AM interviews.
Not sure about comp or WLB in London since I've never worked there. You'll have to wait for someone else to comment on that.
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