Back when I was applying for ER associate positions, I was really struggling. Only a handful of positions per year opened in my industry, so I got very good at making the most of each application. I got to the point where if there was an opening, I had a 50% chance or better of landing the interview.
Here are 3 tips which were game-changers for my applications. When I made these changes, my percentage of replies and follow ups increased noticeably. Note that I would always personally contact the analyst through e-mail and never went through HR.
1. Pass CFA Level I
I've seen a lot of discussion on here about usefulness of the CFA. It's not a question of CFA or no CFA. If you just pass Level I, you will get a lot more attention from employers - you don't need the whole CFA this early in your career. Great if you do have it, but CFA Level I is enough. The great part is that it's really easy. Level I basically tests whether you learned what you should have learned in undergrad business school. Yes, sadly the pass rate isn't that high.....
2. Attach a model
Create an intensive model. Something that is going to take you weeks to build. It doesn't have to be correct. The model just has to show that you are putting in the work and are thinking critically about modeling issues. If someone flips through the tabs for 30 seconds, they should recognize that the model took a lot work, is very well organized, and its is thought out. In hindsight, the models that I sent were 100% wrong for my industry. Nonetheless, they still got me more interviews.
3. Writing Sample
Send a writing sample preferably something published somewhere whether it's an academic journal, the school newspaper, Huffington Post, whatever. I can't stress how important writing is to the job. I would rather hire someone from a target school that could write really well than someone from Harvard with a 4.0 and no writing ability. That's one reason that you will see a lot of non-targets in ER. You need a very specific combination of skills. for ER Just because you went to a target doesn't mean you have that exact combination.
If you do the above, you have shown that you know finance, know how to model, and can write. That should really check all of the boxes for any ER analyst looking for an associate. If there is more interest, I'll try to write one of these ER-related posts each week. Please do recommend any other topics of interest.
ER has low turnover, so don't expect to be making the move from associate to analyst for a while but in the years that you work as an associate, do whatever you can to make your analyst's life easier and make as few mistakes as possible and you'll be good varies from analyst to analyst, but they all will expect you to perform different roles...some will want you to be just an excel monkey, some will want you to do more of the report writing, and some will expect you to focus more on client requests
On point #1, the CFA Institute actually has an exclusive job board. You become a member when you register for the exam.
I actually found my current job in ER through there.
@ ALL
R-E-A-D. That is what this industry is built on.
I'd read intelligent investor, Barron's, WSJ, NY Times, Valuation by McKinsey, Rosenbaum and pearl, Buffett's accounting notes, 10-ks, shareholder letters, Wall Street Prep, and research reports from BBs. Probably some others I've missed but this will be plenty for a 1 month binge. Credit Suisse HOLT has a case competition that anyone can sign up for and you get access to their HOLT platform.
@monkey10011" Practice with comps and DCF. You will rarely use LBOs, if ever. Write an ER report and have ER people poke holes at it until it is solid.
CFA is solid but you need experience too. ER or AM is ideal but don't look down PWM as a freshman or sophomore. Maybe you could work at a BB PWM and write research reports and macro newsletters for the FAs. CFA cannot and will not replace the use of networking and experience. CFA job board works for those who are competent and not just bookworms and passed the cfa with no experience.
DON'T BE A PRESTIGE WHORE! There are plenty of solid ER and AM shops that aren't the BBs and still are good experience for someone trying to get in/lateral from a non-er gig. Not to mention they're not required to be in NY so the pay and lower COL is nice.
Honestly, ER is a "do your homework" type of industry. I don't know why people trying to break in haven't figured that out. It's not a prestige fest where a bunch of schmucks from an ivy can get in just because of their school like ib. Don't get me wrong though, ER and AM do recruit at ivies but will give non-targets that crush the interview a chance over the ivy kid who can't pitch a stock.
I still believe Asset Management is better but you have to start somewhere right?
This is what I did - got me my first job as an Associate. I noticed that if an Analyst (or senior Associate) took the time to read my report/models, I at least got a phone call back (and always skipped HR).
My background: non-target, 3.2 GPA, no connections, no-name internships. If I can do it, any of you can. Just keep swinging the bat and you'll hit a homer.
This is my story. I'm a 31 y/o medical doctor with a couple years of clinical experience looking to jump into biotech equity research. I found a small private ER firm to write equity research reports for in biotech as I do some healthcare consulting work for an entrepreneur. I can write as I was a philosophy major and I am published in medical research. I feel confident selling myself and jumping on a phone pitching (as I did real estate sales in my year off before med school).
I see tons of PhD's in equity research and no disrespect to them, they can research like the best of them given their experience. However, I would have thought a medical doctor with extensive training and clinical experience with pharmaceuticals would gain more attention in this field. I was told by a ER analyst that don't expect them to make any assumption so just put it down on your resume that you have prescribed pharmaceuticals in nephrology, cardiology, oncology, neurology, etc sub-sectors all of which are true.
Anybody else have any idea how I can leverage my experience?
I think that mainly you just need to give it some time. 1 -2 months is a very short period for an ER job search. You shouldn't feel distress at all at this point. A time frame of 6 to 12 months or even 18 months isn't entirely unreasonable for ER recruitment because very few positions open up. If you're getting one solid interview every month or two, that is not a bad pace at all.
Another consideration is that you might want to beef up on your finance skills. My suggestion above of getting the CFA Level I would probably be a good idea. It would prove to employers that you have the pre-requisite finance background to the job. Even as a less familiar topic area, it shouldn't be too hard compared to studying involved in medicine
Background: Family of Doctors, In Finance, passed CFA Level 1
The CFA Level 1 is a joke. If you were able to take the MCAT and get into a reputable medical school, you will be able to pass Level 1 with no problems.
It is pass/fail and Level 1 is multiple choice. Pass is something between 60-70% if I remember correctly and with 240 questions you can get a significant amount wrong and still be comfortable in the pass range.
Levels 2 and 3 are significantly harder. I hear Level 2 is even harder than 3. When you hear it's challenging - you are probably hearing about getting the CFA designation which involves passing all 3 levels.
Getting Level 1 will just signal that a) you 100% know the basics/fundamentals of finance since the Level 1 goes an inch deep on a wide variety of topics and b) that you are serious about this career transition since you took the time to study and pass the test. Furthermore, in an interview you will be able to point to it whenever anyone has doubts on your knowledge or capability.
Everyone you interview with is going to be asking themselves whether you are actually in it for the long-term. If not, any upfront time or capital cost of training you won't be paid back. I couldn't help but laugh at your comment about offering to work without pay. Pretty standard hail-mary for those trying to break in but I have never seen it work. While it sounds logical from your end, it can also reek of desperation.
And yeah there are a lot of PhD's but a few MD's as well. I think a lot less MD's because all PhD's have done is research whereas, from my understanding, the training to become MD is a lot of memorization and knowledge-building. Plus, a lot of kids who go through the MD path have wanted/thought they wanted to be an MD since they were in High School or earlier. And the steps are laid out very neatly (crush standardized tests and grades and continue going to the next step such as college, med school, residency, etc.) Getting a job in finance outside of the natural paths (on-campus recruiting, IB-> buyside) is anything but neat. It seems that you may be realizing a little bit of that now.
But yeah, I'd keep hitting the pavement and being patient. But I'm also curious why you want to join this business and why now? How many years out of med school are you? Do you have a prior interest in public markets or investing you can point to? What is your long-term goal? Buyside?
I would ask yourself these questions because I find that a lot of people tend to suffer from "grass is greener" syndrome. As someone from a family of doctors who is the only person to go into finance, I am curious as well and would love to hear your thoughts.
Report should be around 10 pages long. 1-2 pages of a solid investment thesis with maybe a few graphs thrown in. ~3 pages of actual data, upside/downside/base case scenarios, and a snapshot of your model (IS/BS/CF/Val)
Have 3-4 key catalysts thoroughly outlined that describe what will move the stock/why it's undervalued, and most importantly, why you differ from consensus.
Valuation will vary based on the stock you pitch. For example: no DCF for most financials/homebuilders/oil&gas, but you might use a terminal value multiple. Look and see what other sell-side guys do to get an idea. You might end up doing just EV/EBITDA, P/E, DCF, SOTP, or you might end up doing a blended version to get your PT
Analysts won't respond to LinkedIn shit. Find their email, keep it as brief as possible (2-3 sentences and most) and say "I applied online, wanted to express my interest to you directly, here's my work sample and resume". That's it.
If they have a very senior associate, it's sometimes good to email them. They'll have more time than the analyst and can pass your info on to them. They have to be very senior though or they may see you as competition
I wouldn't even really rely on HR/online apps other than applicant tracking. No one checks that shit, they already have candidates lined up before the job is even posted 90% of the time