Getting an Equity Research internship vs Sales internship
Hi everyone,
This is my first post here on WSO, although I've been lurking for about half a year. The advice given here is always helpful and has helped me gain a lot of insight.
I'm currently studying MSc Finance at LSE and I come from a non traditional background (I was pre-med in undergrad). I became interested in finance, and particularly in equity research, in my final year of undergraduate.
While I know that my school/program is definitely a target in London, I'm concerned about my competitiveness, considering that I have no prior relevant finance experience.
I'm currently applying for summer internship opportunities at BB and MM banks for ER, but was recently advised by classmates that Sales may be easier to break into. I have also gathered from this forum that ER full-time positions are very very hard to get (perhaps even harder than IBD, as some suggest). Is this the same for internships?
While I would prefer ER, I would be very happy with any FO internship offer, coming from a non finance background and without any experience.
What are your thoughts on this? Would a Sales internship actually be easier to get than research? Is research really hard to break into, even for an internship?
I should also mention that I'm a girl - and from what I've read here, it seems that girls are more easily placed in Sales? (pardon me for my naivity)
Thank you in advance for all your advice !
Every banks takes many more sales interns than they do research interns, so in terms of numbers you are probably better off applying to sales. However, many banks group sales and trading together for summer internships (some group research with them too), so you will also be competing with all the wannabe traders...
Just make applications to both sales and research and see what you get. It's a numbers game!
That is not true at all. I work in equities at a bulge bracket bank and in my training class there were 2 equities salespeople and over ten in equity research
Ditto the above. Just shotgun the application process and see what you hit, don't limit yourself to just ER.
Thanks for your replies!
Because some banks only allow one application for the whole year, would it be smart to apply to research to some and sales to others? Also, would an IBD internship be easier or harder than ER to get? I'm considering this option as well because from my understanding IBD and ER are more similar in what they do then S&T, and it may be easier to apply to ER for full time after with IBD experience.
Thanks again!
IBD should be harder, so yeah some sales some research is the way to go.
Thank you for your advice, everyone!
Lemsip, sent you a PM.
Late to the party, but look for ER firms with strong biotech/pharma groups since you are premed under? I'd imagine that your background would be looked upon favorably by research analysts covering sectors related to medicine.
Definitely don't agree with the majority of the above comments. It's usually a lot easier to get a research internship than a sales internship. This is due to various factors: 1) research guys (usually) don't sit on the trading floors and therefore there is more physical spaces for "cheap" interns, the opportunity cost on the trading floor is higher. 2) in order to work within sales you need to pass series 7/FSA exams, which means that you can't really "work" there as an intern. 3) ER is a lot more similar to college where you do research to write papers, so you can always help with the research the analysts are doing.
I interned at a bb and there were probably twice as many research interns as there were sales interns (excl. trading interns)
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