How competitive is equity research?

pranalivickylovebirds

Hello everyone,,

As the title says I was wondering how competitive getting a job in equity research is. I hear time and time again how competitive IB is and you need to do so much to get into the field, I do not hear much about equity research though https://trackeasy.fun/usps/ https://showbox.tools/. I don't assume it's very easy, but I was just wondering on what it is like. Do you need to go to a to go to target school? If you don't go to a target school are you pretty much dead in the water like IB? After college how competitive is getting a job in the industry, are there hundreds of people being turned away? Any insight on the question would be great! Thanks.

Any updates guys.

My opinion has long been the following:

On a nominal basis, equity research is easier than IB, but in real terms, ER is just as hard as IB. What I mean by this is that, while equity research is an easier recruiting process compared to M&A or more technical groups, ER has wayyyy smaller teams, which makes for very few seats available any year. Another important factor is that ER is looking for a very different person that IB -- you spend a lot of time on the phone and modeling isn't your whole life. Also writing and having that "Investor Mindset" are some unique components to ER when contrasting it to IB.

ER headwinds:

- too infrequent openings because of smaller teams

- buy-side is not hiring frequently, so junior sell-siders cannot leave (despite strong desire)

- industry shrinking, net-net there are fewer sell-side analysts

Doable from non-target? I believe yes. Is it competitive? Yes, because target schools get first looks by banks.