How to get into ER?
Hello people of WSO.
How do I get into equity research? I currently work for a b/d / ia as a dually registered agent/iar. I've been at this firm for 2 years. My current role involves wealth management of high net worth clients, and risk management of those respective clients from a 'firm risk/operational' perspective. I graduated in 2020 from a non target with a perfect GPA. I dislike my current role. I'd like to transition into sell side or buy side equity research. It appeals to me for many reasons. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Well, it's your lucky day - check "My Career Articles" in my signature
I made this transition and this is the approach I took.
1. Get atleast CFA level 1 (CFA level 2 even better)
2. Learn how to model
3. Learn/practice building stock pitches
4. Set up linkedin alerts for equity research associate. Once you see an opening pop up, find the senior analysts email (can use Factset or CapIQ) and send them an email expressing interest in the position with your resume attached.
This helped me get into a 1st round interview around 50% of the time.
Find an industry vertical you enjoy, find a couple of public companies in said vertical and start modeling them out/creating theses around them. Start smaller-cap first as the large caps will often have way too many business units for you to properly understand as a beginner. Don't try to reinvent the wheel at first...try to build a model that ties to what current prices are....this will allow you to broad strokes understand what the market is pricing in.
Once you get that down, take the companies in your industry vertical and find the analysts that are covering them. A lot of times the analysts are listed on the company's IR page, but if you have access to a bloomberg terminal or CapIQ or FactSet you can just pull a list. Then I'd start form emailing them. From my experience (which has been very O&G focused so take it for what it's worth), junior talent in ER is always lacking as good associates leave for the buyside as soon as possible and thus it's a lot easier to get on a call with the Analyst (plus if it's not earnings there literal job is to be on calls vs. IB where a deal can be happening at any time). They won't always respond, but if you can seem articulated enough about why you like the industry and have some tangible proof that you know what you're getting yourself into, they will usually take the 20-30 minutes to respond.
CFA will help, but as a charterholder everyone and their mom is a candidate now so it probably won't get you as far ahead as it used to (if it ever did tbh). I'd focus on the tangible skills and putting together a cohesive story.
All great points!
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