IR Professional Looking to Move to Sell-Side

Hi- I went to a top 12 school with above 3.5 GPA and I majored in Economics. I am working at a buy-side shop in investor relations but am looking to pivot to the sell-side. I am open to banking and equity research right now. I want to earn more and learn modeling skills. Any advice on how to move? I have been networking with bankers and people in research at boutique banks. They all say they are not currently hiring. I have stayed in touch but nothing has changed. All job postings that I see require experience in either industry already (which I don't have). Also, I am not interested in business school!

I am aiming for an entry level/analyst position at a boutique bank since I realistically want to stay for about 2 years (unless I end up loving in).

Thanks in advance guys.

409 WSO Academy Equity Research Session Reviews: 4.83/5

Class of '25 Nov 2026 Cohort

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“Chris was very easy to talk to and made the session feel relaxed and genuinely useful. He gave me clear, actionable tasks that I can go away and work on straight away to expand my network. I hope to reconvene with him at a later date to discuss the progress I have made and get his feedback on the work I have been doing.”

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“Craig gave me a really clear picture of how sell-side equity research actually works. The biggest takeaway was that research is a service business built on trust, not on picking stocks, and that analysts are paid on rankings rather than on whether a call is right. He was honest that even a 60% hit rate is excellent, and that it matters more to understand where you went wrong than where you were right. I also liked his point about not being “unintelligently wrong”: own the mistake and explain it well. On the practical side, he told me to start now by running a blog, posting on Seeking Alpha, using Koyfin as a cheap Bloomberg alternative, and using AI to draft commentary so I have more time to think deeply and explore other sectors. He also explained that research recruiting is much more targeted than IB, since sector teams are fairly autonomous, so I should reach out to senior analysts in specific sectors and recommend based on fit. His own path from no finance background, through China, to Wharton was encouraging. My one suggestion would be a quick walkthrough of what a strong first report looks like beyond the core pieces (recommendation, risks, summary, price target).”

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Hi finance_chica12345, check out these resources:

Overview of Sell-Side M&A client pitch to closed deal, and add anything I may have omitted. SELL-SIDE M&A 1- CLIENT PITCH: Meet ... your firm as a sell-side advisory and stipulates what the firm is paid for its work (generally payment ... closing). BONUS- Pre-Selling: Depending on the firm you work for, some managing directors will begin to ...
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Boston Sell-side Equity Research there are any reputable sell-side ER positions in Boston? Obviously, I'd rather work in buy-side ER ... on the desk. I'm looking to switch into ER but would like to stay in Boston. Does anyone know if ... Software M&A. I absolutely hate banking but I've gotten some good experience in my year and change ...
Going from Buy-Side Analyst to Sell-Side Equity Sales? going from buy-side to-> sell-side (which i would be willing to do), but they want me in an (cash) ... Equity Sales role! I am open to go to the sell-side, but did not expect that. I was expecting a Research ... appreciate any advice on that! sales;equity;sell-side
Equity Research ...
moving from buy-side to sell-side eventually move to the sell-side to a market-making role. how easy would it be to get sell-side interviews ... i know the typical path is to go from sell-side to buy-side, but how difficult is it to do the ... (think BlueCrest, York, CQS, Graham Capital) where the role is trading /research, i would like
Moving to the buy-side from the sell-side forget the sell-side, and say i'm not going to stop until i get to the buy-side with my current ... covering consumer discretionary and healthcare services stocks. My goal is to move to the buy-side, more ... to equity research to start earning some money again and move to the buy-
Can a sell-side trader get into a top MBA program? interested in what I'm doing and am not looking for a way out before I even start, but I want to keep an ... that I wanted to make a career change to consulting or PE, could having a semi-target school and a top ... Minor) and I'm about to start a career in trading at a top BB (GS /MS/ JPM). I'm very ...
More suggestions...

No promises, but thought I'd mention a few relevant users that work in the industry: @arya180" postwarjapan @mt_88"

I hope those threads give you a bit more insight.

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I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.

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8y

You work in IR at a buy-side firm? So you work for a publicly traded asset mgr?

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Authored by: Certified Asset Management Professional - 3rd+ Year AnalystCertified Asset Management Pro

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IR Professional Looking to Move to Sell-Side

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