Research Analyst Career Path
What is the career path of a research analyst?
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Depends... which way is up?
Research Analyst --> ??? (Originally Posted: 10/14/2016)
I recently got a callback on a research analyst position I applied to at a CBRE, JLL, Colliers-type firm. The role is focused on researching capital markets. I'm more interested in trying to get into an underwriting, acquisitions or Asset Management role, but this is one of the few responses I've gotten back in probably about 75 resumes I have sent out over the past month or so (most of them sent to more financial oriented roles), so I'm not keen on just overlooking this opportunity it in hopes of greener pastures.
I think I already know the answer, but I'm just curious if there is any chance I could move into one of the aforementioned roles from a research analyst role, or if this is going to mostly pigeonhole me into a research position down the road?
I took a research role for one of the firms you mentioned right out of college. It was in a smaller market, and I was fortunate to be able to learn the fundamentals of the business, attend client meetings, and develop tremendous relationships with a lot of the brokers in the office and players outside.
Overall, I would not recommend taking a research position unless it is in the market you want to be in. The responsibilities were a joke – just collecting, analyzing, and presenting data. But the network you build in-house and exposure you get to the local market are great for anyone with little to no experience in the industry.
Skip it. Long term, you will not get a lot of practical skills that can be readily applied towards acquisitions/AM sitting in research. You will be asked to track deal comps and maintain a comps database, provide data for broker presentations, and assemble submarket research reports day in day out. Stop submitting online resumes to websites/HR departments and focus on networking face to face meetings with people in the industry. One face to face meeting is worth like 50 online resume submissions.
Also, a lot of people will try to tell you that you need to start in research in order to leverage your chances of transitioning laterally to underwriting in the cap markets or debt/equity departments. That's complete bs. If you network in person aggressively, have a very basic understanding of modeling concepts/skills and interview decently well you will find what you are looking for.
As usual Ricky Rosay is spot on
Thanks for the feedback everyone. I know networking is the way to go, my only problem is A) I suck at it, and B) I'm not located in a market I want to stay in. How would you recommend networking into out-of-state markets? Just trying to track people down via LinkedIn?
I was in a similar boat, and my strategy was to plan 1 or 2 days that I would be in town, then cold call/email people the weeks leading up to the trip to set up brief coffee meetings/introductions throughout those days. Always ask the people you meet with for advice and if they'd be willing to share contacts or reccomendations as to who else you should reach out to (sometimes they will offer an intro for you).
Career Path - Research analyst? (Originally Posted: 11/22/2008)
What is the typical career path to become a Lead Portfolio Manager?
Correct me if Im wrong, but I believe it is:
Research Analyst....MBA+CFA....Investment Analyst....Lead Portfolio Manager?
Is Research really the best route to get into PE from an iBank? or M&A, Corp Fin, industry groups?
Thank you,
-R-
interested as well.
She's not talking about getting into PE.
I don't know why you would include investment analyst. Maybe we have 2 different understandings of the role. From what I've seen: research -> cfa/caia -> associate portfolio manager --> pm. Obviously there could be a hundred things in between but research is core as is cfa. Hard to get to portfolio manager unless you stand out in your coverage of certain companies/fields etc... Some pm's are well versed in economics (for international oriented portfolios).
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