What am I expected to know as an incoming ER SA?
My fellow monkeys,
I am in dire need of some guidance, here! I won an ER SA position for this upcoming summer with an MM bank and was looking for some advice on what I should be brushing up on in the next few months leading up to my internship. Coming from a non-target, I don't have any classmates that I can go to for advice, this forum is my only source of guidance. Specifically I'm looking for comments on the following:
- My VBA is pretty shitty. I can automate or streamline basic processes but it can take me an hour or two. Am I expected to be more proficient in this area?
- I would consider myself an intermediate excel user, quite familiar with VLOOKUP and all that shit. Occasional use of my mouse. Is this good enough?
- Im basically a beginner with Bloomberg but I will have occasional access to one leading up to the summer. What are the essential uses/functions I need to know for ER?
Is there anything else I need to be prepared for? Thanks in advance for your time and advice.
You’re not expected to know much so don’t worry about coming in as an industry expert or anything like that. Make sure you’re good at excel/word/powerpoint. If you’re already at the point of rarely using the mouse you should be fine.
No one I know really uses VBA at my firm and for Bloomberg just get the certification through the terminal that will teach you the basics.
Most important things: make as little mistakes as possible, take good notes, understand the basic SEC filings and where to find company info, understand the three statements as well as possible, ask good questions, format things correctly, and have attention to detail (this is key). Having a good attitude and genuine interest/curiosity is a big plus as well.
I will add to that:
If you are ER SA as an undergraduate, how much value are you really going to add? Comes earning season in the summer, how much can you write about a company that you have been following for 2 months versus your supervisor who has covered it for god-knows-how-long. At the end of day, getting the FT offer has a lot to do with whether they like you or not as a person. It's sad things work like that, but true.
So, * be a good listener * constantly think about how to add value on your team - align your work product to the format your team uses for reports and exhibits * the info you gathered for your summer project should be organized and easily usable for your team after you leave the internship * make your team members like you: definitely do good work, but also figure out what their interests are and try to have some talking points so you can keep a conversion with them (maybe it's a Netflix show, sports, or traveling, etc.)
Did my first job as a research associate (covering TMT) for two years so this is my advice:
I think if you get these things done right, you should be 99% better than other incoming equity research interns. Wish that my interns knew that when they started. It was a painful experience training the interns.