Mod Note (Andy): this Q&A is now closed, thanks again to N164 for answering all the q's! I've been in the Asset Management field for 15+ years, started as an i-banker out of undergrad, moved to AM after b-school when the hours got to me (both at target schools). Fundamental, bottom-up equity research. Have been at firms very large (separate accounts + institutional + mutual funds), and now at a small hedge fund. Happy to answer any questions.
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Thanks a lot for doing this. Few questions:
Could you talk a little bit about your career progression from analyst to PM? How did your day to day/mindset change after transitioning to a PM role? What advice would you give to a student interested in working at a bottom up, fundamental shop?
Career progression. Since the post-bubble burstings of 2000 and 2008, I think most of us think "progression" is more like "where can I find a good job"?
But in all seriousness, my role change was more evolutionary than revolutionary. I consider myself first and foremost an analyst. It was years of visiting companies, doing spreadsheets, monitoring companies and - most importantly - talking to managements and asking questions before I felt confident I understood what drove companies' successes.
If you're a student now, get yourself a subscription to the Wall Street Journal. Read Bloomberg.com. Pick a couple of companies you think do a good job in their field and follow them. Read about them. Maybe look at their annual report at http://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/companysearch.html. Also, every company has an PowerPoint Investor Presentation on their website under the Investor Relations tab. Flip through some. See what they are emphasizing. Try to figure out what they might be ignoring or hiding.
Also - try managing a "model portfolio" - kind of like fantasy football for analysts. Pick a few companies, pretend to "buy" them as of a certain date that you think the stocks look cheap, and keep an Excel spreadsheet. Update the prices every so often and see how you're doing. Are your names doing well? Why? Are they not? What did you miss? Then, when you interview, if you've never owned stocks before, you can say you've been running your own model portfolio, here are the names I have, here's why I bought them, here's how they've done. It also means you can answer the dreaded "what was your biggest mistake" question with: "I bought X at $10 and it fell, or I didn't buy Y at $20 and it went up, and here's what I missed"
Finally, there are MANY asset managers with presentations, etc. online. Look at them. How do they present their product offerings? Are they focused on mutual funds, pension funds, high net worth clients?
The more knowledgeable you sound in an interview, the better off you are. People want "plug and play" - the less training they have to do, the better. Good luck!