Stuck at boutique LO
After four years on the sell side, I got a buy side job at a $40Bn long only. I've been here for four years now and at first it felt like a home run but for a variety of reasons that range from pay to how ineffective/disinterested the partners are, it is clear that this isn't going to last. I have had very little success recruiting for other larger long onlys, I usually get hit up by the internal recruiter and then the investment team passes on me without a conversation. I am wondering if an MB.A is still feasible? The problems are that I'm 32, had a mediocre GPA in undergrad and even if I go to a good school I'm playing for only a small handful of seats. I've heard some biz school classes from top schools have placed zero students at Wellington/Capital/Fidelity recently.
Not sure what to do here but it feels like my career has stalled out a bit.
Could you elaborate on what you don't like about your current job and whether you could have foreseen that going into it? I ask because I'm a junior at a large LO, and will need to move shops in the future since I can't get promoted internally. I'm wondering what red flags I should be looking for when considering other opportunities.
In terms of your situation, maybe be more proactive about your outreach? Ie rather than let the recruiter come to you, reach out to investment team members at other shops, send them an example of your work, etc. Seems like that could help. Another thing to consider is that larger AUM is not necessarily better. There are some great 40bn AUM jobs out there, and some less solid 200bn AUM jobs. Good luck!
Thanks man. There were a lot of red flags from the start. The firm had recently been bought by a large foreign bank which provided them with the budget to hire a few analysts. So the partners, who are already at the tail end of their careers, just hit their biggest payday ever and are expected to train a team of new analysts. When I was interviewing I sort of figured this wasn’t the most legitimate operation but these seats are hard to come by and I still don’t regret coming here.
I think you’re right it would just come down to networking but networking at this stage of my career is very different to when I did it to break into SS research. There are just way fewer seats and the skills required for each are far more specialized, I’m just not as confident my network could do as much for me now.
Interesting, that does sound like a pretty tough situation. On the bright side if you can go weeks without working on your job, you can dedicate all of your time to recruiting lol.
How’s the comp/hours if you don’t mind me asking. I’m in a similar situation after 3 years in SS, finishing my first year at boutique LO
Should be $260 all in this year. I can work very little if I feel like it. I have literally gone entire weeks without working on my coverage and they don’t care. I think they prefer if we do less work to be honest.
If you don't mind me, why are you not able to get promoted? (Is there no opportunity at your firm or your seniors suck?)
They threw a bit more money at me after last year and I think that was their way of indicating they want to retain me and they have alluded to potential PM responsibilities. It is possible that something here could work out, small probability, but I don’t want to hang my hat on it.
bumping.
bump
Why do you suppose that you can't get past the initial cut? Does your firm have a bad or non-existent reputation? Is it the sector that you cover? Are you in a "real" analyst role at your current firm?
I work for a respected company but nobody knows we have an asset management segment, so lack of reputation hurts. I don’t cover a hot sector which also hurts but there were two tier-1 firms that passed on me just based on my resume despite the jobs being in my sector. A few of the retail products that I work on have really bad numbers too so if they look that up they may be inclined to pass too.
What specifically are you frustrated about? Currently at a HF and despite higher comp looking to make a move to more of a LO because just tired with the day to day market moves. Almost seems like the intensity is too high every day every hour.
It’s just a totally apathetic environment. I know it sounds appealing to be able to coast thru work but it is a bit soul crushing.
Not true for CBS, Booth, and Wharton.
I totally understand your part about network not helping out too much, there are just fewer LO jobs so that will be very difficult. How have you been applying to these other larger long only jobs so far? Please don't tell me you are just doing LinkedIn.
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