CFA with 9 years of experience from the buyside. How to land a job in asset management in NYC?
I am a CFA charterholder with close to nine years of experience from the buyside, both as a PM and analyst. I would like to relocate to NYC and get a job in asset assetmanagement. Preferably as PM, but would also be interested in senior analyst positions. Currently based in Europe and would require a visa sponsorship. How realistic is if to apply for jobs from abroad and get an interview? What asset management firms and headhunters should I contact?
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Hello to you as well, OP. Consider this half-bump, half-useful info.
I'm also from EU, don't have work experience and wanting to start in the US. Have done serious research on the topic, most recently there was discussion in this thread: https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/applying-to-new-york-visa
What I've seen so far is that if you are starting, only AMs and HFs will sponsor you, banks practically never will. Additionally, the sponsorships vary - some spots offer them while others don't. When I was digging for internships, Prudential was one of the companies that selectively applied the visa sponsorship condition. In other parts of finance, e.g. Big 4, I have heard of "lateralling" abroad after 4 years of experience.
For your specific situation I suspect it will be extremely easy to secure a visa, but given the current COVID climate it is a little bit iffy. Here is a tweet from Axios showing just how little high-skilled visas are being issued. So normally you'd be ~100%, now you're maybe 95%.
Your best bet is to go through a recruiter or contacts you know (sell-side salespeople are great for this). They will know the opportunity set and whether a firm would be willing to sponsor your visa. Most senior analyst and PM jobs are never posted publicly. Even if they are, the chances of you getting an interview by randomly applying online are very low.
curious why you want to move to NYC from Europe?
Always been fascinated by NY. But I guess it is different to live there. People from NY are fascinated by Europe. Everyone wants to try something different?
What asset class? Fundamental analysis, macro, or quant factors?
AM is a small industry, with a lot of people trying to get in. Many places won't even look at you if you need a visa, and those that do will have highly competitive processes. I presume that you're an AM PM (not WM) if so, you'll want to lean heavily on your track record and try to slot into your specialty at a firm here. PM jobs are basically invitation only, and it's a bad time to get seed capital, even at big firms.
Fundamental buttom-up yes. Do you know any asset management firms that typicall sponsor a visa?
I'd go big. Despite an almost five-figure workforce we don't normally. How's your track record relative to your benchmark? (People will call you out if benchmark fudging, btw) I'm in algorithmic quant, but even I can't launch a fund these days without committed capital.
I have a positive track record for those investments that I am responsible for. But part of a team running a fund that has done bad in total.
Can you pull your returns out from the broader fund returns? It won't be GIPS compliant, but it should help in an interview.
yeah i can, but it is only for four years, so not very long. Anyway, tip on what firms that sponsor visas?
Not really. I've never had to look into it, so I don't really know. My guess is that you either want to go really small, where they don't have any bureaucracy, and will need to bend over backwards for any hire, so they might chance a visa, or really big where they likely have processes in place. I'll guess that the middle is your enemy, where they're big enough to have HR bureaucracy in place, but not big enough to really know about visas. When HR has two similar candidates, but one requires a lot less research and effort on their part, guess what they almost always choose.
Also, four years isn't bad. You can 'hack' a Morningstar star rating at 3 years+ if you have access to Direct. Pull up "Morningstar Risk Adj. Return" and "peer group percentile" for your category. There are papers online telling you where you stand for any given percentile. This is just vague enough that it can't be used for publication, (there are odd things around ETNs and a few other things that can shift things by a percentile or two from the official ranks) but should help you sell yourself. I could bore you by linking to their 40 page paper on their methodology, but it's basically a customized Sharpe ratio.
Thanks. I know many require a Sharpe, but not really sure how I could calculate that for just 4 years and if it would make sense, as we have a very low turnover. Just try to do on a monthly basis?
M* just does monthly return vs. monthly volatility compared to peers. (way oversimplified again) If you've got M* Direct access just let them chug it for you. it looks cleaner anyway. You can upload your choices as a model portfolio if need be. M* sucks for research, but is probably the best for presenting the output to low knowledge users like HR.
Bloomberg's much better for real-time and Factset is probably better for backtesting quant strategies, but I have yet to see anything that can compete with the simplicity of representing fund performance (real or simulated) to clients, and HR are definitely clients.
So how do you upload the data? Just all the transactions you have done? I have calculated my money weighted return and compared that to our index.
Just upload positions and weights. Are you in charge of what assets you're allocated to play with? Unless you are (and that would be stunningly unusual) you just have to deal with what you've got. If I'm a rockstar at $10M and I convince a client to put a billion into the fund does that change my investing acumen to overweight that I now have more assets?
I have direct responsibility of stocks in the fund and only use those. But the weights change during the year. It is not the same due to up- and downsizing. So I guess you have to upload all? Could you provide the direct link?
The results are generated in large companies.
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