ER entry from pretty good MBA

Pretty new to the forum and looking for some help. I will be attending a good, not great MBA program this fall (15-20 ranked school). I am looking to break into ER, preferably on the sell-side. I will be entering school with four years experience at a large asset manager in a trade support role. No hands on investment experience but I do have my licenses.

Basically the question I have is what do people recommend I do to start preparing for the interview/recruiting process. Any books/training/individual exercises that a person essentially starting from scratch can use to gain skills and knowledge needed for ER. I understand I am going to school to learn these things but the recruiting process seems to occur before any classes have even been completed. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

 
Best Response
  1. Start networking. Find some alumni and reach out to them.
  2. Start researching stocks and doing some investing on your own. I would try to have 5 good ideas when you start school. Your school's investing club will teach you how to turn those into a "pitch" for interviews. You won't need more than a couple when you are interviewing, but try to have some backup ideas available because the markets are always moving. Don't be the guy whose thesis plays out the week before interviews and all of a sudden your pitch isn't that compelling anymore.
  3. If you're really bored, teach yourself modeling and learn all the technical accounting questions that come up in interviews. You'll have opportunities to learn this once at you're at school if you don't feel like it.
  4. If you were an undergrad finance major, consider signing up for the December CFA test. I would recommend against this generally, but I would definitely recommend against this if you have no background. Business school is fun. Take time to enjoy it.
 

I agree with tc's points.

I would also suggest focusing on a specific industry of interest(s) than try to just get hired whereever. I am fairly confident that most analysts really want to know their associates are truly interested in the sector they cover. You'll be working on initiations and going to be really diving deep into a specific industry, so choose wisely! It'll be a big investment on your part but it's totally worth it if you love the work.

Also I would suggest putting together a 3 statement model with projections and a price target along with a 1-2 page writing sample of a stock youre interested in to send to analysts.

 

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