How to climb the ER ladder?

I've been reading here that senior positions in ER are pretty darn cushy- 300k~1M+ and 50 hours and very low stress.

So question for those in ER- if you start out as an associate, how do you climb the ladder to that senior analyst level? What do you have to be good at? For Banking I've heard it's being a good salesman etc, what is it for ER?

 

You need to be able to market and sell your research. Your value to the firm = how much S&T business you bring in which is roughly measured by how interested the buy-side PMs/Analysts/Traders are in speaking to you about your coverage. The more of a hot commodity your time is to the buy side the more revenue you are indirectly generating and the more the bank will want to promote/pay you.

 
Raptor.45:
You need to be able to market and sell your research. Your value to the firm = how much S&T business you bring in which is roughly measured by how interested the buy-side PMs/Analysts/Traders are in speaking to you about your coverage. The more of a hot commodity your time is to the buy side the more revenue you are indirectly generating and the more the bank will want to promote/pay you.

Thanks- so about marketing and selling your research to investors- is it more of generating excellent analysis and report, or more of just being a sleek salesman that can talk extremely well?

 
AsianMonky:
Thanks- so about marketing and selling your research to investors- is it more of generating excellent analysis and report, or more of just being a sleek salesman that can talk extremely well?

Neither? Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but ER reports are rarely groundbreaking. My impression is that you are valued based more on your industry-wide views and your corporate relationships/ability to connect investors to management.

"There are three ways to make a living in this business: be first, be smarter, or cheat."
 
AsianMonky:
Raptor.45:
You need to be able to market and sell your research. Your value to the firm = how much S&T business you bring in which is roughly measured by how interested the buy-side PMs/Analysts/Traders are in speaking to you about your coverage. The more of a hot commodity your time is to the buy side the more revenue you are indirectly generating and the more the bank will want to promote/pay you.

Thanks- so about marketing and selling your research to investors- is it more of generating excellent analysis and report, or more of just being a sleek salesman that can talk extremely well?

Nothing to do with the reports your associates write. More to do with who/what you know and ideas you generate.

 
Best Response
AsianMonky:
Raptor.45:
You need to be able to market and sell your research. Your value to the firm = how much S&T business you bring in which is roughly measured by how interested the buy-side PMs/Analysts/Traders are in speaking to you about your coverage. The more of a hot commodity your time is to the buy side the more revenue you are indirectly generating and the more the bank will want to promote/pay you.

Thanks- so about marketing and selling your research to investors- is it more of generating excellent analysis and report, or more of just being a sleek salesman that can talk extremely well?

It's sort of hard to explain what makes a great sell side analyst until you've sat in meetings between a PM and sell side analysts. I worked as a buy-side research associate and had the chance to watch many ER guys work their magic. Yes they need to make decent calls and yes they need to be savvy salesmen but more importantly they need to be able to convey a tremendous amount of industry-wide knowledge, how the industry trends apply to individual companies, and catalysts that will cause the industry to move. But if you think the PMs are going through each analyst's past reports/models to check up on their accuracy you're dead wrong. The PM will only remember if the general message/theme of your research was correct.

 

So basically, you to be good per Raptor's criteria and then have someone leave so a space opens up. That is probably the hardest part, there are lots of great senior associates basically forced to go buyside or lateral because their top-ranked analyst is relatively young and/or unlikely to leave.

 

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