I am currently employed in equity research at a regional firm and am interested in making a switch to corporate finance. In addition to the fact that my firm is struggling to compete and the analysts that I was hired to support have left the firm, the outlook for equity research as a profession appears increasingly grim (particularly for someone from a non-target school), making it seem prudent for me to make a change sooner rather than later. Note that while most research associates would be taking a pay cut if they switched to corporate finance, my firm is paying below the market, so a switch to corporate finance would actually be a pay INCREASE for me.
However, despite obtaining some interviews with Fortune 500 companies in my area, I have not yet received any offers, only rejections. Therefore, I was wondering if there is anyone here that has made this switch, and if so, how did you go about doing it? Also, what factors were most difficult to address when making the switch and how did you address them? For me personally, factors that may be hindering me are:
- Only six months of full-time work experience (but multiple years of internship experience)
- Lack of experience working as a part of a team (other than when I was in college)
- Perception that corporate finance is a step down from equity research
Other information: I majored in both finance and accounting in college and graduated with a very high GPA, so definitely no issues on the academic front.
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From equity research to corp fin, what gives? (Originally Posted: 10/21/2017)
I interned at GS in the equity research department this summer but didn't get a call back. Now I would be interviewing for a corp fin role. So what could be an answer to why corp fin over equity research? (Apart from the hours)
Longevity - ER is a house on fire.
Because of MiFD 2?
Poor exit ops from ER to Corporate Finance? (Originally Posted: 11/03/2012)
I've been thinking of transitioning from corporate finance to ER/AM. I mentioned this to a recruiter and she cautioned me and said “My F500 clients rarely accept individuals from the financial services industry to corporate finance positions. If you ever decide you would want to come back to a corporate role, it will be very difficult since my clients won’t even interview them”.
Should I trust her advice or is she saying this because she will no longer have a chance of getting a commission on me if I apply for equity research or Asset Management jobs? Do any of you have experience with people moving from ER or AM into corporate positions? Is it an easy transition to make? What other long term career prospects would an ER analyst on the buy side have?
This is absolute nonsense. Your recruiter is outright lying to you. IBD and ER employees are highly sought after in the corporate world. ER guys constantly get hit up for IR or Corp Dev roles, while IBD guys could very easily go to corp finance if they want to, although I doubt any of them actually would.
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