your advice please

Hey Guys,

So I've been a silent observer of wallstreetoasis.com since I was a sophomore in college. I just graduated, (BA accounting, BA economics) from a small liberal arts school that no one has really heard about.

I love the stock market, and I love learning about the business behind the companies and judging whether I'd wanna put my own money in it. I have a few portfolios of my own (one real, and the other 3 are all virtual).

So i applied to UBS/MS/GS etc. to some of their equity research positions online, but I am under the assumption that they won't even look at my resume after they see that the school I went to has no "prestige". But I did write a very detailed cover letter that was very specific to equity research and showed my passion for it and experience in it.

I know that equity research is what I want to do, I check my portfolio daily (trying not to though, so I can be more like Buffet and Graham, and be fearless of market fluctuations lol) but I don't even know if I will have a shot at even the opportunity to speak to a recruiter.

So, what course of action should a student from a non-target with good grades do about getting into equity research at a big firm?

Your advice will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.

 
Best Response

Network, CFA, network and then network some more.

If you're grades are less than magna cum laude you have almost zero chance unless you know people.

You school has a economics program so it must have some people in equity research.

LinkedIn can be a good resource.

Sign up for the CFA and right now and take the test in December. You should spend about 200-250 hours studying for each level to guarantee a pass.

Get a job related to finance/economics to show you aren't lazy like many recent grads.

Speak with recruiting firms but don't really expect too much.

Get resume critiqued before you even talk to recruiters so you can impress them more.

Read WSJ and FT to stay informed so you can speak intelligently during an interview.

 

thanks guys for your comments. I really appreciate it. So I did graduate with magna and honors in both degrees. on the subjects of metrics, do recruiters in at top firms in ER have a cap for standardized test scores? I took the GMAT, but i cant remember my SAT scores lol. I didnt mention these scores on my resume. Should I have? also, i googled a ton of the firms' locations so I could find their phone numbers. I called, asked for HR and told them that i applied recently to a few positions of interest to me and that i go to a non target school. they told me to follow up with them in a couple weeks. i guess my strategy is to call them again in a week or two, and be very persistant till i get a chance to actually speak with a recruiter.

a side note:

so I got into the Msc in accounting program at UND. my logic was that the program's cirrculum includes analysis using financial statements and it would perfect my ability to decipher fin. stmts. then i also thought about getting my CPA while at UND, if i dont get into ER by august. are CPAs useless in ER? another reason as to why i thought of getting my cpa was because it would appeal to the Big 4 and it would open doors to things like E&Y's TAS group. do people in ER have graduate level backgrounds in accountancy and financial reporting?

 

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