CPATrader

It will depend on the company. Some companies have extensive training programs for associates and therefore just want high quality employees, regardless of how much they know about the sector or even finance at all. Other firms want their associates to be able to hit the ground running and would therefore expect them to already have experience in their sector. It will also depend on what the senior analyst wants. Some like to teach, others don't want to be bothered. But in general, I'd say you don't have to be an expert on a sector to become an associate. However, you still should be able to speak intelligently about it in an interview through a little bit of research (if you can figure out what sector it is in advance).

This is what I've experienced on the buy-side, I don't know anything about the sell-side.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at Wednesday, June 29, 2011 at 05:18PM by FIresearch.