Research Analyst Job - Opinions Please net, investment, interview, different, posting

evolsteevol

Hi everyone,

I'm just looking for a little bit of advice/your opinions on a position I have an interview for next week. I've been applying to jobs in equity research, and this seems to be a little bit different.

The position is for a private investment company that advises high net worth and institutional clients. The posting had this for responsibilities:

"Your primary responsibility will be to support the Director of Research in ongoing monitoring of managers as well as researching new managers and investments, including hedge funds and other alternative assets."

Does anyone have experience in a similar position? It's not exactly equity research, but with ER being so tough to get into right now, I am thinking it would be good experience, as I am currently not in the investment field, what do you guys think?

Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.

Houjichasan

This is really an RIA type role. However, it is in the investment industry, and if this is what you get, unless you do have offers from ER, I think you should probably take it, even if it is unrelated to ER.

As bromion said, it can be both lucrative and interesting.


Idk where you are in the CFA, but if you're not in the program, know the modern portfolio theory stuff for this interview.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at Saturday, September 17, 2011 at 05:03PM by Palantir.

cfa10yrplan

bromion Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This job is not related to ER. This is fund
> management stuff, sounds like fund of funds maybe.
> In this job, you would be evaluating other people
> who evaluate investments, and then distributing
> funds to those managers under some strategy or
> formula.
>
> There is nothing wrong with this job and it can be
> lucrative and interesting work, but be aware that
> this is a completely separate track from ER and
> you will have a hard time transitioning with the
> experience you get in this type of role.


I agree and disagree.

Agree- This is NOT a research job at all. This is a fund-of-funds where clients are unsure which money managers to choose (out of the thousands). So instead, they go to this company, which chooses the best combination of money managers for the client. typically for a fee (probably around 40-50 bps of assets managed). So you won't be picking stocks or where to invest, but you help pick the people that will do it.

Disagree with your transitioning. In fact, I started my career in a fund-of-funds, exactly in this role, and moved to equity research within 2 years. Then later asset management for a several years.. them PM.. etc etc

If you want to use this as a stepping stone of breaking into a finance job where you can pick the investments and stocks, I think that's fine. Just don't stay too long in this position though.

Possibly the best part of this role, is the hours. Since you're not actively picking stocks, doing valuation, talking to ER guys or listening to conference calls, you'll find you have a generally steady 9-5 job with little stress. Great way to knock out the CFA exams in this type of job.

jacksparrow

That's great guys, thanks a lot for the insights.

Just a bit of background about me, I wrote and passed level III in June, and I am a charterholder, but I work basically doing credit analysis. Looking to transition to ER, but I am a realist, and know with the economy looking how it is, a lot of banks have hiring freezes etc, so the opportunities for ER just may not be there for me right now.

I have also been accepted to a to an MBA program. My plan was, if I didnt have a role I wanted by January, I would go with the MBA, however if I did get a position, I would scrap the MBA for now.

Iteracom, thank you for your advice, I guess I will have to make a choice (if I do get the job), to either put in a year or 2 doing the role, or pursue an MBA.

Thanks Palantir, I was going to review the performance eval/appraisal stuff from L III as well.

neil1234

Oh, just one more thing, as I think the job is as Bromion says, a fund of funds type position.

Would this not put me in direct contact with Hedge Fund managers and other individuals who want me to invest in their funds?

I am just thinking it would be a good networking opportunity...

Analti_Calte

Vash Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Oh, just one more thing, as I think the job is as
> Bromion says, a fund of funds type position.
>
> Would this not put me in direct contact with Hedge
> Fund managers and other individuals who want me to
> invest in their funds?
>
> I am just thinking it would be a good networking
> opportunity...

I work at the kind of fund you would be evaluating, although we don't take outside money. But my impression from the prospective other side of the table is that you have very little chance of making the transition. As iteracom said, it's possible, and in the history of Wall Street, it's sure to have happened more than once. But really, you would be setting yourself up to be in a weak hand position -- it's better than no job at all, but would hardly be considered standing on firm ground based on your aspirations (although it's certainly not a bad job).

IMO, networking is highly overrated. There seems to be this "hope" aspect to the concept of networking. People think, hey, I'm a good guy, I'll just meet some managers and they'll be dying to give me a job. No. Investment managers want to make money, and they're going to hire people who have direct experience that will lead to making money for the firm, or at least very high potential to learn to do that. Researching managers isn't related to researching investments -- sorry to be blunt, but there is no skills overlap, and you should know that going in if you decide to take the job. And frankly, most managers are not going to want to have regular contact with you ("networking") as they are too busy; I doubt it would be what you think it is going to be.

A top 15 or so MBA is probably a better bet for you, though you didn't say where you got in.

canadiananalyst

Thanks a lot, appreciate the honest feedback, that is what I was looking for.

I am in Canada, so the MBA ranking system is a little bit different, but I got into one of the best, Richard Ivey School of Business (#46 on FT rankings, 2nd Canadian school on the list), so, I was leaning toward accepting, before I got the call for the interview.

I will go to the interview, as I have nothing to lose, and make my decision from there.

Again, thanks for the help guys!

maratikus

That's a good approach, go to the interview, see what's involved and decide from there. Credit analysis + CFA + Ivey is a good background, so you have plenty to work with if not this job.

Any particular reason you wouldn't skip MBA / ER / fund of funds and try to move up the curve in credit research instead? I'm less familiar with that side of the industry, but this is one of the most exciting credit markets since... a while (counting today as an extension of 2008), and your skill set may be in demand today as is. ER is mostly a bunch of people rehashing what management wants them to say, whereas on the credit side you can do real analytical work (at least that is my impression).

dmrktrading

Vash Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> That's great guys, thanks a lot for the insights.
>
> Just a bit of background about me, I wrote and
> passed level III in June, and I am a
> charterholder, but I work basically doing credit
> analysis. Looking to transition to ER, but I am a
> realist, and know with the economy looking how it
> is, a lot of banks have hiring freezes etc, so the
> opportunities for ER just may not be there for me
> right now.
>
> I have also been accepted to a to an MBA program.
> My plan was, if I didnt have a role I wanted by
> January, I would go with the MBA, however if I did
> get a position, I would scrap the MBA for now.
>
> Iteracom, thank you for your advice, I guess I
> will have to make a choice (if I do get the job),
> to either put in a year or 2 doing the role, or
> pursue an MBA.
>
> Thanks Palantir, I was going to review the
> performance eval/appraisal stuff from L III as
> well.


For some reason, I was under the impression you were someone fresh out of college. But based on this, I'd have to agree with bromion.

SkipE99

Since we're on this topic, are PE and HF Fund of funds essentially similar in nature? In an HF Fof you're investing in HFs as opposed to PE funds, so is the work experience/analysis the same?


btw...what are the exit oppotunities from a HF or PE FoF role? If the skills are not transferable, are you effectively locked into this....?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at Sunday, September 18, 2011 at 11:26PM by Palantir.