Job Responsibilities
Making investment decisions, such as buy, sell or hold, for
primarily publicly traded fixed income securities. The work
week ranges from 40-hours when there are no fires to 70+ hours a
week during earnings season. There is a strong requirement to
be able to communicate effectively orally and via written media.
There is also a strong requirement to develop and maintain
relationships with companies, wall street analysts, consultants,
and other key people in the industry (namely rating agencies et
al). Proficieny in key software such as excel, powerpoint,
access or comparable software is a pre-requisite for the
position. Knowledge of Bloomberg and other investment related
software are also pre-requisites. The Analyst is required to
build models and sometimes make industry presentations.
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Job Requirements
Undergraduate degree -- preferrably any *traditional* liberal
arts degree that provides a well rounded education, followed by
a heavy course load that (1) demanded significant written
analysis of comparing and contrasting reading material OR (2)
stresses analytical thinking. Strong emphasis in math,
economics, or business are helpful, but remain tertiary in
nature.
Graduate education is also paramount given the heavy workload
and requirement to process huge volumes of readings. As an
analyst, it is very important to have a sound background of
corporate finance and accounting. While industry expertise is
important, employers tend to hire generalists because
generalists allow for more flexibility in the assignment of
sectors. Lastly, there has been a growing trend in the industry
to achieve the CFA(r) designation.
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Uppers
Ability to put my analytical mind to work. I like the detective work to solve
industry and company trends, and to incorporate the information in my investment
analysis. Separately, a good analyst creates his or her own job security.
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Downers
Working with peers that do not have the same work ethics or high
standards. However, please note in the better firms, cream rises
to the top. Separately, the high stress of traveling, long
hours, and demanding bosses.
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Lifestyle
The dress code tends to be business casual to suits. Business travel can account
for 30% at some firms (it is less than 5% for my firm) and the industry average
is about 15%. There is a huge emphasis on fitting in and being a team player,
which can be tough (especially for non-conformist like myself).
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Compensation
In the industry, the bonuses can be very attractive and is the
main reason why the Analysts work so hard during the year.
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Advice to Jobseekers
This industry is changing and there are two main themes. The
first theme is because this is a service industry, the old
barrier to entry has been eliminated due to the advancement in
telecommunication (e.g. internet) such that the job can now be
performed in third world countries at significantly lower wage
scales. The second theme is the increasingly use of high-power
math given the low computing costs coupled with new and
innovative securities.
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