Investment Mgmt Internships

The thing is, investment mgmt is a very scalable business, so these funds can take on tons more assets without adding new people. They make the same amount of decisions, they just buy bigger positions. For example, I've been talking to a well-respected mutual fund with over $200bn in assets. They only take 2 interns per year. Makes you want to resort to i-banking

This is what scares me about IM, plus the fact that the recruiting is later in the year compared to everything else. I might be tempted to go IB for my internship and first job out of school, and then make the transition to IM after that. Do you have any tips on how to prepare for IM before heading to bschool?

Network.

Do you have any tips on how to prepare for IM before heading to bschool?

My experience would support the contrary. My brother works in IM (fixed income), and it's a very small community of people, who all know each other (at least in NYC). He got his job straight from networking out of undergrad, he's not an MBA or CFA either.
A common perception about IM is that if you lose money, you'll be quickly fired. Though this is true, no one ever mentions that other desks are very quick to hire axed traders. This is because of the networking you will do at work and after work. It not a coincidence that his firm is entirely composed of Columbia MBA's.

No, I don't think you will be at a disadvantage as long as you start this summer and really get into it. The MBA guys I know who are summer interns at places like Franklin Templeton and some smaller hedge funds have said that asset mgmt employers don't really care about grades, but they do like to see a strong personal interest.

So here are some of the things that I've been doing over the past year to convey that I have a strong personal interest in asset mgmt (if you want to do sellside stuff the list would obviously be different):

1) Read the WSJ everyday. I spend about half an hour doing this, which is enough time to fully read some interesting stories and scan the first paragraph of all of the other stories.

2) Read as many investment books as possible. Start off with Lynch's One Up On Wall Street and Greenblatt's Little Book and You can be a Stock Market Genius. These are fun reads with practical tips. If you like it, you can move onto Grahman and some tougher stuff.

3) Build a small stock and bond portfolio. Great way to apply some rudimentary stock research and also learn a little bit about portfolio mgmt. Start off with safer large caps, keeping things as diverse as possible. Try to track the S&P 500, not beat it. Buy and hold--keep the trading to a minimum, otherwise you'll get eaten alive on fees.

4) Write up two stock pitches. Chicago's IMG site has some great tips, examples, and templates for this. (The weather's been too good here, I haven't done this yet. I think it's gonna be really hard, but better to do in now than while school is in session.)

5) Look into the CFA program (but only for buyside stuff)! I would not recommend trying to do this during the 1st year, but I think you could take level 1 in June right after you graduate without too much extra studying. Studying for these tests is very time-consuming--the curriculum is super broad. But the CFA is starting to become pretty standard for any research or port mgmt function in asset mgmt.

6) Maybe try to talk with some NYU eq research guys over the summer?

I'm sure there's some other stuff, but I can't think of it now.

yeah, I think it just depends how you define 'networking'. it isn't like schmoozing at the events the banks have. it's more like getting in touch with alumni on your own and building a relationship.

My experience would support the contrary. My brother works in IM (fixed income), and it's a very small community of people, who all know each other (at least in NYC). He got his job straight from networking out of undergrad, he's not an MBA or CFA either.
A common perception about IM is that if you lose money, you'll be quickly fired. Though this is true, no one ever mentions that other desks are very quick to hire axed traders. This is because of the networking you will do at work and after work. It not a coincidence that his firm is entirely composed of Columbia MBA's.

So should I take the CFA Level 1 before I start this Fall?


Have you guys noticed any CFA level 2 candidates getting noticed more for interviews or is the Level 1 pretty much nothing?

I'm weighing the option of chilling and goofing around or being serious and studying for level 1.

naturallight, CFA