Am I Stuck on the sell side?

Water Cooler Careers
#1

Hi all,

I recently switched jobs (after months of searching), and moved to covering a sector I really like.

I already have 2.5 yr experience in my previous EQR sell-side role.

I mentioned my job search to someone who works on my new team and his view was “After 2-3 years, you get to move to HF and AM shops but after you have spent 5 years on sell-side, you are tagged sell-side for life”

I was taken a bit back by this. I am guessing the VP on my team tried to move to buy-side but couldn’t. Was wonfering if there is any truth to this? (I just started 2 weeks back so really dont have the capacity to start looking for another immediately)

#2

I know many people with 5-10 years of experience who moved from banks to hedge funds.

#3

Hey - Is that also true for Asset Managers like Fidelity, T Rowe etc?

#4

thats wayyyy too much of a generalization…

#5

From my experience, quality of your background matters more than the number of years, if you’re mid career. If you have 7 years of experience at high quality, prestigious firms, then your options will be broader. If you have more mediocre experience, then your options will be narrower and will be available for shorter durations. Of course, when you are 20 years or so in experience, then you had better have covered your retirement savings, as your job opportunities will generally be scarcer.

#6

i think the number of years thing don’t matter at all. The quality of your work and whether your thought process matches to that of PM/Research Director of the HF or AM matters the most.

#7

There is some truth to this. The reason lies more in that you become fairly expensive to hire if you’ve spent a lot of time on the SS. Chances are after five years, you’ve made it to at least senior associate and possibly VP (depending on years of total experience). Buy-side shops like to run lean and often pay junior staff less than they could make on the SS. I’ve found this can be similar in PE (aside from the huge shops like BS).

That all said, if you’re a very strong and knowledgeable analyst (even at a more senior level) there are shops that will want to pick you up. I’ve know quite a few mid-level guys that jumped to the buy-side. Though I’d say it’s not that common. If you’re really set on a buy-side role, you should expand your horizons and possibly target cities where there is less competition. You’d be surprised to find that some places actually have fairly large funds.

#8

what’s funny to me is the sense that people on the sell side think (some) buy side clients are morons… and the buy side thinks the sell side are idiots… it’s a giant circle jerk

#9

What’s the difference between buy-side and sell-side? The former gets to say FU before they hang up the phone.