For someone who wants to break into research , how would you answer the following question in a sell-side interview: Why do you want to work in sell-side vs buyside. The honest answer would be 'cause I believe it’s a lot easier for a fresher to break into sell-side vs the buyside. But, what would be the “politically correct” and interview appropriate answer.
Because I want to make half as much money working twice as many hours?
farley013 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Because I want to make half as much money working > twice as many hours? ouch
Wasn’t meant to be a dis. Well, maybe sort of. More a commentary on the disparity between buyside and sell-side cost/benefit.
am oppurtunity to focus more on specific companies since you don’t cover as many. Allowing for a better understanding of those companies/that sub-industry.
You basically do better work and make more money on the buyside. So, there should be no rational reason for anyone to choose sell-side over buyside. But, got to some up with something for the interview. Anyone ???
something along with “laying the proper foundation for your career?” Sell-side has better training and better entry-level support.
exposure to various buy-side strategies. it isn’t always the case, but there are some parallels to the hub/spoke system. potentially better access to management.
I was once told the major difference between the two. If you work on the sell side, your objective is to hang up the phone without hearing the words “FU*K YOU!!!”. If you work on the buy side, your objective is to hang up the phone only after saying the words “FU*K YOU!!!”. Try this in the interview. If the senior analyst has been around long enough am sure he"ll appreciate the witty remark:)
I actually interned on the buy-side during my junior year summer, and when I decided to move to the sell-side for full time, I talked about the following: (1) My desire to really get to know companies within a particular space (sell-side tends to have greater depth since they’re expected to be “experts” in a particular industry – something that is certainly debatable anyway – whereas buy-side coverage tends to be more about breadth) (2) I wanted to develop better modeling skills (I know the depth of modeling depends what buy-side firm you go to, but at a fair number of long-short equity funds, they often base their models off what the sell-side has put together…and even if your presumption about sell-siders having better modeling skills is wrong, your sell-side interviewer would never debate you on that) (3) Sell-side hones not only your ability to think about stocks from the perspective of an investor, but also helps you develop your communication skills. Writing research reports (however challenging or tedious they may be) and commuinicating with salespeople, traders, and buy-side clients definitely helps you build your presentation skills, which are important in any business you’re in. (4) As a sell-sider, you have numerous opportunities to communicate and interact with company managements and buy-siders, and it’s really a pretty good way to build a fundamental set of skills and contacts. Basically, the interviewers seemed pretty impressed with my answers, mostly because I framed it in the context of how I had a chance to speak with sell-siders while I was interning on the buy-side, I understood what they did, and I was interested in that job. When you talk about how you have had firsthand exposure to individuals in a certain field, your credibility goes up dramatically. In your case, these answers will probably help you out, but if you know people at the firm or on the sell-side, it also helps to reference how you’ve talked to people on both the buy-side and the sell-side. Hope this helps…let me know when you get the offer.
yeah you might owe numi a % for that advice, pretty good comments in my opinion(which is neither buyside nor sellside)
numi, This is beautiful. Thanks a lot !!!
no problem dude. good luck to you!
I would just say that its because you are less experienced and want to get an understanding of the ER process. You can say that although you’ll make less and work from 7-till-7 most days, you are more than happy to do so as ER is something you are passionate about and the longer-term financial benefits are well worth short-term volatility. Simple. Willy
Isnt it easier to switch into corp finance from sell side analyst vs buy side?
Isnt it easier to switch into corp finance from sell side analyst vs buy side?
^ I never understood people who do that. Like that guy who was a hotels & gaming analyst who know works as a exec, from people I know who know him, he makes less now, but supposedly “has a less stressful job”. If you ask me dealing with day to day operations stuff is just as annoying as getting yell at by your clients.
“You basically do better work and make more money on the buyside. So, there should be no rational reason for anyone to choose sell-side over buyside. But, got to some up with something for the interview. Anyone” ??? Why don’t you just tell the truth—“I don’t really want to do this, but I’ve got no choice because I can’t convince anyone on the buyside—in the whole world—to hire me” I’m not sure what you mean by “better work”, but if you mean more in-depth work, you couldn’t be more wrong. I’ve been on the sellside for 13 years and I can tell you that just from the little you’ve written—you don’t belong on this side of the phone. On this side of the phone—for exceptional sellside guys anyway—character and inetgrity are crucial—and you do not appear to have much of either—Mr “got to come up with something for the interview”.
mjp Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I’m not sure what you mean by “better work”, but > if you mean more in-depth work, you couldn’t be > more wrong. I’ve been on the sellside for 13 years > and I can tell you that just from the little > you’ve written—you don’t belong on this side of > the phone. On this side of the phone—for > exceptional sellside guys anyway—character and > inetgrity are crucial—and you do not appear to > have much of either—Mr “got to come up with > something for the interview”. You’re being too hard on the kid. If you want to throw in a relevant quote, I would suggest, “Don’t hate the player, hate the game.”
does anyone know which side ML focuses on? i had an interview with them and they asid they focused on one side, but i forgot which one. and the position closed after i made it to the last round due to mkt conditions. same thing with wachovia