Thank you for giving me the opportunity to express my interest in working at your firm as a European Analyst. I am a UK born, French-speaking Executive MSc Finance (evening/weekend) student at the London School of Economics and I coordinate my time alongside a full-time job as a Senior Analyst on the FVA Finance desk at BAML. Equity research – top-down analysis in particular – has always been an area of great interest to me, and the position at X would be an outstanding opportunity for me to further my career in this field, while learning from a reputable coverage team.
My background as a qualified accountant and Financial Analyst has prepared me to be an excellent fit for this role, to the extent that I am comfortable with a set of financial statements and have consistently enjoyed performing in highly pressured teams and dynamically-changing environments. At BAML, I have been trained to meet tight deadlines by rapidly building strong relationships with global teams and using effective negotiation/persuasive skills to receive up-to-date data that can be analysed and reported in a presentable, informative and timely manner to our clients; senior traders and risk managers.
In addition, I have amassed a wealth of experience in;
The advanced use of Excel for building and maintaining complex financial models that have drastically improved the FVA front office risk reporting process at BAML and allowed for better risk management. My Master’s degree has also provided me with the learning tools to build several proprietary DCF models, which I currently use to appraise the value of companies in the Consumer Discretionary and Consumer Staples industries.
Working cohesively within teams, but also comfortably as an independent lead for my PL area – requiring effective decision-making skills to take calls on complicated matters and taking full ownership over the consequences of decisions made.
Using a high degree of written and oral communication skill to routinely stand out against my peers by autonomously leading the delivery of commentaries, reports and visual presentations to senior management to explain the performance of the business. By proactively exploring a variety of data sources to investigate and understand key profit and loss drivers, I have been able to consistently produce higher quality, value-added summaries and have earned internal recognition awards for my achievements.
After a lucrative time period of contracting within the Finance function of top tier Banks, I am ready to take a new direction in my career and completely dedicate myself to a role in which I feel that my technical abilities can be truly tested and challenged. My intention is to come in and immediately make a valuable contribution to the X team by applying my passion for investing, combined with technical analytical skills, to provide creative and persuasive outputs that will make an impact on clients.
Thank you for taking the time to acknowledge my application and I very much look forward to discussing with you what I can bring to the organisation.
Take out all the fluff like this: “In addition, I have amassed a wealth of experience in”, or “After a lucrative time period of contracting within the Finance function of top tier Banks”. It sound pretentious as hell.
I can see that you’ve spent good amount of time and effort in writing your cover letter. Really appreciate it for not half-assing it. Although it is easily digestible and not boring to read, i would try to shorten it by quite a bit…
“MBA from CBS with 7 years as equity research, generalist, for sub $1B equity hedge fund with returns _____% of _____%. My investment philosophy is ______ and a follower of _________. Notable investments include ____________ by utilizing my own methodology __________. key contact for the CIOs of institutional investors with _____% of the fund’s AUM to give updates on the fund’s views on the capital markets and overall US economy etc etc.”
I don’t need to write that i analyzed 10Ks and did models and what not…Just state who you are and what you did at what kind of company and briefly list your accomplishments.
Thank you guys. The ‘lucrative’ bit about being in the BO Finance function of a bank was placed in case a hiring manager ponders the question ‘why has this guy been contracting for so long within Finance at various banks and why didn’t he try to become an analyst sooner?’. I wanted to perhaps give some credibility and meaning to my career path, rather just admit that I had slightly messed up. Money is always a good motivator.
just to be clear…this is for me which has been shaped by senior managers at two previous funds I’ve worked at…We would much rather see a 27 year old who is in BO but quickly climbed up the ladder than see a 27 year old in BO in the same title but with CFA or other certs. The first guy seems to be 1. growing out of his position very quickly or 2. he/she may be too bright to be in that dept and don’t shy away from new challenges or 3. must be really good with people or 4. really gives 100% no matter what…
Either case, any of those four is a strong quality to have for any department or company and that person has a better shot than the second guy who complains that he is very smart but was unlucky or made a mistakes but got his CFA 3/3 but still is a BO associate after 4 years…Well you’ve just contradicted yourself…
In short, I would take out the contracting part or any mention that you’ve made a “mistake”
Interesting read, but the cover letter is too lengthy and verbose. In today’s day and age, most proper cover letters are three paragraphs at most and put bullet points to more effective use. You can find further guidance on cover letters via the links below and on the Mergers & Inquisitions website.