anyone know the typical route, entry positions/duration, best organizations to get a start, etc… Any help would be aprreciated in understanding this a bit more.
CatFishHunter a relative of yours?
no, sorry…
What about TheDevilinMissJones?
no, sorry…I am new here…my first post and do not know anyone
CatfishJones Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > anyone know the typical route, entry > positions/duration, best organizations to get a > start, etc… > > Any help would be aprreciated in understanding > this a bit more. If you check out the annual reports or websites of various funds, national and international, you’ll find photos and brief descriptions of these people’s career paths. Many have been in the business for 10+ years or more, so what was true for entry level positions back then is not necessarily true now, but it’ll give you a hint. By and large my guess would be it is easier for you to drift into a portfolio management career path in a smaller organization than in a larger. I personally know someone who drifted in from quant, another from risk management, another one from a CFO position with a company in a different line of business (non-financial). One guy hopped in from a Treasury position years ago; his entry level position was that of a bank clerk in the early 1970’s.
Er, so “portfolio manager” is sort of an abused term. What kind of portfolio are you talking about? In many organizations, like hedge funds, only the top ranking person is called the portfolio manager. Traders, analysts, etc. working for him/her. Some other firms have junior/associate portfolio managers, whose jobs vary from firm to firm. I think a good step would be to search for “portfolio manager”, or some other related term on a job website like efinancialcareers.com. This will give you a better sense of the descriptions and requirements for these positions. Good luck.
^what he said
Second the abovementioned…portfolio manager of? equity funds, fixed income, hedge fund or fund of fund? Equity - my experience in dealing with them told me that most of them are equity analyst to start with. How can you be a PM without knowing what your analyst are talking about? Some MBA graduand might be able to get away with being an analyst first but most likely know how to speak the same language. Fixed income - many starts at treasury or credit analyst. Similar rationale. Hedge fund - lets skip this one, consensus is only the best of the best can go… Although I’m not sure about it but they’re definitely more innovative than traditional PM I’ve met. FoF - asset consultants, fund researchers are the common path.
i was thinking mainly of fixed income/equities…thks for all the replies, this is helpful
equity and fixed income research is the most organic career path. Portfolio management does not really have an entry level job function, it usually steals from other sectors of fin services. If you goto Blackrock’s website for example, their lowest level they start at is individuals with 3yrs experience in financial services for a Jr PM in Fixed Income (the reqs are ideally suited for IBers coming fresh off analyst training programs in case you were wondering)… as far as Hedge funds, has more to do with contacts than background to be perfectly honest. I live and work in SW Conn and I cant go anywhere without tripping over HF managers. Generally speaking, if you know people with money and can sing a good song as far as an investment story, you can go out and build your own HF. If you know an existing HF’s managers, they can get you in. I have seen HFs literally hire part time/temp workers b/c they liked them who had no prior experience/education in the field. Very few HFs are large enough to have a large enough pool of people to have standardized hiring/training programs.