I’ve got a phone interview with the recruiter for a buy-side analyst position this afternoon. My background is on the sell-side. What should I expect from this initial stage of the process? I figure the phone interview will be more of a broad conversation about my experience, what the open position entails, etc, and than after that hopefully will be asked in for an in-person interview with the investment team. I’ve never interviewed for a buy-side analyst job before so wondering if anyone had any thoughts on this. Thanks!
that’s all it will be pretty much…be able to answer why you want to move to the buy-side, and potentially have a couple of ideas to pitch (though since they’re just a recruiter, it’s not that likely that they’ll even ask you something like that)
I did one of these recently and was asked things like what’s your investment philosophy, what are your favorite investing books, who is your favorite fund manager, etc.
I don’t think JRH will be getting those questions because he’s already on the sell-side. Those questions sound very elementary.
Doesn’t hurt to prepare for those questions. Any and all is fair game.
Well, got through the phone interview with HR, and the questions were more general - why do you want to move to the buy-side, etc… most of it was him explaining what they’re looking for with the open position. The next phase would be a phone interview with the head PM - its a large cap fund, and the position is likely focusing on the health care industry, which I have no experience in (although they are aware of that) I would assume the PM wouldn’t expect me to know a whole lot about the industry, but does anyone have any tips on how to prepare for a possible phone interview with the head PM? What do you think he’ll be looking for when he’s interviewing me? Thanks again for any help…
JRH Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Well, got through the phone interview with HR, and > the questions were more general - why do you want > to move to the buy-side, etc… most of it was him > explaining what they’re looking for with the open > position. > > The next phase would be a phone interview with the > head PM - its a large cap fund, and the position > is likely focusing on the health care industry, > which I have no experience in (although they are > aware of that) I would assume the PM wouldn’t > expect me to know a whole lot about the industry, > but does anyone have any tips on how to prepare > for a possible phone interview with the head PM? > What do you think he’ll be looking for when he’s > interviewing me? Thanks again for any help… he will probably try to get a feel about how you evaluate a name. he might just have you go through a name in your current space. Now would probably be a good idea to at least prepare 1 name 2 pitch
JRH Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Well, got through the phone interview with HR, and > the questions were more general - why do you want > to move to the buy-side, etc… most of it was him > explaining what they’re looking for with the open > position. > > The next phase would be a phone interview with the > head PM - its a large cap fund, and the position > is likely focusing on the health care industry, > which I have no experience in (although they are > aware of that) I would assume the PM wouldn’t > expect me to know a whole lot about the industry, > but does anyone have any tips on how to prepare > for a possible phone interview with the head PM? > What do you think he’ll be looking for when he’s > interviewing me? Thanks again for any help… sounds like things have gone pretty much as i described. PM will be looking mainly to see how you think about investing so be prepared with a few names…also, be able to talk about how any of the work you did on the sell-side could translate to success in a situation where you actually have to put money to work. for the most part, these types of interviews are very standard in terms of process…they might give you a case study or a stock to look at, but they’ll only do that if they like you and you’ll have time to prepare before the next round btw is this for citadel/sac?
Depends on the investment philosophy. If they’re more quant, you’ll want to brush up on Access/SQL and databases. Macros and programming knowledge will help. I guess you’ll be the best judge of that by reading the job description/requirements.
yes Numi, you were spot-on with what to expect from this process, that has been very helpful. And no this is not with Citadel/SAC… Homie - this is a fundamentals-based strategy so I think I’m off the hook as far as the detailed quant stuff
JRH Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- the position > is likely focusing on the health care industry, > which I have no experience in (although they are > aware of that) I would assume the PM wouldn’t > expect me to know a whole lot about the industry, > but does anyone have any tips on how to prepare > for a possible phone interview with the head PM? Even though they know you don’t cover it, I strongly advise that you be prepared to discuss some of the more pressing issues in the space. For example, make sure you know a little bit something about the major industries such as Managed Care Operators and how an increase in healthcare costs would hurt their margins if they cannot raise premiums due to competition and regulations; the issues facing big pharma companies with weak pipelines, ergo their need to aggressively pursue acquisitions; the threat of abbreviated prescription drug applications, e.g. generics; and certainly be aware of what the political initiatives of certain candidates for President are.
Agree with BOMC. You should also think about what GE’s weakness in their healthcare business has meant for the rest of equipment manufacturers…is every machine the same? Look at stock prices the day after Ge announced and you will see the impact pretty clearly. What is the hospital spending environment like now (think liquidity and cost containment). some of the big guys have reported (DNA, PFE, JNJ, STJ, BAX, ABT, GILD, etc) so you should probably try to get a macro feel for how earnings season is going. Pharma is about pipelines and generics. What has the flu season been like this year? Intuitive Surgical beat and raised yesterday but the stock was down 15%…why? You obviously don’t need to know all of this but you may find a theme or two to pursue if you get some open ended questions.
Thanks guys, this is all very helpful, I’ve got some studying to do before the next phase!