I am interviewing for the MBA Commercial Relationship Manager program with Wells. I ultimately want to move to Fixed Income Research though. Since FI Research roles are few are far between I thought a CRM role would be a good place to get credit training and experience until a FI Research role opens. Does this sound like a good plan to those of you familiar with FI Research if I cannot immediately get a FI Research role? Also, does anyone have an idea of salary/bonus for each of these roles at a place like Wells, say years 1-5?
Credit training will be useful as well as a computer science/math background. It’s definitely tough to break into the industry (harder now with the UBS layoffs) unless you have an ivy league/top b school degree.
You might want to check out Wells Cap. It’s frequently looking for candidates for its fixed income analyst program. I think the program requires a 3.2 gpa. You can go to the website and create a job agent for “Perform Analysis” under “Job Family” to flag you when an analyst position becomes available.
If you happen to get an interview in Fixed Income, being able to “talk the talk” will give you an advantage. Understand some of the basic terms like duration, excess return, spread (OAS, Z-spread, spread to bench). Talking about the current interest rate environment and duration positioning would really impress. Fixed income also revolves around Bloomberg so learn how to use a terminal if you have access to one. Go to BU-go and take some of the classes.
The pay at Wells is going to vary depending on what part of the bank you work at. The pay is good for IB (Wells Fargo Securities), decent at Wells Cap, not sure about brokerage, and sucks at the bank. Wells will usually publish the Min/Average/Max pay for its positions. Bonus structures vary so it’s hard to say.
Wells Fargo is actually expanding fixed income trading. However, most of the expansion is in Charlotte, NC. Might be good if you like living in Charlotte…
Most of the IB unit is in Charlotte but some folks are in New York/San Fran/Denver. Wells Cap (mutual funds) is mostly in Minneapolis/San Fran/Menomonee Falls. Honestly though, there are positions scattered all across the country. It’s a big company.
@jpwvwf – I thought I’d be a nice guy and let you know that one of those analyst program positions popped up in San Fran. I doubt you’ll see this though.
Fixed Income Portfolio Analyst 1
Requisition Number: 3682687
Position Description: Analyst Development Program Investment Management Track
Wells Capital Management is seeking undergraduate candidates for the Analyst Development Program (ADP). The Analyst Development Program (ADP) gives undergraduates entry to the institutional investment management industry. As an analyst in the program you will spend 24 months as a participant in the Investment Management Track working with one of our investment teams for the duration of the program.