During the first few weeks and months of their business school experience, top students are preparing for a career in investment management by doing the following:
- Thinking about their stock pitches: top students have started to think about their stock pitch. People who are experienced are often developing initial screens to find their stock. People new to the industry are learning how to build a pitch by finding stock pitch templates at career services.
- Practicing their pitches on video: record yourself on video early as you do your pitch. You can use InterviewPrep (contact us if you need access), or just about any other video recording tools.
- Proactively reaching out to firms: While large firms recruit on campus, many alternative asset firms don’t recruit there. Get contact information of portfolio managers, and proactively write to each, tailoring your introduction to the size of fund, industry focus, or other characteristics where your background matches their interest. Try getting a trial of Bloomberg, which has phone and email contact information for thousands of portfolio managers around the world, searchable by geography, industry, etc. Even if you have to pay for it, it is well worth it!
- Seeking out resources: they’ll seek out hedge funds and asset management resources. In addition, Mergers and Inquisitions also has a great set of resources you can use if you’re interested in these fields.
- Practicing updating models: If possible, obtain sample models from firms you’re interested in, and familiarize yourself with their modeling techniques. Consider pulling up the last earnings report from the company modeled, and re-create how the model was updated.