How to create an amazing CV if you work in equity research

29 March 2010

3 minute read

How to create an amazing CV if you work in equity research

If you work in equity research, now may be a fortuitous time to look for a new job. According to recruiters specialising in the area, hiring has picked up substantially on last year.

"There's lots of hiring in equity research, it's pretty much across the board," says Jonathan Evans, managing director of equities search firm Sammons Associates.

"Researchers are very much in demand," confirms Paul Hammond of search firm Hammond Partners. "Research teams were cut back in late 2008 and it started to get busy again in late 2009."

Among the big recruiters are said to be Macquarie, Jefferies, Unicredito, Collins Stewart, RBS and Investec.

However, if you want to switch jobs in equity research, you will probably need to tweak your CV. According to recruiters, the ideal CV for an equity research professional should look something like the sample below.

Your name

Postal Address

Telephone Number, Email Address

Personal statement. This will vary depending upon your seniority - if you're junior, the personal statement is a means of demonstrating intent and might go something along the lines of:

"I aim to work in a leading investment bank as an analyst focused on fast moving consumer good stocks"

If you're more senior, the personal statement offers a chance to summarize your achievements. Eg.

"Established equity researcher with fifteen years' experience in major investment banks. Ranked 3rd in Europe for luxury goods research by Thomson Extel in 2009."

NATIONALITY:

WORK PERMIT STATUS:

PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS:

Eg. ACA, CFA Levels 1 and 2

EDUCATION: List postgraduate qualifications first. If you have more than three years' full time work experience, list your experience before your qualifications)

· Name of university attended, city and country it was located in

· Degree in X. Degree class (1st 2/1 2/2). Date of graduation.

· If you're a recent graduate, add relevant coursework: Emphasise anything related to business, accounting, or economics.

· A Levels: Only add A levels if you graduated within the past five years. Specify grades. If you graduated more than two years ago and have relevant work experience, it is not necessary to specify A level subjects.

· GCSEs: Only add GCSEs if you graduated within the past five years. Specify grades. It is not necessary to state subjects studied.

WORK EXPERIENCE

Name of the company you worked for, plus the city and country you were based in.

· Your position and the business area you worked in. (Eg. Head of buildings and construction equity research)

· Dates of employment

· Primary stocks covered: (Eg. Lafarge, Holcim, Ahold - provide five or six big bames). If you're junior, state the secondary stocks you covered.

· Thomson Extel ranking (if ranked)

INTERESTS, SKILLS & ACTIVITIES

Languages: Eg. Fluent in French; Conversationally proficient in Italian.

Technical Skills: Don't mention Microsoft Office!

Interests and activities: Be brief. Don't mention international travel or reading!

AUTHORSarah Butcher

Global Editor

Sh
Shree
19 February 2013
Well, for a profile which relates to communication and writing, I was wondering why should it be a bad idea for freshers to mention their reading habits? I am of the opinion that, for a fresher, enlisting the books (relevant in fundamental analysis and Eq research and the newspapers / journals) should be a worth mention, this leaves a good impression on the seriousness of the candidate and the maturity that can be expected in his / her work.
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ap
apples10
30 March 2010
hi Sarah, I see you have 'date of graduation' and 'dates of employment' as the only possible 'age identifier'. I've now stopped using any dates apart from my last employment. But I think people are guessing why and I'm still not getting interviews.
By the way, I was given the spanish archer from one of those institutions that you say are now 'big recruiters', so yet again, I feel lousy reading your articles.
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Pi
Pig
30 March 2010
Sarah - love your enthusiasm, keep up the good work!
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Sa
Sarah, Editor, eFinancialCaree
29 March 2010
@SW1 and JB - I (obviously) dispute the fact that the articles are 'useless'. However, I do appreciate that these CV articles are simplistic and repetitive. Unfortunately, though, that's the nature of the format - most CVs will be largely identical, apart from the way the work experience section is laid out.
Yes, recruiters will reformat your CV for you, but you still need to get recruiters to look at it in the first place. And (as SW1 kindly points out), you'll need to structure your CV yourself if you're applying direct.
We've addressed dealing with gaps in the CV in the (admittedly fairly distant) past, but can look at it again soon as it's obviously a popular topic. We had something on frequent job changes relatively recently - http://news.efinancialcaree....
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sw
sw1
29 March 2010
JB)) great yes accepted.... what do you think Sarah???
JB is ifact very much correct, all recruiters mostly put it in formatted way before sending it to recruiters.. but however some one who is applying directly to employer this article v.much helpful indeed.
i would like to see more articles on people with frequent job changes and still focussed to get where they want.
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