Equity Research in a Hedge-Fund

Yes, it is a front office position.

Yes; there are tons of people from equity research that join hedge funds, plenty of examples on wallstreetoasis.

You could almost definitely transfer to something like ECM or DCM, maybe some coverage group but a jump to plain M&A will be hard to make(not impossible though).

its a fo role

I'm in my final year of university, didn't manage to get an internship during my penultimate year, haven't managed to get anything for this year.

What's the best course of action just continue applying to off season internships or try another route of entry into IB?

off-cycles / retry for summer internships i would imagine

I have an offer for Audit at a Big 4 firm, I was thinking of taking that up and then moving to equity research and then to a HF position. What do you think?

I'm in my final year of university, didn't manage to get an internship during my penultimate year, haven't managed to get anything for this year.

What's the best course of action just continue applying to off season internships or try another route of entry into IB?

wouldn't know if thats a conventional route to take

In terms of applying to internships I virtually have no experience in a bank.
What do I need to do in order to improve my chances of getting one?

Do IB not really care about the ACA qualification? What qualifications do you undertake as an analyst?

If you get into HF straight out of undegrad which is incredibly unlikely(but possible, if you network your arse off and cold email every single hedge fund under the sun) then the salary would be slightly higher than in IB and your work would be marginally more meaningful. At higher levels HF salaries are way higher than those at IB(generally).

i wouldn't say that M&A is the hardest to get into; strats and quantative research are impossible to get into(especially at MS, GS and CS). There are stories of Goldman taking 3 years to fill one of their strat positions cause they didn't like anyone that they interviewed.

Well, when you apply for a grad position or an internship then you will have to state investment banking as your choice as opposed to technology or S&T. Then after your interviews you will get placed or go through a rotation in one of the groups. Some banks would have plain M&A groups; others will be split into sectors and one of them would be called "UK M&A".

In terms of applying to internships I virtually have no experience in a bank.
What do I need to do in order to improve my chances of getting one?

Do IB not really care about the ACA qualification? What qualifications do you undertake as an analyst?

ACAs move over all the time, not gonna be easy mind.

afaia you don't do a qualification in most Analyst programs.. if you were to do one it would be the cfa or imc

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It seems that your quite knowledgable in regards to the ACA route;


-so in your opinion which would be better to do Audit or Tax at big 4 with the end goal being to go into ER. Is it possible to get into ER from Tax?

What would you suggest that I need to do throughout my time doing the ACA in order to move into a FO role like ER at an IB?

-Would taking the CFA level 1 exams alongside ACA improve my chances and show that I am very interested in ER?

-Should I transfer to Transaction Advisory Services (TAS) role within the Big 4 after I achieve the ACA, or do you know if I can transfer whilst an Audit trainee?
-Or would it be better to transfer to Corporate Finance rather than TAS, and could I do when I start as a Trainee or wait until I have completed my ACA 


Thanks for getting back to me I am very grateful for taking the time to answer my questions.

Deinfitely better to do audit than tax.

Well in theory you don't need any experience but in practice it will be impossible to get a job then.

Here is what I would do If I was you. Accept your big 4 offer---> Transfer into their Valuation or corporate finance division which would be wasy---> Get your ACA----> By then, your modelling and valuation skills will be off the charts, which would make technical interviews piss easy. At that stage you must apply for every jop opening in investment banking there is. Like literally anything and everything. Network like a ninja.-------> Let's say you have secured a place in IB at any front office position----> Start applying for Hedge funds which are relevent to your group/divison eg Merger arb, tmt----> reach out to headhunters, go through the interviews, all the usual stuff------> get the job.

This is probably the most optimal path for you. It could take up to 4-5 years though.
Either way, good luck and I hope that you get the job!