I assume you are at a ER firm, so let me get the ball rolling for you -

  1. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
  2. What are the exit opportunities in ER at a firm like yours versus a BB?
  3. Since you are in Singapore, do you cover stocks in SGX or stocks on other exchanges?
  4. Who uses/purchases ER research from a small firm?
 
Best Response

These answers are for sell-side houses. Buy side ER is difficult to answer, it depends on the boss and the fund structure.

  1. No plan: going to keep an open mind for opportunities. The industry is evolving too fast.

  2. It depends on how much value you can add. Some typical paths for small firms: a. Associate -> 1-3 years -> Associate at better house b. Associate -> 2-4 years -> Full writing analyst at better house c. Associate -> 2-5 years -> Analyst -> Buy side/Investment banking d. Entry level analyst at the smallest firms -> a/b/c

The BB analyst would have a much easier time of it when exiting. Even a Tier 2 house I interviewed at had 1.5 year turnover cycles for both sell- and buy-side opportunities, while a good 50% of my colleagues who left without something in hand are jobless. Industry is very small and it took me only a day to find out someone fed me BS about a buy side role lol. On the other hand are excolleagues in big funds and IB/HF. So it really depends.

d. refers to a few firms where you can put your name on a report with less than a years' work exp, those are the smallest firms and pay very little but the name part still attracts people... provided you don't make a fool of yourself

  1. Depends on the house. Most firms have both SGX-listed and regional coverage (HK/JP/PH/ID etc). To generalise, analysts based here for regional houses will cover mostly or all SGX-listed stocks, and will typically have a mix of retail and institutional clients. BB tends to have regional coverage instead of just local.

  2. Clients of the firm ie those with brokerage accounts. The smallest firms are retail focused ie catering to local Mrs Watanabes. Some can be found for free online/Bloomberg etc. BBs/Tier 2/3 houses typically have liquidity minimums to cover something, the retail focused firms are differentiated/can add value by covering stuff no one else will touch because market cap too small/no trading volume etc. Couple of multi-baggers from such coverage over the past year.

 

You need an employment pass to break in. Those are hard to get nowadays as it has become politically sensitive.

Second/third language is very important for regional analysts and definitely a plus. But only Bahasa/Korean/Japanese/Chinese imo.

 

Add to that meeting management, contributing to strategy or other reports, doing channel checks.

E.g. for consumer which I cover, I mystery shop, talk to salesgirls, check out the relative prices and volumes on different distribution channels, etc.

 

How do you get to Singapore as an American? I would love an SA internship there but have 0 connections there. When interviewing should you state you would love to fill a position there?

 

Short answer: difficult if not impossible because employment and immigration rules have been tightened up considerably, and it's an employer's market for jobs. No reason to hire a foreign intern when they can easily hire a local full-time out of a job from downsizing/fund closures, and many positions aren't even advertised because they get filled up through word of mouth so quickly.

You'd have better luck getting an internship/full time position in the US for ER then trying to move after a few years.

 

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