Voice of Experience: Jennifer Ralph Oppold, Hedge Fund Analyst
To continue our Voice of Experience series with another up and coming young woman in finance, The Glass Hammer interviewed Jennifer Ralph Oppold, a research analyst at a long/short hedge fund with about $6.5 billion under management that invests in small and mid-cap companies.
Educational Background and Early Work Experience
Jen graduated from Princeton in 2001 with a BA in International Relations. From there, she went on to work as a business analyst at McKinsey in New York, where she focused on strategic management consulting. At McKinsey, Jen was able to hone her skills in analysis, communication and problem solving.
In 2003, Jen decided it was time to go back to graduate school. Always planning ahead, Jen had already applied to and been accepted at Harvard Law School, and had deferred her attendance while she worked at McKinsey. In her second year at the consulting firm, she realized that she had developed a strong interest in business and investment management. So, she decided to apply to Harvard Business School, where she was also accepted. In the fall of 2003, Jen moved to Cambridge, MA to pursue a JD/MBA joint degree at Harvard.
Law School, Business School and Summer Employment
At Harvard, Jen became interested in the prospect of working at a hedge fund. She explained, “I was always interested in investing, but thought you had to be a stock market junkie to work at a hedge fund. My roommate in graduate school had worked at a hedge fund, and recommended it, explaining that the work was interesting and she was able to lead a balanced lifestyle.”
During the three summers while Jen pursued her joint degree, she tried to diversify her employment experiences to get a taste of a variety of different jobs. After her first summer, she worked for a real estate developer as the assistant to the CFO. After her second summer, she worked for Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton, a major international law firm based in New York, where she focused on corporate law and international arbitration. After her third year, she accepted a summer internship at the hedge fund where she currently works.
Asked how she got her hedge fund job, Jen explained that the firm had participated in on-campus interviewing at Harvard Business School. While it is slightly unusual for hedge funds to participate in on-campus recruiting, because they tend to be small operations with unique hiring needs, it is not unheard of. This firm was seeking to hire at least one summer intern, and Jen’s background and experience fit the bill.
As a summer analyst, Jen was given a small industry to look into, and write a report on investment opportunities in the sector. She analyzed small and mid-cap companies by looking at the value chain and industry dynamics, in order to figure out which companies, if any, would be a good investment for the fund.
That summer, Jen got married, and her employers were flexible with her schedule, allowing her to start early and end early, in order to accommodate her wedding. Jen saw this flexibility as a strong indication that her workplace valued her, and would be willing to give her some autonomy in setting her own schedule, which was important to her, At the end of the summer, Jen received an offer of full-time employment with the fund after graduation, which she happily accepted.
Working as a Research Analyst at a Hedge Fund
After graduating from Harvard with a JD/MBA, Jen headed back to the hedge fund to start her full-time job as a research analyst. Jen’s current job entails looking into a number of different small and mid-cap companies to evaluate whether her fund should invest in them. To do this, she builds a model of the company’s financials, looking at financial information going back at least ten years, and speaks with management, customers, suppliers and even competitors of the company to get a sense of how they do business.
Jen has regular contact with the CFO and CEOs of the companies that she is researching, and utilizes information from a variety of internal and external sources to make her assessment. Smaller companies with a market capitalization of between $500 million to $5 billion fall into the target range of the typical company that her fund invests in.
On an average day, Jen will probably divide her time into three different areas. She explains that she spends about one-third of her time each day working on business models in Excel, and uses different metrics to judge the operating performance of the companies.
Jen also spends about one-third of her day on the phone, taking with management teams, customers, suppliers, competitors and other consultants, gathering information about the company and its performance.
Finally, Jen devotes the remainder of her time to reading the 10Ks and 10Qs of the companies she is researching, along with other regulatory filings and annual reports. Jen also reads trade magazines, industry news, and some macro-economic reports. Notably, she does not review Wall Street analyst reports on the company she is researching, preferring to rely on primary sources for her information.
Challenges and Opportunities
When asked if there is one aspect of her job that she particularly enjoys, Jen explained, “I like coming in each morning and deciding how I want to spend my day. I have lots of independence, so I can decide which companies to focus on and can plan my day accordingly.”
One of the biggest challenges for Jen in her job so far has been improving her skills in valuation and estimating forward earnings. After working at McKinsey, Jen had a good idea of how companies operate based on competitive advantage, but she had more to learn about public markets, in terms of how to calculate a company’s valuation. In order to acquire these skills, Jen would solicit feedback from the portfolio managers when she made recommendations to them about specific companies. She also started keeping a “practice portfolio” of stocks on Yahoo Finance to track how her recommendations perform over time.
When asked about how she handles work/life balance issues, Jen explained that, while she does not have any children yet, she sees working at a hedge fund as the kind of job that is flexible enough to accommodate balancing a family, if she chooses to go that route. Jen said that one woman who she works with has four children, and now works a four-day flexible work week. In Jen’s opinion, “investment management is a good career option for women, because it is more predictable than finance and law jobs on the client service end.”
At the fund, Jen has also had some great mentoring opportunities. “There is a very open door policy here,” said Jen. “All of the other analysts are willing to answer my questions, which is one of the benefits of working in a smaller office. You feel less like one goldfish in a big pool.”
Advice to Young Women
If you are a young woman reading this article who wants to pursue a career like Jen’s, she has some advice for you. First, if you are looking for a job at a hedge fund, really do your homework. “Try to set up informational meetings with people you know who work at hedge funds and think through a couple of potential investment ideas,” Jen said. “Doing so can help you present richer, more competent knowledge and project a confident self-image in interviews.”
While you are a student, Jen recommends taking as many classes in accounting and finance as possible, whether as an undergraduate or in business school. “It’s very valuable to be able to read and understand financial statements,” Jen said. So load up on those economics and statistics classes!
Also, many young women trying to enter this field fear that they will be perceived as too young or inexperienced to do the job. “Try to counter this by being over-prepared for every meeting, dressing conservatively, and showing a strong, well-informed interest in the company,” explained Jen.
Finally, you shouldn’t obsess over getting a job at a hedge fund straight out of school. Going to an investment bank and working as a sell-side analyst gives you great training that you can later use to leverage yourself into a job at a hedge fund. Working in consulting, or at a big investment bank is very network-intensive, so you can use these opportunities to contact lots of people, ask them to introduce you to more people you can contact, and in that way, get to know more people in the industry.
When Jen is not busy working or giving great advice, she enjoys outdoor activities like skiing, hiking and road-biking, and playing with her St. Bernard puppy.
