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| A Day in the Life of a bigdough Research Analyst |
For me a typical day starts at 6:30, again at 6:39, and again at 6:48 when I finally stop hitting the snooze button and leave the comforts of my bed. Morning rituals generally take me to 7:40 and then it's a 15-20 minute drive to work. A great perk to working for bigdough is the monthly commuter stipend, whether in the form of a parking permit or a metro check.
The first thing I do when I arrive at the office, around 8:00, is turn on my computer and then go grab a cup of coffee. We have an ample supply of coffee, tea, and hot cocoa, and, on Mondays, bigdough buys the entire staff bagels, muffins, and danish for breakfast. Coffee in hand, I go through emails, open up VB and look for any urgent leads that may have come in. If there is nothing pressing, I will talk with my officemates-chatting about the latest movie seen, last night's episode of the OC, or whatever the topic may be.
A cool aspect of the office environment at bigdough is the office set up. It is an open space, and while each individual has their own desk, we do not have traditional cubicles, where you are physically separated from one another. This makes for an open environment and allows easy access to co-workers. This is important for the type of work a bigdough researcher performs. Our work centers around calling the individuals we profile, and being able to hear another person's phone strategy helps you develop your own, especially when you are a new hire.
At around 8:30 I check out how my 401K is doing, and look at newspapers and financial journals online. Then I start making calls and take care of any publications that may have been assigned to me.
Twice a week we have a morning message, which is held from 9:40-10:00. Presented by a company employee, the morning message begins with a reading of one of the 15 bigdough basics. This is followed by the message, sometimes inspired by the day's basic, as well as any announcements including sales, research, and tech updates. The floor is then opened up for any questions/comments, and ends with a quote of the presenter's choosing. The purpose of the morning message is to bring cohesion to the company and foster unity among employees. Many employees take advantage of this time and use it as an opportunity to talk to colleagues they may not often see otherwise.
The morning message is another example of the open environment bigdough provides, allowing, for example, research to know what is happening with sales, tech to know what's going on in research, etc. We also receive emails containing the daily sales figures and how they compare to the year before.
The time between 10-12 is a great time to take care of all kinds of tasks, including mutual fund additions/deletions, email bounce backs, photo calls, research leads, dailies, Factiva, publications, hot news, and calls for industry coverage lists (ICLs). These tasks are usually balanced with verification calls and data entry.
Phone calls can be rewarding for the researcher. Often we have great conversations with the people we profile-learning more about what their jobs entail as well as talking about more personal issues-perhaps a journalist you talked to grew up in Bethesda, or an analyst went to the same college as you. This aspect of the conversation has a huge payoff. You have made a personal connection with that person and the next time you call he/she will be that much more willing to talk with you.
Of course we all have our fair share of unpleasant phone calls. Generally after one of these calls we vent to our co-workers and move on. This helps diffuse the stress of the call. And later on you can always pipe in with your own version of "One time I had this horrible call…"
From 12-1 I go to lunch. Our office has a full-size refrigerator for keeping lunches, but be forewarned, on Mondays and Tuesdays it can get crowded. We also have a microwave. On Fridays, bigdough buys pizza and soda for the masses. If I don't go to lunch with a co-worker at one of the numerous restaurants (favorites include Hard Times, Matuba, and California Tortilla), I will eat lunch at my desk. I use this time to surf the net, check my email, and socialize.
From 1-4 is a prime time for calls-more portfolio managers, analysts, and journalists are likely to pick up the phone during this time. This is also a good time to finish up any tasks that you couldn't complete in the morning, or anything that has come through in the afternoon. For example a publication that was sent to you that can be used for a hot news piece, or data entry for an ICL that came in, or a special project assigned from sales or customer service.
An exciting new initiative we have started in the research department is to call our clients directly regarding leads they have sent in. This affords us the opportunity to interact directly with the clients, giving us a view of how the work we do affects the client, and how we fit into the company. These calls are rewarding and help to strengthen the relationship the client has with our company. Sometimes these calls lead to even more information from our clients and indirectly help our other clients, and our data.
The time between 4-5 is a prime time to verify traders and get hard-to-reach people on the phone, because the market is closed. This is also a great time to create a daily task list for the next day. You can take this time to assess what you accomplished that day and what you need to do the next day to reach your goals and also to follow up on items you could not complete.
Generally the end of the day comes at 5, but many researchers stay later than that to tie up loose ends, or, if they are running behind on meeting a goal, will use this time to catch up.
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