Meet Samantha, Vice President Equity Research Analyst at Berenberg

We caught up with Vice President Equity Research Analyst Samantha to find out what you can expect from a career at Berenberg.

You get to dig into the detail in order to understand what really drives the stock and how that might change in the future. I also like that you have autonomy over your own work flow a lot of the time but you can still rely on your team for help with ideas and understanding things you’re less familiar with.

You get good exposure very early on – taking up coverage of stocks, writing notes, meeting with clients and companies at an earlier stage than you might elsewhere.

This is obviously team-specific but enjoying being around the people you work with every day makes a big difference too.

I’m opinionated which is good for this kind of role. You need an opinion and also the qualitative and quantitative skills to back it up. While equity research can be quite independent, you still need to use interpersonal skills to explain your opinion to sales and investors. It also really helps to be willing to try new ideas out, e.g. I hosted a sustainable proteins panel for investors which brought together different stakeholders around protein production and we’re looking to build on this format for future events

For me it’s more about the continued progression and new experiences and opportunities rather than one single event standing out (although investor days at chocolate companies have always had some rather good opportunities for sampling products)

How genuine I can be – I expected to have to create a “work” version of my personality that’s less bubbly/sarcastic but I don’t feel the need to bother with that. People are also interested to hear your opinion even at the most junior level, which makes it an easier environment to put yourself out there and learn