This week, we’re taking a deeper look at this critical role in finance & banking and what kind of person might be the best fit for the part.

What Investor Relations Analysts do

You will be expected to provide support across all activities and sometimes even manage internal and external stakeholders. As much of your work will have you communicating with others, you’ll need strong interpersonal skills to be on an Investor Relations team. The ability to establish and foster excellent internal and external relationships will also be key.

In addition, you will be asked to

• manage activities and diaries for core activities such as scheduling external investor and analyst meetings, internal drafting meetings, and timetable management for reporting results and roadshows.
• coordinate events, from preparing schedules, producing briefing notes for investors, and arranging travel.
• analyse and target investors on a CRM database, and manage the database itself.
• prepare summary analyses in coordination with advisers and brokers.
• manage third-party suppliers such as advisers, webcasters, conference calls, and other event support and facilities.
• document preparation such as results announcements, presentations, Q&As, annual reports, external and internal reporting, preparing verification schedules.
• coordinate the company’s investor webpage and other related sections to ensure content is up-to-date and engaging.
• support the Investor Relations Team, such as administrative support for diary and email management, travel and expenses. Manage the budget, including invoices. A close working relationship with the Finance and Communications teams will be necessary to achieve this goal.

The skills you need to have as an Investor Relations Analyst

A recruiter for an Investor Relations Analyst position will want to see experience in coordinating investor relations. On top of this, you will need

• excellent planning and organisational skills
• strong administrative and coordination skills
• strong IT skills, particularly with the MS Office suite
• previous experience in managing CRM tools
• experience contributing to and supporting report writing and presentations

How to know if a job in investor relations is right for you

If you like working in a team, you’re already on your way to enjoying a career in investor relations. You’ll need to be happy getting stuck in assisting with subscriptions and redemptions from your company’s fund and also working with fund administrators to onboard new investors. You must be comfortable with responsibility because such processes as anti-money laundering and due diligence questionnaires naturally require you to pay great attention to detail.

How to start your career in this field

To start on this career path, you would want to work for an asset management firm in client reporting, beginning as an associate. While supporting the investor relations and business development team, you would gain wide-ranging experience and the chance to increase your skills.

You might alternatively be an assistant in a fund, administrative or even on a graduate programme. We have often seen candidates move from reception to client services, depending on their talents.

Ultimately, firms where you can learn from professionals and where teamwork and innovation are core values will be critical to your progress. Remember that companies want to find people they can foster, so don’t worry too much about starting “at the bottom”. This can be a great route to building trust and showing your passion for the role.

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If you’re considering a career in investor relations, or if perhaps you’re transitioning into this career from another finance position, get in touch. As a boutique London recruitment agency for finance & banking, we would love to hear how you feel about your career and your expectations for the future. Call us, send us an email, or connect with us on social media and let’s get the conversation off to a positive start!