Hello Joe,

I have copied portions of your e-mail into my response so that I can answer your questions directly.

Regarding: "I will echo the sentiments...On behalf of everybody, thank you."

You are welcome, my pleasure. Having been through this process before I know that there are few resources to help people deep interest in becoming a research analyst.

Regarding: "If I may, I’d like to give you a little background and then ask for your advice on my personal situation. I am a 25-year-old MBA graduate trying to break into the realm of equity research. My professional experience is comprised of 2 years of retail banking and 5 years of restaurant management. While I have no background in finance (at least on my resume), I have been a “student of the market” for over five years. I consistently follow the market news, maintain my own individual trading account, and I spend much of my spare time learning about and researching various companies for pure enjoyment."

Your MBA gives you an advantage in the investment space. Most specifically, you can think like a businessperson when analyzing businesses. This is very important, because many analysts have no actual work experience so everything remains abstract and remote to their thinking. Therefore, they are gullible and vulnerable to sensation, rather than fact, when assessing a business and its prospects. This goes for your restaurant experience, too. I would utilize this experience and write up an overview of 'Top 10' things to consider when investing in a publicly traded restaurant chain. Something to that effect has a better chance of getting your foot in the door, so to speak.
You are smart to create your own website. This is the best platform for employers to learn more about you. If your returns beat a well known benchmark, such as the S&P 500, then I would use CFA Institute's GIPS standards to calculate your rate of return relative to a benchmark to demonstrate your aptitude for investing. You can put your rate of return on your website vs. the benchmark. Next, you want to say the paperwork to back up the returns is 'available upon request.' If you haven't beaten the benchmark (after at least two years of effort) then it may be a signal that you need to become more proficient at investment management.
Separately, you could provide commentary on news flow on your site to demonstrate your ability to comprehend the business ramifications of the news on your names.

Regarding: "After careful thought and consideration, I have decided to pursue a career that is aligned with my passion for equity research. I recently became a CFA Level I Candidate and will sit for the exam in June of 2015. I live an hour outside of New York City and that is where I intend to begin my new career. However, I am having a very difficult time getting the attention of Wall Street firms (both big and small). Unfortunately, I attained my degree from a small state school in New York and do not have a powerful alumni network I can leverage to help me break into the industry."

I am not surprised about the difficulty of getting people interested. This is normal. Most people, even those that graduate from Ivy League schools find the investment management industry a difficult one to enter. Your attitude needs to be: I can leave no investment stone unturned. Really, this must become an obsession. You have to be demonsrably different and good to break in. Not impossible by any means, but difficult. With the rock solid backstop of badassedness in place then your attitude needs to be: if they knew about me what I know about me, then they will have to hire me lest I get hired elsewhere and destroy them. Seriously. If you can say that honestly to yourself then the problem switches from one of 'do I have the goods' to 'how do I communicate that I have the goods.' This latter problem is one of communications and much easier to solve.
Website gives you platform and nexus point for all things Joe. If it is a communications game then your resume and cover letter have to be good enough, a) not to put down, and b) to leap from the resume and cover letter to your website, where you can engage in a more comprehensive conversation. This also means that the game become a numbers game. There are thousands of people working in the investment management industry globally, but they are respresented by a much smaller cadre of human resources departments. So it behooves you to send hard copies of things DIRECTLY to the investment managers and analysts and circumvent the HR department. This is harder, but it increases the optionality of your search tremendously.

Regarding: "I fully intend to follow the advice you outlined in your post and comments. I am in the process of creating my own website to display my research work (“making the intangible tangible”). I also plan to join a local CFA society to continue building my professional network."

Good choices all.

Regarding: "Here is my question. What would be the best use of my time while I am studying for the CFA exam(s) and building a name for myself on my own? Many of the entry-level Research Associate openings I find require “1-2 years of related experience”. How can I improve my resume and become more attractive to potential employers down the road? Is there another an area of work I should look into while I am going through the CFA curriculum that can provide me with valuable, relatable experience? How can I get my foot in the door?"

A great series of questions. I was asked in my in-person interview at the Davis Funds: "You don't have any experience at this, so why should I hire you?" I replied, "I don't have paid experience, but I was an analyst intern at a pension consultant, and in graduate school I analzyed well over 50 companies. Would you like to see an example of my research?" We then went to my website, downloaded the analysis I did of Time Warner, and preceded to talk about the work I had done. You have two main jobs right now: one, becoming a good analyst, and two, marketing that you have become a good analyst. A part of this is imagining yourself from the perspective of a future employer. Whatever crazy concerns they may have you need to be able to overcome.

Regarding: "If you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading. I am seeking all of the guidance and direction I can get. I just want to be sure I am on the right track and doing all I can to one day become a research analyst."

If you've made it this far, remember this process takes a LOT of time. These positions are rarefied and you must be good at many things, not just one. Those things: analysis, communications, persistence, knowledge, memory, intuition, lack of bias, and so forth. You've got a lot of work ahead of you.

Regarding: "Thank you again for all you do."

You are welcome!

Yours, in service,

Jason