2021 SEO London / PIMCO Application Guidance

This document includes information on the following:

1. Where to find out more about PIMCO and their 2021 opportunities
2. How to flag yourself to PIMCO as an SEO Candidate
3. Overview of PIMCO’s process & guidance on writing your cover letter
4. How to inform SEO London of your submitted application and its progress

Please note in order to be flagged by SEO to PIMCO’s recruitment team and be supported through
their application stages you must inform us of your submitted application through the application
tracker on your SEO Candidate Portal.

1. Where to find out more about PIMCO and their 2021 opportunities
Background into PIMCO:
PIMCO is one of the world’s leading active fixed income investment managers with $1.92 trillion
assets under management (as of 30 June 2020). Established in 1971 in Newport Beach, California,
PIMCO introduced investors to a total return approach to fixed income investing. In the 45+ years
since, they have continued to bring innovation and expertise to their partnership with clients seeking
the best investment solutions. Whilst most of their business is focused on fixed income, they do
have an equities and multi-asset function. Today they have offices across the globe and more than
2,700 professionals united by a single purpose: creating opportunities for investors in every
environment.

Prior to your application we encourage you to think about the below:

• Attend a PIMCO webinar to learn about their different business areas through their PIMCO
Opportunity Spotlight Series. This is a series of virtual webinars giving you invaluable insight
into the firm, their employees and different business areas.
• Hear about the PIMCO Internship Experience
• Learn more about bonds / asset management through PIMCO’s resources – education
section.
• PIMCO will expect you to understand the difference between the buy-side (investment
management) and the sell-side (investment banking) and demonstrate a strong motivation
for applying to the buy-side. Read about the difference between the two here.
• The sell-side influence the decision making of the buy-side through their financial advice.
The buy-side manage capital and make the final investment decision. It is the capital they
manage that the sell-side seeks for their clients who want to raise capital.
• PIMCO is a pure active manager and will expect you to understand the difference between
pure active management and passive funds/passive investing. Read about this here.
• Learn more about PIMCO through their website here

Applying to PIMCO:
You can access all of PIMCO’s opportunities by clicking here. SEO London will be sharing details of
SEO Candidates that apply to PIMCO for the following programmes:

2021 Account Analyst, Munich (German Speaker) – Deadline: Rolling

2021 UG/Masters Summer Internship (Dutch Speaker) – Deadline: Rolling
2021 Account Analyst, Institutional (Arabic Speaker) – Deadline: Rolling
2021 Account Analyst (Hebrew Speaker) – Deadline: Rolling

In the 2020/21 cycle, for their UG/Masters Summer Internship you can choose to indicate a role
preference. Please see more info on the different roles:
 • Account Summer Analyst
Account Summer Analysts serve in a dynamic role based on the core responsibility of supporting the
servicing of PIMCO’s Institutional and Global Wealth Management clients. The Analyst’s primary
responsibility is to support PIMCO’s investment professionals to ensure delivery of the highest level
of service to our clients. Interns gather, analyse and discuss economic and market trends, evaluate
portfolio structures, and deliver attribution analyses to Account Managers and their clients.

• Portfolio Summer Analyst

The Portfolio Summer Analyst will serve in a dynamic role working alongside Senior Portfolio
Associate(s) in providing key support across portfolio management and trading desks. Primary
learning opportunities of the role include global portfolio risk reporting, attribution analysis, trade
allocation and other ad hoc excel based deliverables.

• Product Summer Analyst

Product Summer Analysts will work with one or multiple specialty desks (e.g. Alternatives, Equities,
Credit, Emerging Markets, Securitized Products, etc.) to gain a strong understanding of the business
of investment management across market segments. Summer Analysts will work within the Product
Strategy Group, a global team of 60 investment professionals responsible for financial market
expertise (both internally and externally), strategic business management, intrapreneurship and
marketing for a wide range of PIMCO product lines. The internship aims to provide summer analysts
with broad exposure to financial markets, product design/ development and distribution, portfolio
analysis, and client communication.

2. How to flag yourself to PIMCO as an SEO Candidate

Within the application process you will be asked twice about how you heard about the opportunity:

1. On the initial first page of

submitting your details you
will be asked ‘How did you
hear of this opportunity?’ –
select SEO London (Sponsors
for Educational
Opportunity).

2. You will be asked again

on the next page ‘How did
you hear about this
opportunity?’ Select SEO.
3. Overview of PIMCO’s process & guidance on writing your cover letter

Application Process:

The application process for PIMCO is very straight forward - there are no motivational questions or
online tests/assessments to complete. It consists of the following:
1. Online Application form, including CV and Cover Letter
2. 1st Round: Telephone Interview
3. 2nd Round: ‘Superday’ Interviews (multiple back to back interviews approx. 30m each)
4. Offer / outcome

Cover Letter Guidance:

PIMCO’s recruitment team do read your cover letter and it is an important element in the initial
application screening so ensure you take care when writing yours.

A cover letter is a document that goes into detail about your motivations for the application you are
making. It should be structured and tailored to demonstrate to the recruiter that you understand the
industry/division/role and that you possess skills to excel in the division/role in question. You should
where applicable demonstrate the following:
✓ transferrable skills from your experiences
✓ strong interest in financial markets, macroeconomics, commercial awareness either through
your university societies, work experiences, university modules etc
✓ Strong communication skills
✓ Any programming skills (VBA, SQL, Python) and more importantly how you have used them
– this is more beneficial for those interested in the Portfolio Analyst team
✓ Any European languages if you are native or business proficient in them and how you have
used them for any of your work experiences. If you have not used them for work
experiences but possess language skills then ensure your CV contains them.

Given you upload your cover letter as a word document, you should format the document like a
typical letter (using the structure below). Your cover letter should be no longer than 1 page…

___________________________________________________________________________

Your name
Your Address
Your Address
Current Date
Graduate Recruitment
PIMCO
11 Baker St,
Marylebone,
London
W1U 3AH

Dear Sir/Madam,

Re: NAME OF PROGRAMME / ROLE YOU ARE APPLYING FOR

[Paragraph 1 – Introduce yourself]
Something along the lines of “I am writing to apply for a position on your 2021 Undergraduate
Summer Internship Programme. I am currently in the {name year} of an undergraduate degree in
{subject} at the university of {name uni}.”
You can then start with if you have a preference for a role, why the particular role?
(Account/Portfolio/Product/Marketing Summer Analyst) then why PIMCO or the other way around.
Remember although you may have a preference it will be PIMCO who ultimately decide. The below
is suggested structure only. Remember to personalise – the same directions are given to all SEO
applicants.

[Paragraph 2 - Why are you interested in spending your summer in the buy-side and the particular
area you are applying to?]
You need to be very clear about what specifically attracts you to working in the role. For client facing
divisions show some understanding of how this business services its clients.

PIMCO want to know why you want to work in investment management specifically, so there will be
an expectation that you understand the difference between the buy-side and the sell-side. You
should clearly demonstrate your motivation for applying to the buy-side. Those that have worked in
the sell-side before (i.e. within an investment bank – be positive about your experience and leverage
that your experience has given you a deeper understanding of both sides. Give some thought into
how you can tailor your sell-side interest to demonstrate your interest in the buy-side e.g. did you
get exposure to PIMCO or work with another client from the buy-side that motivated you to learn
about what happens from their side?)
Be sure to read about the various roles at PIMCO and the skill sets they have outlined that are
required for the roles here).

[Paragraph 3 – What makes you a great candidate for this programme/division?]

This is a very important part of the cover letter where you will need to give concrete examples of the
qualities you possess and what you would bring to PIMCO. You must be able to demonstrate the
impact you have made from previous experiences and link to how these qualities/skills are useful for
your division/role of interest. This is an opportunity to draw on experiences that will make your
application stand out. Those that only reference academic achievements will not be memorable.

You need to be able to link your strengths and interests with the specific skills that make a strong
analyst in the division/role of your choice (if you selected not having a preference in the application,
ensure your skills are well-rounded and apply to all the roles). Ensure you are able to articulate,
through examples of your activities / interests / achievements / experiences, how you are a good fit
for the business and someone who has researched it thoroughly. You should be passionate about
the division and what it does. PIMCO particularly look for candidates with the following qualities:
strong analytical abilities, collaborative, organized, flexible, self-starter, accountable, humble and
ethical.

[Paragraph 4: Why PIMCO?]

Ensure you are well researched on what makes PIMCO special and unique from its competitors. Your
answer should seek to demonstrate your knowledge about the strength of PIMCO’s business areas
and the division you are interested in. Note: PIMCO specialises in fixed income investing, mentioning
your passion for equities asset class will not go down well! You should take time to go through the
investor relations page and understand how PIMCO is delivering value to their shareholders. You can
demonstrate your knowledge by also citing awards that refer to business areas (i.e. not generic)
please refer to awards won in your area of interest.
You can also cite other reasons why you would like to work for the firm such as its CSR strategy
and/or recognition as an inclusive employer but always support this using facts and figures!
However, this should not be the only reason why you want to work for the firm.

Yours sincerely,

Your full name

Helpful links and tips to support you in writing your cover letter:

• Ensure you are demonstrating the below skills within your cover letter!

• Read through some of the publications from PIMCO’s thought leaders who provide insights
and analysis across asset classes, investment styles and regions around the world via
PIMCO’s Insights and PIMCO’s Blog and PIMCO’s Press Releases
• PIMCO news within the Investment Week
• PIMCO within the FT - https://www.ft.com/stream/3f9c864c-b057-46a2-8fce-1c4edc0348fb

4. How to inform SEO London of your submitted application and its progress
SEO London provide support throughout the application process and can flag you across to PIMCO as
one of our candidates. To gain our support as you progress through the recruitment cycle you must
do the following:

1. Complete the Application Tracker on your candidate portal – see example*

2. Upload the CV you used to your candidate portal ‘Edit Profile’ section labelled as your Full Name
– PIMCO.

As you progress through the recruitment stages SEO London will provide:
• Prep Material
• Introduction to a successful alumni that has been through the process (only for final round
interviews)
*example

Specific programme name:

Please write this as seen on

PIMCO’s website i.e. should be one
of the following:

- UG/Masters Summer Internship

- UG/Masters Marketing Summer
Internship