Investor Relations Specialist Spotlight

Every company has a financial story to tell and Investor Relations Specialists are the storytellers. They provide accurate information about the company to private and institutional investors and help them make informed decisions about whether to buy or sell shares in the company.

What a typical day looks like:

In a publicly traded company, Investor Relations Specialists are the bridge between the company and the financial community, which includes investors, shareholders and government organizations. They provide an honest overview of what’s happening at the company, and also bring investor concerns and interests back to their company’s management team.

They work closely with representatives from the accounting department, legal department, communications department and executive management team to share a comprehensive and consistent story about the company’s progress, financials and ongoing projects. They look at the market trends, share ownership and competitors and use this information to build a strategy around the best way to build awareness with the investment community. With this strategy in mind, they coordinate shareholder meetings and press conferences, release financial data, publish reports to Canadian securities regulators and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and handle the public side of any financial crisis. They also let employees know to avoid trading in blackout periods, where it is illegal to discuss certain aspects of a company and its performance.

The oil and gas industry doesn’t take a break outside of standard working hours, so Investor Relations Specialists also have to stay on their toes. They monitor trading transactions, and work hard to build relationships with both sell-side and buy-side analysts. Since the markets move so quickly, this role can be very stressful.

The kinds of problems Investor Relations Specialists solve at work:

Investor Relations Specialists work hard to protect a company’s reputation and make the company an appealing investment. This means that they have to share news about the company and respond to public rumours. Through all of this, they have to be very cautious that they are sharing an accurate and consistent message with everyone from employees to analysts, from management to investors. There may be legal consequences if information is shared differently to different groups.

Skills used most on the job:

Investor Relations Specialists have strong public speaking and outreach skills and also have the financial knowledge necessary to sell individuals on the benefits offered by their company.

Investor Relations Specialists help introduce the operations, successes and challenges of a company to investors.