An area of business that has changed a lot is Investor Relations (IR). The main focus of the role is to work with the public company shareholders whether through their direct inquiries, in Security Exchange Commission (SEC) filings or the company’s Annual Report. A related, and often more important, role is to be the interface between the company and the various security analysts who follow their industry and make stock buy and sell recommendations.
Historically, this job also involved writing or assisting in writing press releases, SEC filings and, of course, the Annual Report. For this reason, people with Communication degrees would often get the job and then have to learn the financial side of the business. In some companies, the role of Public Relations and Investor Relations were either combined or at least reported to the same superior.
More recently, this job was often given to a young, up-and-coming person in the corporate finance group and carried a non-officer title like Manager or Director. Hopefully you would pick someone who could write and communicate well. The job would report to either the firm’s Treasurer or Chief Financial Officer. This is how my old firm, USG Corporation, handled it for many years. Investor Relations was also an area that a young financial man or woman could move into enabling them to gain valuable time with the senior officers-sometimes even the Chairman/CEO on regular trips to meet the financial Wizards in New York City. I would often suggest to young people that IR would be a very positive addition to a resume.
Nowadays, the job is more complicated than ever per a recent Wall Street Journal article. This is due to the volatile stock markets, shareholder activism and the SEC rules such as Regulation FD which requires fair and even disclosure to the public.
Today a fifth of large public firms employ former security analysts in this role. The theory is that they already know the company and how to explain it better than anyone. Many other public firms are now using more seasoned (that means older) financial people in the head IR role. In both these cases the title today would probably be Vice President.
But the Journal article goes even further. There is now a credential called the Investor Relation Charter that can be obtained with three years of direct experience and by passing a test which covers ten core subjects such as capital markets and regulatory compliance. This makes sense for a role which can impact a firm’s stock price. This also represents the latest swing from communication majors to financial professionals; a move which I also agree with. Investor Relations can still be a fine stepping stone in a financial career. The certification will only lend more creditability to the role.
Maybe someone can now come up with a way to test and certify Human Resource people!
bradszootales 
This is a really intriging and well-reasoned article. As you listed the items in a Investor Relations certification, I was surprised by how stringent the requirements are.
You also wrote that a fifth of the large public firms employ former security analysts for the Investor Relations roles, very likely because they are qualified financial professionals who have served, and so they could lead.
And then at the very end of this cogent blog, you alluded to qualifications for a successful Human Resources person, not surprising since Human Resources is one of the most colorful chapters in your recently-published book. Your examples covered how well or poorly the management and human resources people treated others, and described images of toys and hand-written thank-you notes; these were the personal touches that led to employee loyalty and that reflected on how well the really successful managers treated others. Those managers had served others, and so they could lead with service in mind.
Maybe a well-qualified Human Resources person loves people, has held a customer service job for three years, and can pass a test which covers ten core subjects such as consistent kindness on a crisis bridge, and helping a co-worker at the drop-of-a-hat after hours. Perhaps a slew of positive customer satifaction surveys indicates how well the person has served, and is likely to lead in a Human Resources role.
Great post for reflection. Thanks!.