Most of the people that ever open news portal, or watch news on TV are surely aware that there is such a thing as Hedge funds. We all know that people who deal with it have good jobs. It is, however, less known that hedge funds constantly keep getting dozens of inquiries daily from professionals, but also from students looking for job opportunities.
If you want to join the club of dozens who want to have a job in hedge funds, take a look at our suggestions about how to get a good start and make yourself noticed when applying for such a job.
One of the best article that I read How To Get A Job At A Hedge Fund
As it requires a lot of determination to work in a hedge fund, you’ll need to be absolutely sure about it, and not just because of a good paycheck. You must be sure that you are not deciding on this just to pass time while an offer from accounting opens or an opportunity from mutual fund, private equity or ETF.
Your clear desire to build a career in a hedge fund will be obvious from your self-control, discipline, awareness about the industry, networking and in the end your moves. Plan to give it a try at least for a couple of years before definitely deciding to leave; don’t break after a couple of difficult and exhausting months.
Getting a deeper insight in the industry will require you to give yourself into it. If you want to work in a hedge fund, start with making it a habit to read the news about hedge fund, reading literature on the subject, subscribe to some free newsletters and maybe visit some websites that are about it. All that will help you feel the atmosphere of the industry. It will help you get to know who makes the headlines, what jargon is used, what terminology is used, are there any important definitions and expressions, what are the usual strategies and so on.
Learn about strategy called Three-circles. It was suggested in a research by Jim Collins according to which the companies that became great companies from being mediocre but good were using this strategy.
It’s based on analyzing options that leaders of good companies had when they would find themselves on the cross roads of being great or going down. Options were grouped in three sets. One was about passion of the leader, another option was taking the advantage where they had experience and one was going for profitable ideas. The options that could find a place in each of the circles would be taken into consideration. That basically meant that for a great success, one needs to combine passion, profitable actions and their experience.
Another thing to pay attention to when trying to make a way into hedge fund career is to recognize people who can mentor you. Those people should be willing to help you but in a way that you can work together. There are always good hedge fund managers who are willing to help, as in return they get a valuable helper for developing their own career and boosting up their own experience. In order to make sure your mentor likes you, and thus shows you more, and tells you more, you will have to show a lot of commitment, be very keen on learning, show patience and desire at the same time to learn everything that comes your way. When they see such a person, they will be more open and closer to you.
Having completed internships is judgmental for your own development. You should strive to find a way to complete an internship because that is the best way to see for yourself how that particular hedge funds works and creates ideas. And even if you could work as an intern remotely, it would be better for you to work on the site.
During your internship try to imitate hedge fund employers as they go through a rough and busy day in an environment that doesn’t waste time.
Emulate what you see hedge fund workers do and thus you can feel what’s it like.
Developing your value positions that will be your signature is something that you can achieve after reading things about hedge funds, such are books, newsletters and articles and finishing internships. You need to know what exactly you want to be your job and what responsibilities can you handle.
This part resembles to the part where you applied the strategy of the three circles, but this time it is to check more precisely and bring more definite choice about what exactly you wish to do. Becoming an analyst for emerging markets might require you to write about emerging market, about investment analysis, or focus to learn about that area.
Try not to be generic in doing these things, as being a worker in hedge fund will anyway require you to think on your own. So before joining the industry for paycheck, make sure that you have unique ideas about it in general. Something that will show you that you have passion for it. Grab all the knowledge about it you can, and be aware of what you know and how much worthy is that. Don’t become to proud of yourself and don’t appear arrogant when applying for that job, because your employees know that your experience and knowledge is not as promising as your appearance is. They need to see that you are eager to work.
In the end, you should know that not every hedge funds requires the same skills and educational level for sure. Some things differ from one hedge fund to another.
A hedge fund might want know how can you produce for the company by telling them what did you do good for your company in your previous job, how did you contribute.
You’ll want to have good reasons for leaving your previous jobs, as hedge funds will want to see that you are a loyal employer. Also, your educational degree will matter.
Other things that you have done will bring good lift to your chances, like working as PR or proving that you have gathering abilities.
A good thing to try regarding finding a job in a hedge fund is to try giving a shot at companies that did not have open advertised vacancies. You can find some hedge fund networks that can help you get to a hedge fund and to offer your skills
If you manage to arrange such an interview which is informational can help you get some proper training, true experience and a real opportunity to show your focus and desire to work.
You approach must be specialized. When you find a company, call them and explain what your goal is and if it’s possible to get to know more about that company. You will than also be in a position to tell them about yourself and they will see if they can help you.
If you can’t find a way to get yourself an interview with an unadvertised vacancy, you can always try going with a service provider. You will have a chance to get a prime brokerage job and those are good trainings for hedge fund. It will also be rewarded by a paycheck and you will be able to show your skills to fund managers.
Doing all the said things will prepare you and give you an idea about hedge funds or a service provider. But you should know that not many recruiters would hire a person without some experience of at least three years in hedge fund industry. Most of the professionals used experience gained in other industries before joining hedge fund. However, best way is to go through informational interview, or connect with a professional whom you know, or join a hedge fund group. If you don’t know a professional, attending conferences is a good place to get to know them.
When and if you find a hedge fund to apply directly, make sure to call them and ask for a meeting after you submit your resume.
Make sure to let them know that you are on fire, that you are smart and a humble person. They will know if you pretend. So you better be one.