I was wondering what hedge funds looked for? I want to be a trader. I'm going back to grad school and was hoping to get into a hedge fund after that. I was wondering if you guys could give me some advice on how to break in
LOL: % returns in regard to risk taken . Track record. What esle? Why one would even thik about any kind of degree is beyond me...has 0..to do with trading. Right now they are more likely to be asking you for a job than the other way around.
Well you would need expereince trading elsewhere and that might get you a job as an execution trader, meaning you just buy and sell what you are told. If you want to make bets at any reputable shop you will need an ivy league degree and a track record. Most portfolio managers and analysts with their own book spent years at an investment bank learning the ropes before going the HF route. If you don't have experience and you aren't going to Harvard Business School, MIT, Wharton, etc, then look to get in the back door through a back office position and work your way up over a few years time. You might make it to the desk but you have almost no shot of ever calling the shots in your own book.
There are many MBAs and CFAs out there, so I would think to get into a hedge fund, you must need something more than just experience, education, and professional designation. There got to be something that seperate you from the crowd. That something is a good reputation. One interesting thing I found out is that, working in a hedge fund is not just about work. You will also be part of the marketing package that help attract clients. If you have a good reputation and could bring in lots of clients, then you will be an executive in no time. PA
Couldn't a person just start a private investment fund & seek limited partners locally? If you can make big returns, won't that attract money?
There are specific positions within fund to do this, as well as outsourced professional fund raisers. If he could raise money like that, he would not be searching for an entry job in a fund. To the OP, it's more about reliability & trust, especially in this environment.
Lasner, My pal Billynomate could probably give you some advice on how to "break in" He broke in to a hedge fund office only recently - all you need is 2 small sticks of TNT, some black face-paint and a Blackberry to keep abreast of events in US markets. Billy did come a tad unstuck though - he'd landed himself in the offices of shorting guru Hatpin Grodie who was having a session with his old woman re trying to get round the new short position disclosure rules in financials It all got rather messy as Billy tried to climb inside the stag Hatpin had recently shot his load into (from a shotgun - he gets around the boy) and ended up looking like an extra at a climbing-into-a-recently-shot-and-stuffed-stag party. Needless to say he beat a hasty retreat after taking a small ceramic unicorn paperweight as a hostage but not before buying 250 S&P via the Blackberry (he couldn't see a satelite phone) to try and squeeeeze the buggers! Bloody marvellous.
yep. but that involves genuine skill. presumeably, the op -- like most actual and wannabe hedgies -- is just looking to work the hedge fund angle. hence the need to cultivate these other skills, like "trustworthiness."
same as any other job if you don't have connections. 1) you need the basic requirements so that you will get called for interviews 2) you need to hit it off with the interviewer since you don't have experience, #1 means you need to get a degree from a top school. it's the branding and the recruiting program at the top schools that count. it's not what you can learn that counts. you can self study and learn anything you want, but nobody will hire you because you will never make the resume cut. that's the reality. if you go to temple, there may be a couple of hedge funds located nearby that will recruit there, but go there knowing that there's a very high probability that you won't get into a hedge fund.