Possible to get into SM HF straight out of undergrad?
A basic linkedin search reveals that the most common route to a top tier SM HF is BB/EB IB -> MF PE -> HF. I am wondering whether it's possible to go straight to HF out of undergrad at a decent sized shop, and if so, how. assume strong resume and passion for public equity investing. i am aware of a handful of shops that take interns / maybe full time hires.
It’s possible but rarer as hedge funds have less hierarchical structure and take less juniors. Much easier if you have a connection or network in the field. I only applied for SM out of UG roles so I know more about it than the large MM shops.
Requires a lot of convincing and your competency needs to reflect ridiculous passion for public equity investing (ie. "I invested in one first stock when I was 10 year old." type).
Or, "child of LP or hedge fund CIO"-type.
Outside of the handful of reputable HFs that have a history of recruiting out of undergrad, I believe that it would be hard to land a role at an established HF right out of school.
The reason is that there are simply too many people for too few seats, so unless it is just so apparent that your investment acumen is leaps and bounds greater than the candidate they can hire out of IB or PE, then it doesn't make much sense to hire you.
That said, I do think that there are a lot of opportunities to join smaller funds or startup funds. The reason is that many of these funds need support but can't afford to pay the going market rate for someone out or IB or PE. Furthermore, there is a lot of risk for someone coming from IB or PE to join one of these funds so they tend not to attract a lot of candidates from that specific pool. So that opens things up to candidates from all sorts of backgrounds looking to break into HF, including right out of college.
Thanks for the response. Mind helping out with the funds known to recruit? matrix and abdiel come to mind. How would you rate a $1b-$10b long only as a place to start a career in public equity investing?
Matrix is a good shop. Weiss also hires undergrads and apparently has crazy track record of returns. Heard that Abdiel rarely returns interns full time. I think Baupost may recruit through Girls Who Invest. Other than that, Silver Point might take a kid once in a while,
The reality is that the bulk of kids going to HF out of UG are to MMs.
Matrix
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