Hedge Fund - Typical age and work experience?

I apologize if this is a stupid question.

How do I break into huge funds?
Is there a typical age?
Work Experience?

I apply for my MSF currently apply to all top school.

3.4 with 750 GMAT I am 21

Good Day.

 
Simple As...:
BWB06:
I was waiting for some smug sarcasm shut up weasel.

I never understand why people ask for advice/help and than get an attitude when people point out that you posted in the wrong forum.

Whenever I read WSO, especially the IB or get a job forums, I'm reminded of this Homestar Runner video:

"Can you write my Englilsh paper for me? I don't even care if it's good or not, I just don't want to do it."

"Uhhh I don't think you need to worry about it being any good if YOU write it Kyle."

http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail64.html

There have been many great comebacks throughout history. Jesus was dead but then came back as an all-powerful God-Zombie.
 
Best Response

Serious response, to each of your paragraphs: 1) It's not a stupid question, but you should do a little more research before you ask. This is discussed extensively on WSO and elsewhere.

2) No typical "age" but usually legitimate funds hire people with either finance experience or extremely competitive advanced degrees or both.

3) Most common is prior finance experience in the form of banking, equity research, or trading depending on the type of investing the hedge fund does. Macro funds are known to recruit econ PhDs, quant funds like people with advanced degrees in math/computer science/physics/engineering, etc.

4) Awesome, good luck. Like most things, this is discussed a lot on WSO so do a search to find out more about MSFs.

5) That doesn't help unless we know more about you (where is the 3.4 from, do you have any internships/experience, etc).

There have been many great comebacks throughout history. Jesus was dead but then came back as an all-powerful God-Zombie.
 

Insert generic sarcastic insult here_______.

All jokes aside...OP what's your thought process? Assuming you were to get an interview (something I could only see as a result of killer connections), how would you explain wanting to work at a hedge fund?

Kids spent their entire college careers breaking their backs to get into HFs and very very few succeed directly out of school.

What do you have to offer versus someone who's had his/her eye on that particular prize for 4 years or more?

 

This all answers my question, thanks. I didn't even know what a hedge fund was when I was in school and was interested in other things but am not as interested in those things anymore and curious to enter a new field. In that case, how do people break into the hedge fund world? I've heard they don't hire from MBA programs and it's hard to get in from undergrad too...so who are these people who work at hedge funds?

 

people who have found a strategy that suits them and that makes money or just a skillset that can be used by someone elses strategy (grunt work).

Usually you develop your "niche" i.e. your skillset during some kind of career that allows you to get an oversight of finance + gives you exposure and let you develop certain finance related skills (e.g. IB,ER whatever).

The reason why many people from ER move to l/s funds is that the work is similar. Therefore you apply what you have learned. Same with e.g. IB and PE. Easy isnt it?

Hfs are not a type of firm such as accounting firms. In accounting firms you do: .....accounting. In HFs u dont do: hf. The "HF" is rather a legal construct formed to incorporate your investment ideas (which obviiously can vary)

Dont look at hfs as regular firms where there is some way to enter, you should rather see a fund as house full of people doing a strategy they have been doing for a long time.

Thats also why there are so many different "styles" in HF i.e. gm, arbitrage, l/s etc. Therefore all these questions in the forums just show that the people have not done their homework.

you can however be the exception such as in the case of citadel or whatever and start with a profitable strategy in college. Nevertheless when you have to ask these questions it is probably not the case that you already know what you are doing.

All people here in the forum always asking how to enter a hf should first ask themselves: what exactly do I want to do there?

 

Yeh, at least try your hand at some personal investments first as well - get something on your CV and then start applying to banks, prop firms, investment and asset managers, stock broker, etc.

But on the whole, if you didn't do a business degree, have no finance skills, and no evidence of an affinity to this field - erm, it's going to be tough, especially in these days when there's less demand and more supply.

It's not impossible - but you'll probably go into non-finance management areas first, as one of our clearing and settlements officers did a master in arts history.

The best man always wins.
 
Ricqles:
what kind of hf are you looking at?

hi, looking at a macro hedge fund (hopefully tudor/brevan) - and these are the clients that the global macro sales desk I mentioned talks to.....so I'll definitely build contacts with the PMs there. The question is - will knowing them help me get into the HF?

thanks for the responses @ trading. Can someone also help me with what kind of exit options does the macro sales role have?

I also tried researching more about the exit options and comparable comps in commodities, but commodities seems to be the least covered area online (in different forums, including this one), even within FICC.

any further comments will be most useful!

thanks,

 

lol, great traders are great salesmen, vice versa... Traders' skills, especially risk management skills, are useful as a PM. I think both positions are attractive. Trading job may come out on top marginally. It comes down to which desk you are more passionate about, global marco or commodities. just my $0.02...

 

The number of people who become PMs at hedge funds is few and far between. If you are great at either, the transition can be made from both positions. However, if you want to be a money manager later, wouldn't you be inclined to take the commods role now?

Personal opinion: It is about as hard to manage a big piece of the pie at a tier one hedge fund as it gets in this industry. I wouldn't be surprised if the odds of someone earning this role after starting a career as a janitor is only slightly less than that of someone with sell side trading experience.

 
Jesse.Livermore:
The number of people who become PMs at hedge funds is few and far between. If you are great at either, the transition can be made from both positions. However, if you want to be a money manager later, wouldn't you be inclined to take the commods role now?

Personal opinion: It is about as hard to manage a big piece of the pie at a tier one hedge fund as it gets in this industry. I wouldn't be surprised if the odds of someone earning this role after starting a career as a janitor is only slightly less than that of someone with sell side trading experience.

agree and extremely well said. This is kind of my point when i tell people that there is no set path to running money at a hedge fund...the odds of a back-office guy getting there are essentially the same as a banking analyst. they are both close to 0.

 

thanks all for your comments.. I am getting inclined more towards commodities as I also felt that the macro sales role will make me more into a generalist (less exit options) - and after a few years, I reckon I can always switch from commodities to macro sales than the other way around. hope this is a correct decision I'm making....

 
archieandrews33:
thanks all for your comments.. I am getting inclined more towards commodities as I also felt that the macro sales role will make me more into a generalist (less exit options) - and after a few years, I reckon I can always switch from commodities to macro sales than the other way around. hope this is a correct decision I'm making....

The best thing you can do at this point is just run with it. Also congrats, because it is hard as balls to break in right now, especially for trading.

 

Fugit reiciendis quia doloribus vitae repudiandae. Qui esse quo architecto reprehenderit. Velit et accusantium quia et. Pariatur tempore exercitationem nam non aspernatur.

 

Error qui magnam dolorem similique. Quia enim cumque dignissimos commodi eaque ad. Corrupti nihil repudiandae a consequatur non sed fugit nihil. Aut sit deleniti aut et eveniet eaque. Harum enim sed vel fugiat repellat sed saepe placeat. Incidunt earum dolorum repudiandae ducimus accusamus. Perferendis consequatur dolore repudiandae officiis omnis delectus.

Quia unde omnis ut itaque quibusdam neque. Consequuntur aut et beatae provident. Et et quae similique ex non. Laborum magni dolores molestiae et sunt asperiores quibusdam.

Quidem laboriosam pariatur nostrum quia quasi ullam ab. Fugiat ex quaerat aliquid dolorem et.

Aut repudiandae et quisquam quasi harum accusantium. Temporibus et culpa sapiente neque illum. Dicta unde et velit. Qui ut culpa at explicabo recusandae.

Career Advancement Opportunities

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Jefferies & Company 02 99.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 19 98.8%
  • Harris Williams & Co. (++) 98.3%
  • Lazard Freres 02 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 03 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Harris Williams & Co. 18 99.4%
  • JPMorgan Chase 10 98.8%
  • Lazard Freres 05 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.7%
  • William Blair 03 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Lazard Freres 01 99.4%
  • Jefferies & Company 02 98.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 17 98.3%
  • Moelis & Company 07 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 05 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Director/MD (5) $648
  • Vice President (19) $385
  • Associates (86) $261
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (13) $181
  • Intern/Summer Associate (33) $170
  • 2nd Year Analyst (66) $168
  • 1st Year Analyst (202) $159
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (144) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
kanon's picture
kanon
98.9
6
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
7
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
8
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
9
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
10
numi's picture
numi
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”