I'm an Infantry Officer in the US Army, about 1 year out from the end of my term of service. Looking to go to an M7 MBA program next year, and eventually make a move to the hedge fund industry.
I like the fact that investing involves doing in-depth analytical research in order to make contrarian bets on the future. I think this suits my temperament and personality more than any other career choice.
Any advice from more experienced monkeys? I'm thinking that it might make sense to recruit for Equity Research positions coming out of b-school. What should I look for in my first summer internship? CFA Level 1 exam this December?
Thanks for the help
Hey,
I'm in the same boat as you looking to do the exact same thing - current USAF officer getting out in 1 year. I took CFA Level I last June, am done with the GMAT, and have visited a few schools so far.
Hit me up if you wanna chat more.
CFA L1 and try to start reaching out to any connections you have in the industry. I'd recommend looking through LinkedIn and try to find analysts and portfolio managers (both in long-only Asset Management and hedge funds, don't limit yourself to the HF world) with a military background as well
Thanks man. What are the chances of getting a buy-side job straight out of b-school?
I would suggest if you don't get in to Columbia, Booth or Wharton that you have a plan B for straight out of school.
You have less than 3% chance of making into proper hedge fund roles even if you make the cut after a M7 MBA it will be some peripheral roles not worth the salt. There's a big queue of PhDs in Quant discipline waiting for a crack at hedge fund roles and they bring infinite more skills than anyone with army + M7 background. A silly credential like CFA 1 would be no use. Drop it..
If I were I would attack it through the flanks i.e double down on my strength like get into Strategy roles at McKinsey/Bain Level with a focus towards markets/finance consulting and at the right time take the leap toward a good HF role.
Thanks for your thoughts. What about sell-side Equity Research? Doesn't that usually provide good exit opps into HF/AM?
You are putting the horse ahead of the cart. Get into M7 and you wil have array of good options that will lead to your final goal with some detour.
-Where did you pull that stat? I can see 3% of a graduating M7 class going into HFs, but your stat presupposes that 100% of students in a class are recruiting for hedge fund roles. -PhDs in quant disciplines go to places like Ren Tech, Citadel, Two Sigma, etc. These are great funds that print money, but there are actually more seats out there for fundamental guys. -A long only (Fidelity/Capital/etc) or the Asset Management arm of one of the banks would be a better option than strategy. It is still investment research. Many of these are large institutions with formal veteran recruiting programs. -People value military experience, particularly if you went to an academy. A really shitty day in this business is when your book trails the S&P significantly or you have a position that blows up. A shitty day in Iraq circa 2004-2010 involved seeing a buddies leg get blown off, eating shit food, and humping a 60 pound pack in 110 degree heat. I realize not all military officers were on the ground overseas, but it illustrates a point. -Research isn't rocket science, its basically collecting facts, understanding the way things work, and developing a process to turn facts/insights into ideas. An 8th grader could do the math involved.
You have no clue what you are talking. There's night and day diff between AM firms like Fidelity, Vanguard & a proper hedge fund. The latter (smart money) mainly hires from quant programs and if they do from M7 programs only the best.
The OP, if he indeed makes the cut for M7 MBA, would be best served going for a strategy role at McKinsey/Bain level where militray guys get an edge in hiring than wasting time on CFA and competing with guys with many yrs of exp at Bulge bracket and finally landing a spot at a second rate investment fund doing 8th grade maths as you say.
Few years at MBB will have much more oppurtunites than as an Investment researcher.
Hedge Funds mostly recruit from Research & Trading groups at the investment banks, in addition to the actual investment banking analyst /associate classes (mostly PE and long/short funds). These are your highest probability routes. The largest number of these spots are filled with interns...so your immediate goal should be to get an internship at a BB.
Nice, thanks man. Yeah I'm thinking ER for summer internship. Supposedly Columbia offers some sweet school-year internships as well.
also...thank you for your service
If you want to do trading @ a HF down the road, obviously go into S&T. If you want a fundamental research / analyst related role, go to ER / IB. I did IB --> L/S equity analyst @ a HF. Based on the backgrounds, we have typically hired analysts in M&A because they are more proficient w/ modeling with the expectation that industry knowledge will be gained over time / very easy to mold at 22-24 years old. I've definitely seen plenty of ER --> HF guys though.
That being said, if you want to do fundamental research, I think ER post army / MBA makes more sense. You'll be tied into the markets and probably gain more valuable skills. I don't think think skill set of post-MBA IBD Associates is as relevant to a HF - more deal management, delegating, maybe some modeling but honestly this is just my opinion. I always felt that Post-MBA associates were viewed as more career bankers and if that didn't work out went into industry / Corp dev. Unfortunately, I don't have any hard data points to back my suggestion but based on what I've seen this seems like a better way to position yourself for developing the skills for a HF position.
Good luck and thanks for your service
"in order to make contrarian bets on the future"
I'm not in the industry, but this seems like a poor reason to go into it. There is no intrinsic value to being contrarian. It may sometimes payoff to be contrarian, or it may not. You probably should not be doing research "in order to make contrarian bets". Just my $.002
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