DE Shaw's "1 out of 500"

I hear this all the time when DE Shaw is mentioned. Supposedly, only 1 out of 500 applicants are offered a job. I know they're selective, but this just seems absurd. Does anyone know if this is really accurate?

19 Comments
 

Just think of all the unqualified people that apply. Goldman, for example, receives close to 20,000 applications online. And they offer jobs to what, at most maybe 400 kids. A conversion rate of 1 out of 50.

The Macro View http://themacroview.wordpress.com
 

This seems slightly high to me as well. Also, Goldman has a bigger name globally so they are getting any kid with an accounting or finance degree. Only finance professionals will have heard of Shaw so they wouldn't even get as many applicants as Goldman, even if they are more exclusive.

 

Yeah but DE Shaw is also a far smaller company than Goldman and takes far less people. Having interviewed with them before this does not sound at all unreasonable.

The Macro View http://themacroview.wordpress.com
 

I agree with all the other posts. I've been to interviews at ok MM ibanks and been told that they received a few hundred applications for one open position analyst position. It's a tough market.

 

There are job postings for secretaries that get 400+ responses per opening. It's so easy to apply for stuff online that any job listing will get tons of random apps. The DE Shaw figure is misleading because it's counting all of those random online apps. If you have a solid resume from a target school, your chances are MUCH better than 1/500.

 

I interviewed for SA at Credit Suisse london and I know for a fact that they received 15000 applications for 35 offers. This is from HR's mouth.

Conversion = .23% or close to 1 in 500

Take that for what its worth.

 

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