How could I get you on the phone?
What would make you reply to my email (not a template), if we had nothing in common?
Background: non-target genuinely interested in the markets (I know it sounds like what everyone else says). I try to follow the markets through some websites/podcasts like Macro Voices and Macro Hive, as well as twitter accounts such as @AlessioUrban.
I have found that reaching out to people in the industry (previously done it in other industries) is really helpful as you can learn a lot that you couldn't figure out as an outsider. I don't do it with the sole intention of getting an internship (although I would one).
I have seen many posts about networking, which have been very helpful (this website is extremely helpful), but I'm unsure how applicable they are in the HF space.
Only if you can prove that you can underperform the S&P500 like I do
If you saw my performance you would think I'm trying to replicate Archegos Capital's trades
tbh what I respond to has more to do with my workload than anything anyone writes. I pretty much agree to all coffee chat requests unless I'm swamped with work, in which case I'll just be radio silent. So generally, just reach out to a couple of folks, and someone who is less busy should reach back out to you :)
One thing I really like about some folks I have coffee chats with though is that they update me later when they find a job or something interesting happens! Always cool to learn what happened to them after rather than just have it be one convo.
I respond to basically every email or LinkedIn message. How much I’ll help (or whether I’ll meet for a coffee chat) depends on the engagement over email, but I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt.
I don’t expect much from the emails but I do expect basic research on the firm and roles you are interested in. If you reach out to me and tell me you (as a random example) want to work on quant strategies with a high frequency focus and ask me about doing that at my firm when we don’t do any of that, I can’t do much. I am happy to talk about all strategies but be targeted in what you ask and give context (I know you don’t do this but think your perspective would be helpful, etc…). Or if you take time to ask basic questions that you can find online and aren’t particularly useful (where is your office? How many employees do you have? Etc). If you are trying to get time with an employee, don’t waste your time or theirs, for stuff like that I’ll just reply over email because I’m not going to spend 30 mins answering questions like that.
Last thing, surprisingly, people don’t really reach out. I get reached out by recruiters more than I do from interested students or early career prospects. I imagine part of it is that IB is more popular than HF for students, but I think people network a lot less than they can.
Like networking? I'm at a prop shop right now with some pretty stressful hours, but I was 100% in the shoes of the undergraduates literally a year ago. I try to set aside time literally specifically to help people learn more about my role, my industry, and my company - I know that some undergraduates may believe this is not the norm, but I truly do try to help as many people as possible.
I get a few LinkedIn connections/emails a week and here are the things that I will respond to or prioritize quicker:
1) Alumni from my school (sorry, but it's just true. I know my school specifically goes more-so into quantitative risk/sell-side seats so I really like learning more about the talent pool interested in prop).
2) Connections of friends or people who were referred to speak with me
3) Ambitious students/people who I think I'd get along with (if I see their LinkedIn)
If you're in one of those 3 I personally prioritize those in that order. Once I reach back out to set a time up to chat, I specifically don't like doing the tell me about yourself stuff or treat it like an interview, I treat it like a nice chat with a student looking to learn more about the field. Given that information I SPECIFICALLY ASK - "Hey X, please come with specific questions for me as well. You could read them off a list but use this as an opportunity to ask the questions that you genuinely are curious about, not things like "Hey I saw you guys are down on quarterly revenue at your firm what changes are you making, or how would you hedge this position of options".
Some of the questions I've gotten that I enjoy answering are "Why did you choose firm X over Y", "What got you interested in a career in Trading", "Your firm is getting involved in a lot of cryptocurrency initiatives, what products do you trade", "How many people are on your team - are you a more siloed culture or collaborative", "Are your coworkers your friends?". If you ask me a single technical question that sounds like you're just interested in flexing your knowledge you read from Natenberg or Youtube, I'm going to be seriously disappointed I took the call. If you ask me what resources I used to learn more, that's a better way of framing that you've gone through the typical Natenberg or Taleb and want some more esoteric resources for learning which I can often try and provide.