How to Start Your Path to a Hedge Fund Job

For background, I'm a distressed analyst at a large HF.

First off, more buy side firms are taking college interns. Apply for these internships to get a better sense of what the work is like and to give yourself a shot at getting a FT offer.

The screening process is largely a function of where you went (school name) and resume (exceptional achievement via a competition, relevant work experience at a firm with a name, etc.). Especially if you're lacking any of the former, you have to try very hard to stand out and network hard.

To give yourself the best shot, do the following when in school: 1) Get good grades - GPA is a powerful form of signalling 2) Join clubs to learn & get a network when you get into college 3) Start spending time now on learning how to think. Start questioning why more, start focusing more on understanding concepts and less on solving the problem in front of you. Start learning how to break up complicated problems into a series of less complicated ones (try practicing brainteasers, these are commonly used in interviews). This will help make you more thoughtful 4) If you're interested in fundamental roles, start learning about markets and how businesses work (easiest way IMO to do this is to just read other people's pitches on sites like VIC or seekingalpha and look up anything you don't understand). If you're interested in quanty roles, then get exceptional technical skills (whatever this would mean), etc.