Interview Advice - Currently a senior soon to graduate with a bachelors

I am currently a senior soon to graduate with a bachelor's degree in economics. I have been actively applying for internships within the investment community for some time now. I was finally contacted by a local hedge fund that manages under $300M and was asked to come in for an interview. I understand that it is difficult for many to get their foot in the door, so to speak, in this industry. I was wondering if any HF managers could give me some insight as to what I should know and expect when going in for this interview. Are their any general questions that they usually ask? Key terms? Any advice helps. P.S. The interview is tomorrow!

-JF

9 Comments
 

alexpasch is your guy BUT do not pester him.

The answer to your question is 1) network 2) get involved 3) beef up your resume 4) repeat -happypantsmcgee WSO is not your personal search function.
 
Best Response

lolz

not a hf manager but i did intern at a similarly sized HF last summer ($200M)

no one asked me for any key terms. I did a fit interview with like five different guys, which was very typical and similar to what you'd expect in any interview. Mostly, the key is just making sure you know what the position is about. If you mention that you invest or you follow certain securities, make sure you can discuss them ad nauseum.

The tough part of the interview was where he basically put me in a room with nothing but a laptop with internet connection and some sample products from a random company I had never heard of. I had one hour to analyze the company and pitch it.

hopefully this helps

I had another interview with another HF (although this time it was like $8~10B or something like that) a few months later for FT recruiting. Those guys were more concerned about previous experience, grilled me on fit, and asked me to pick any stock I'd been following and discuss it with them. Only 30 minutes long, so it was relatively short and not as intense as the summer one.

For superday, they called me ahead of time and gave me a stock they wanted me to research and pitch to them at the interview. They wanted it to be very thorough, so I had to write a 1-2 page summary, as well as put together a brief 10 slide presentation. There was also supposed to be an 'analytics-heavy' section which was supposedly very accounting/technical heavy, but I decided not to go since I had received offers from other places I was more interested in.

 

If you have any info about the fund's strategy people may be able to help you prepare but without that it's tough to predict. Good luck.

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

Here is their company profile on LinkedIn, it states: Galbraith Capital manages two hedge funds in the Tampa Bay area. The Galbraith Systematic Arbitrage Fund employs a short term mean reversion strategy that is market, dollar, and sector neutral. The Galbraith Global Strategies Fund is an oppportunistic equity arbitrage strategy that invests in over 25 global markets.

 

statistical arb, you should expect a good amount of math (may be not in the interview but on the job).

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

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