Laid off from hf after 1.5 years for performance reasons - what's next??
New to wso after getting laid off from hf analyst role after 1.5 years, what should I do to stay in the industry and how should I talk about it in interviews?
Can you provide a bit more context? MM or SM? Was it your performance or was your PM down on the year also? How many YOE? What's the context/reason given, if any?
Have you read “the intelligent investor” ?
this guy rly trolling
Not trolling. Graham and Buffett are successful and legendary investors.
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First off, sorry to hear that - I’ve been fired before and it’s extremely humbling and frustrating. Think back on feedback you received, errors you made, etc and do a post-mortem. Think about how you can fix those and frankly ask for real, off-the-record feedback if you have a decent relationship with your former PM. My PM and I became at odds and it ended in him giving me clear feedback after the news was delivered. He was definitely venting a bit but it was valuable and I made changes and was better for it.
Do you have sector knowledge? If so then there’s definitely pods out there that will be interested. It’s a different game than SM but that’s prob your best option.
People get fired for many reasons or no reason at all
I would try to learn from it. What do you want to do differently in the future (different performance, different attitude, better selection of bosses, no industry)
take it as a blessing. My most damaging moments were when I tried to power through bad environments
I’d own it in an interview. You are young enough that IQ and positive attitude will take you far
I interviewed a guy a while back who was laid off but had lots of amazing experiences. He spent the interview talking about how he could improve our firm (it was an improvement scenario l) and how eager he was to get back at it… my only response was ‘welcome’ can you start Monday?
Sucks to hear - since you mentioned it when you look back on it was it actually a culture fit issue in your mind and did you feel like you were out of place in the culture?
Tbh if it was a culture issue and if they ran at odds to what you would think a more classic firms "culture" would be like could be an easy topic of just pointing out how you didn't jive with that difference.
From a purely pass the interview style recommendation I guess it would be pointing out difference in culture compared to what you wanted (and tailoring what you wanted the culture to be similar to wherever you are applying) and then honestly reflecting on the mistakes you feel like you made and how you have acknowledged those and know how to fix them for the future to show growth and reflection.
First, being fired in the hedge fund industry carries less of a stigma than inside or outside of finance. Most of us have been fired at some point, so don't be too self-conscious. It's going to suck for awhile, and then you'll be fine.
Second, Brett Caughran (@FundamentEdge) on X/twitter wrote a thread about this that is better than I could write or anything I've seen on WSO. You can find it by googling "brett caughran the life: getting fired". Read that twice. Different asset class, but most of what he writes about is generic enough to fit anyone at a hedge fund.
Third, try to cultivate references who will speak well of you at your firm. Not your direct boss, but coworkers or peers who you worked with or got along well with. This will help with finding your next position.
Fourth, with 1.5 years of experience, you're a bit young, but there's still a pretty voracious demand for junior talent at the pods. Take a couple weeks to dust yourself off, polish your resume, and ask recruiters to put you in touch with Biz Dev at the pods if you haven't been introduced to them already. If you've already been introduced, reach back out to them for a catch up.
Fifth, as a last resort you can continue higher education as a buffer if you have difficulty landing something new that would put you where you want to be. A masters in statistics, financial engineering, etc. could all be valuable and provide you a good excuse and necessary buffer.
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