Not here to brag, but to maybe offer some inspiration for those in a similar situation. After recruiting hard the past year and a half, I received and accepted a full-time analyst position from a decent-sized fund on the west coast. My GPA isn't great (3.1) and I attend a university that isn't even close to being known by anyone in finance.
It truly is a numbers/connections game; I sent out over 300 cold emails talked to dozens of PMs and put in countless hours researching funds, preparing for interviews and all it took was one more email to the right firm. If you want it bad enough, you'll find a way to make it happen.
At risk of sounding like one of "those" LinkedIn posts; Thanks to all of you in the industry that provide quality advice on this form & a special thanks to ValueJedije for reviewing my stock pitch, challenging my assumptions, and teaching me some valuable lessons.
Congrats! Love a hustle story.
Thank you!
Can I ask what fund it is? Feel free to PM me if you want to keep it private. I'm in the Bay Area, similar situation as you, trying to break in. Would love to hear more details about your process.
PM'd
Congrats. Love to see it. All you need is one person to say "yes" -- and only way you can get there is by playing the numbers game. Keep hustling, the real hard work starts now.
Thank you! I will, I'm ready to put my head down and grind.
Need more people like you in the industry. Genuinely happy to see others succeed
Deleted - didn't click "reply"
Hey man, I'm currently a trainee at the big 4. I'm inspired by your story and would love to ask you a few questions over pm. Is this possible?
Thanks
Absolutely, PM me anytime!
Thank you! Will take you up on that
I can relate to this, people severely underestimate how many hedge funds are out there looking for talented hungry kids and how much of getting your foot in the door is a volume game.
When asked, how did you address GPA questions?
I had a reason for it, over-ambitious, 3 club affiliations, 19 units/sem, and a extra-curricular activity that is uncommon. So the way I spun it is that I was way over ambitious and came out of the experience with better time-management skills and an understanding of my capacity, but with that, I turned my grades around and finished my last 3 semesters of college with 3.9s/4.0. So it proved to them that I did actually learn something and my low GPA isn't representative of my ability.
Congrats! Love to see the hustle. Do you mind if I pm you to further discuss your experience?
Absolutely, feel free
Congratulations!
Would you mind sharing your stock pitch? Happy to PM.
Thank you
I also had a low GPA and had to get creative breaking into the industry. It was a fucking hassle, the first few years of my career were wasted and I’ll always wonder if I could’ve gone further if I got my shit together sooner. Just do your best in school, kids.
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