Should I leave LO AM for HF?

I'm currently a senior in college with a full time offer for a well respected NY-based asset manager in their equities arm for a research associate role. I do have aspirations to work at a L/S fundamental equity HF, but am concerned about the career risks (would like to have LO AM to fall back on if shorter term trading isn't for me). How should I structure my career so that if the HF world isn't for me, I find out early on and go back to LO? Is it possible to return to LO after a stint in HF or would I need a MBA?

5 Comments
 

Do two years as an RA at the LO working as hard as you can and learning as much as you can. From there you are in a better position to evaluate what direction you want to head in, if you still want to do L/S then that door should be open to you at some point after that. As far as I know, there isnt a way to “structure” your career to have the ability to move back. But I am on the credit side, so perhaps I’m wrong here as the dynamics on the equity side are different, but in credit it seems fairly easy to be able to fall back into LO later on.

 

You make a fair point here and I work on the equity side so the credit side might be different, but often it can be somewhat difficult to get back to roles in the LO AM space after leaving. You're best bet for returning is getting a top 5 MBA, but if you forge great relationships at any company and have strong contacts there, there's a good chance to be able to get asked back

 

Thanks for sharing. Would having a CFA instead of a MBA also help for returning to LO AM? I would want to avoid the cost and time of a MBA if possible and my RA program already will likely make me take the CFA.

 

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