Some recruiting questions

Hi

I am studying economics at UCL in London, and have a few questions about IBD recruiting. I hope someone can help me.

  1. Is it worth putting virtual trading on your CV? What about if you traded £1,000 of real money on options/ETFs/stocks etc?

  2. Is it a good idea to mention publishing articles to SeekingAlpha? (Articles discussing recent M&A activity and personal equity research recommending specific stocks) Would recruiters be unhappy with this or be overly critical of my articles?

  3. How much do grades / GPA matter in the long run? If I get mediocre grades i.e. an upper-second (2:1) degree, (worth 3.3-3.5 GPA) could this heavily affect my ability to move into large L/S hedge funds or PE firms such as KKR etc?

Thanks

4 Comments
 

Degree classification is pretty much only relevant for graduate/internship recruiting. Just make sure you get at least a 2:1 and you will be fine in the long run.

It might be worth mentioning trading briefly in the "interests" section of your CV, but since it's IBD and not S&T it's not hugely relevant I guess.

 

Thanks for the response. I have also "discovered" that the CFA is probably not a good idea for a deal-orientated career.

What do people think about writing Seeking Alpha / Market Mogul articles on M&A activity for CV?

 

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