Grad to HF: And Where Do We Go From Here?
So...as I sit studying for my last exam and writing my final paper of college, I think back to four years ago how I would be feeling about this moment, expecting to be excited, eager and most of all, EMPLOYED. However, unfortunately I'm none of the three...instead, I'm facing the prospect of having no job coming out of school.
I've known for a long time I've wanted to work as an investment analyst at a hedge fund in the NYC area. An internship in HF, one in M&A last summer in New York and my most recent, a PWM internship, only further confirmed this, and the idea of investing excites me, and having explored all of my options, it's where I know I want to be. I'd follow the normal routes to get to there (IBD, ER, S&T, AM), but 1.) OCR at my university was a shadow of its former self, and 2.) my networking efforts, given the market conditions in the fall, really amounted to nothing. Since then, I've been up to NY nearly every other week, interviewing, networking, doing anything I can to break in. I'm certainly not getting discouraged, and I certainly can hold out into this summer to get something. However, I'm unsure what my next steps should be...I've come up with a few, but am unsure what may be best...
1.) ANY sell-side work (boutique M&A most likely). Not a great option in my book, as I didn't find the work in investment banking to be that particularly interesting, or educational for that matter, and like anything else, just as tough to break in.
2.) HF Ops- seems to be a bad option according to WSO and other sources...totally can see where this would be a dead end.
3.) Hold out and wait for anything, keep interviewing, even an internship in a HF would be alright (preferrably one leading to a job). This seems to be the option I'm most in favor of, even if it means more of the same things I've been dealing with.
Any other suggestions? I'm really honestly open to anything. I certainly have the time/money/proximitiy to NY to hold out, and I can keep going, and I'm certainly not afraid of long hours or low pay...I want to get into HF, that's what matters to me the most. Any suggestions anyone may have I'd really appreciate.
Three internship's at HF, M&A and PWM internship...and still you dont have offer from any of them....Why ?
I don't really get why you were talking about "HF ops ..." (with ref. to 2) if you wanna get into HF so badly? I mean you said you did an internship so why don't you go back to that company? If you didn't get an offer, why?
I mean if you're applying for a position as analyst with another firm, they will possible ask you this. Anyway, as far as I know, there are some small HF that are recruiting analyst straight out of college. However, from my perspective, a rather unsure type of thing. If they have a bad performance this year, they'll put you back on the streets. And that is what you don't want. I think the best would be either IB or AM, then MBA and then HF.
Totally fair question about the offers everyone, that would make sense, however that was never a possibility for the HF and PWM internships, and none of the summer analysts were hired from IBD (things got pretty tight for them)...thus I never really had that option.
What school are you graduating from?
I'm graduating from a semi target/target school on East Coast, certainly plenty of representation on wall street, but my networking efforts have been fairly fruitless. I don't mean to sound like I'm being totally negative in my answers here, just trying to find a new course of action here that may be more successful.
rough situation to be in and tough hiring environment, but if your passion is actually investing find the job that is closest to it until unemployment becomes financially an issue--i caught a very lucky break to start out of undergrad on the buyside, so it can be done
Thanks synthetic, I honestly do appreciate it.! It's a tough situation to be in, but I am keeping the faith haha. I recognize where some people may question how I've gotten to this point, but it certainly wasn't from a lack of trying. Any other advice anyone has is greatly appreciated.
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