Jumping ship to a HF, looking for advice

I didn't know if I should post this in trading or job search advice, but figured I will put it here.

I work for a trading firm, and after a few years I think its the right time to jump ship to a hedge fund. Basically looking for higher pay and more portfolio management opportunity.

I would like advice in 2 areas,

1) Are headhunters the best bet for the top funds? I know most HFs don't advertise on monster.com but how to trust them to not blast your resume? 2) Best way to resign? I would assume that I resign only after I sign an offer letter. I'd imagine my MD to be pretty upset and possibly offer a substantial raise and other incentives to stay. What to do in this case? Anyone ever have such a case where they ended up staying?

-thanks

2 Comments
 
Best Response

From second-hand knowledge, it seems like this is the perfect time to exit the firm (and trading firms have become quite familiar with people exiting around this time of year... post-bonuses). I would say that you're right; don't resign unless you have an offer in-hand with it being such a rough job market.

Another thing is that you probably won't gain real Portfolio Management experience/opportunities at a HF. I have buddies who went into IB -> HF track expecting that one day they would be able to start their own HF or at least manage a MF but they've really only sharpened their research skills / expertise in the markets they research. And to say the least, they have been there 3-4 years research various industries and expect to stay on that track the rest of their life. Have said that the realistic opportunities out there for a 25-35 year old person to start their own portfolio is f**king stupid/ naive. Trading and managing a fund seem like total opposite worlds to be honest.

 

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