Q&A: Non-target working full time at $4B+ HF during college

I will try to answer your question piece by piece. So to start I just finished my Junior year and started as intern following my Sophomore year. Previously I had the opportunity to work at a different fund that is highly specialized in one specific sector. I believe this played a large role in my advancement as it can be a difficult sector to understand (I am by no means an expert) but I was trained by one of the best. For me to get in the door my Freshman year at this initial shop I essentially was just working my network as hard as I could. For me it always felt like I should network with the mindset of quality of over quantity. While I certainly reached out to a large amount of people it is nothing compared to what I hear on this website. I tried to focus on making quality connections as the rainmakers in finance get hundreds, maybe even thousands of emails a day. I eventually landed a connection with someone through sports who has now become my mentor. I have found this person to be more important to me than any  target school prestige or family connection that may get someone in the door. If you were to ask me how I got here today it would not be possible without this person. Bottom line: it is all about networking but going for quality connections, if you are able to land a mentor that has some pull this is massive. 

In terms of adding value and earning my pay that is an interesting question. This role did not fall in my lap, I did not even think I was going to work at this shop once my summer analyst role was finished. However, I got into the fund at a good time and was able to show my worth to the point where when it came time for me to go back to school it would have been a blow to the team for me to leave. I do not mean this from a PnL perspective but more so from the fact that I clear a lot of the grunt work, initial due diligence, analysis out of the way so that the senior employees can do what they do best. This allowed me an entrance to the door post my summer work. From there on just gaining knowledge and respect I was given more and more responsibility to the point where if I wanted to invest in something, we would do it. For example, I was given the ability to invest $15M into a well oversubscribed private financing for a business this year which has led to several other investments just like it in the space. 

Lastly, what I do for the most part is meet with companies, do the analysis and valuation, and give my input to the team. There are small administrative tasks that I like to get done so others don't but that is basically it. Unfortunately, we do not have any open intern spots as they all were filled. 

I think that selling yourself has nothing to do with the school that you come from. I am a Div 1 athlete which helps outline my pursuit of success and ability to work hard as well. Investing and making money has nothing to do with what school you went to. Just because you attended Harvard does not mean your fund will magically be up 10% at the start of the year. Where the school name does come in handy is the network and the opportunities you get but it does not say much about your character or ability other than the fact that you most likely are a smart person and can excel in the classroom. 

My ability to standout has a lot to do with the sector I am in. It is highly technical and not everyone is knowledgeable in the space. Having been taught by my mentor who is an outstanding investor I was able to gain knowledge and insight that other candidates just did not have. I was able to leverage the same knowledge to receive SA offers from banks but for obvious reasons I kindly did not sign. 

What is HYP?

I was a full-time IB analyst as a college student, so likely not fake, more plausible than you think. Although OP is the first person I've seen on this forum other than myself that has done something similar and spoke on it. There are more of us with this arrangement than you think, although never at any of the big name-brand shops. Typically it's smaller firms where the leadership is more flexible. 

Happy to discuss in a PM

As I said above this is not a fake post. I have no idea what I would gain from posting something like this if it was fake. I don't have a lot to gain from posting this in the first place but I felt that I could help other non-target students out there trying to break through. 

Roughly 45-50 hours. Sometimes less, sometimes more. 

I appreciate the comment and have given this type of question some thought before. As you can imagine I was asked to sign an offer letter for when I graduate so in terms of leveraging this out of school that is not the plan. I do see a future at my fund and believe there is a lot of room to grow for us as a whole but also myself personally. The platform allows me to privately and publicly in a fairly flexible manner. When I want to pursue something I am give the proper resources and approval to do so. I feel that if I was to move to another fund right out of school I would not be awarded the same responsibilities and it would feel like a step back. We also have access to more capital than we need which I believe also creates potential to run my own book earlier at my current fund than I would at other funds.

Do you have any thoughts on this? Particularly staying vs leveraging?