Chances of moving from From strategy consulting (MBB) to Hedge Fund via PhD Financial Econometrics?
First up, I'm 38.
I left strategy consulting a few years ago after an horrific accident. This year, I enrolled in a Masters of Financial Economics at one of Australia's top 2 universities. The weirdet thing happened. I fell in love with Econometrics, and have proved pretty darn good at it. I have been offered a place in the Econometerics PhD program, with a full very generous scholarship, plus teaching if I want, starting Jan 2011.
I have to spend either 1 or 2 semesters doing some more coursework, but they have said given my Masters, I could do anything I want. So, I thought I'd so some Math, and Finance. My thesis would be on some form of dynamic asset trading model. I would be expected to finish the PhD completely by 2014 (3 and a bit years).
What hope would I have of leveraging my consulting experience, plus my PhD (which I will very finely tailor in tandem with some Sydney finance group) to move into something like a hedge fund?
I thought my best shot might be event-driven investment and trading outfits.
But is anybody, anywhere on earth going to hire a dude in his early 40s, even if he is child-free, and as excited by econometrics and markets as any 25 year old?
Gee thanks. My first rejection, and I haven't even sent my resume out to anyone! :)
Yes, you will easily get a great job both in industry as well as in academia.
Hi TraderJoe
Thanks for that. And without wanting to impose, do you say that just to be a good citizen, or you are aware of precedents? Someone told me today that the fact I was accepted into a Financial Econometrics PhD program with big dollars clears a lot of the red flags folks have about older candidates - weak math, fuzzy motivation, etc. It'd be great to hear from someone who has either been hired OR done the hiring themselves.
The most reliable indicator of what job you will get after graduating from a particular educational program is to find out what kinds of jobs the recent graduates from that educational program have received. Companies tend to hire from the targeted set of universities repeatedly and will not venture to hire people from the lower ranked universities. The university brand name is much more important in your hiring decision. Age plays a very minor role in the hiring decision unless you are over 50 years old and planning for retirement. They are mostly concerned whether you can do the job or not. Hopefully it will not require too much effort on your part to find out what sort of positions the previous PhD graduates from that program have received. You will probably end up in a similar position as them.
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