D.E. Shaw Recruiting

I see a lot of posts about how selective D.E. Shaw is with its hires

My questions are:

How many people do they take straight out of UG? Do they do take interns?
Has anyone switched to D.E. Shaw after M&A, or is the best chance of getting into Shaw through the initial FT offer?
How does anyone get an initial interview? What I mean by that is, is it mostly networking or is it legit turn-your-application-in-online or at job fairs, etc.?

30 Comments
 

The answer depends on what role. I assume that you are talking about traders and analysts, since I doubt anyone reading this board is qualified to be a quant or developer.

I doubt it is more than 3-4 entry-level front office positions per year. It's not like an analyst program where people are expected to leave after a few years. Most people stay on.

Unless you've got a really nice resume, your odds are not good.

 

It's weird, but they often personally email well-qualified candidates. Both a friend and I got these initial "recruiting" email asking us to respond and send a resume, but neither of us pursued it. I have heard that a few others got these as well. I think this is based on publications and background though, as both of us were published academically but were not particularly business-oriented (him = polisci, me = quant-ish stuff). Before you ask, I don't know exactly the criteria they used to find us, but I assume they just searched stuff at my school (top target, non-ivy).

 
sparticusIt's weird, but they often personally email well-qualified candidates. Both a friend and I got these initial "recruiting" email asking us to respond and send a resume, but neither of us pursued it. I have heard that a few others got these as well. I think this is based on publications and background though, as both of us were published academically but were not particularly business-oriented (him = polisci, me = quant-ish stuff). Before you ask, I don't know exactly the criteria they used to find us, but I assume they just searched stuff at my school (top target, non-ivy).

You should've at least sent your resume. DE Shaw is an amazing place to work at, if you can get the job.

 

I interviewed with their ops division in college when I didn't know what was front office / back office. But even so, I should point out that the group was filled with graduates from Stanford, MIT, U of C, etc with near perfect GPAs. I ended up at a BB IB (thanks to this board who told me I was crazy for considering OPS) but nevertheless I was impressed by the caliber of their employees.

 
CharmWithSubstanceI interviewed with their ops division in college when I didn't know what was front office / back office. But even so, I should point out that the group was filled with graduates from Stanford, MIT, U of C, etc with near perfect GPAs. I ended up at a BB IB (thanks to this board who told me I was crazy for considering OPS) but nevertheless I was impressed by the caliber of their employees.

Not surprising. Even their generalists and strategic growth people come from exceptional backgrounds. Pretty sure they recruit at HBS and wharton for those positions, but they only hand out a few offers at most.

 

I had a friend who was offered a full-time position straight out of undergrad w/ D.E. Shaw. By all accounts my friend was a genius though. Near perfect 4.0 gpa double major in psychology and biology at Stanford. Was the academic decathlon highest scorer in high-school. Got a 90K base back in 2005. Declined the offer for Bain. I think he just finished his duel J.D./MBA from Stanford. Rarely put in much work w/ studying. Lucky bastard.

 
djrajioI had a friend who was offered a full-time position straight out of undergrad w/ D.E. Shaw. By all accounts my friend was a genius though. Near perfect 4.0 gpa double major in psychology and biology at Stanford. Was the academic decathlon highest scorer in high-school. Got a 90K base back in 2005. Declined the offer for Bain. I think he just finished his duel J.D./MBA from Stanford. Rarely put in much work w/ studying. Lucky bastard.

Did your friend work in the SF office of Bain? I'm asking because that's their most selective office, so it makes some sense that he would turn down DE Shaw to work at bain. A good friend of mine who went to berkeley undergrad got an offer from Mckinsey but was rejected at Bain in San Francisco.

ideatingI believe their rotational associates program is 100k allin. My first year out of school, I got an offer to interview for that position but wasn't into it.

Frankly, their hiring policy is really dumb - the caliber of people they hire to do shitty work is more about ego rather than any real business need.

Isn't that true for finance in general, and IB in particular? Such is life.

 
Best Response

Kiddo, if you ever get an offer from D.E. Shaw & Co. you just jump right in without thinking. They hire the best of the smartest people (scientists, to be more specific) in their respective field in the world. With all due respect, your only concern should be whether you can survive because highly likely you'll feel like an imbecile everyday and your brain will be overheating.

Invest first, investigate later.
 
LCYM

Kiddo, if you ever get an offer from D.E. Shaw & Co. you just jump right in without thinking. They hire the best of the smartest people (scientists, to be more specific) in their respective field in the world. With all due respect, your only concern should be whether you can survive because highly likely you'll feel like an imbecile everyday and your brain will be overheating.

...and this response answers a grand total of 0 of the OP's questions.

 

My friend did it - you see some cool stuff. He did the program (this guy is a genius - triple major princeton and 3.9 GPA). He ended up going to Bridgewater b/c he got bored / didn't get what he wanted

 

Right,

my logic is basically that I will apply to these firms (BB's) and hope for the best but take necessary precautions by applying to more appropriate firms.

So do you think there really is no harm in applying to these firms? I'm talking mostly about BB's. If the only risk is rejection, than I should apply to as many firms as possible, right?

 

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