Fortune 500 Finance Rotation to HF?
If I can't get a job in investment banking, or if I decide that working 100 hours a week is not the best way to spend the best years of my life, what would be the more probable route to working for a HF?
A) Finance rotation at Fortune 500 company while studying for the CFA®
-----> Get a job at a sector specific HF after I get my CFA®
and some industry specific work experience.
or
B) Finance rotation at Fortune 500 company while studying for the CFA®
-----> Get a job in ER in the sector I previously worked in -------> Get a job at a sector specific HF with a CFA®
, industry work experience and ER work experience.
Is option A a realistic chain of events or do people rarely gets jobs at HF's after finance rotations?
Also I don't need to work for a top HF, I'd love to work for some small (but not too small) oil HF in Texas, with a dirt cheap cost of living so I can save, invest and eventually start my own fund, but that is probably thinking about a dozen steps or so ahead of myself.
sell-side equity research really, finance rotations don't really prepare you to be an investor if you don't want to/can't be at a BB, there are some excellent independent research shops that are well-respected by their hedge fund clients and would probably set you up pretty well, especially for long short equity
if you want to do oil, that's different, you could trade for a F500 then.
People will say it can't be done, but it can be but it is very fund specific and much harder. The good thing about a finance rotation is that you will probably have a good understanding of how cash moves through a business and how a company works in big picture general terms -- you will be far better in that regard than some banker who came up with some bull shit assumptions in Excel to try to get a deal done (or more likely manned the copy machine making pitch books). Having interviewed a lot of people, it's actually shocking how poorly most people with a few years of finance experience understand what a business actually is. I have a good friend who moved from a bank rotational program to a large asset management firm as an Associate covering the banking sector, so it can be done.
That said, the industry is pretty rigid in how it works -- there's a track, and that track is banking. So there will be some luck involved in finding the kind of firm that is receptive to a non-traditional candidate and then being able to convince them you can add enough value to justify the cost. The CFA program is worthless and will not teach you to pick stocks, so you will have to find another way to stand out. Your best bet is probably to focus on the industry you are working in, research all of the stocks and know the industry and those businesses cold. If you combine that with some basic modeling skills, you should be in pretty good shape, and the rest is just timing and luck.
And yes, your option B is more realistic -- you will have a better chance of getting into the sell side in relevant coverage and then transitioning to a HF. The CFA will help more with that kind of transition.
I knew someone who did option A.) but re-branded with an MBA.
F500 Finance 3-5 years > CFA > MBA > HF
The way I see it, if banking or consulting isn't your thing, F500 great because you have time to create your own options.
Work 40-60 hours a week, then with your free time, start a business, study for a designation, or do something unique.
If you have ambition of a banker, then you have the ambition to create your own luck,
Nothing is ever impossible. The key is to network, network, network. If you need some ideas on create ways to network...PM me, happy to help
It is possible, but realize a F500 rotational program is VERY different than IB/PE/HF. You will gain some industry knowledge, but most likely the tasks you will be doing will be very accounting focused - not necessarily the best preparation for a HF/
I manage people in our F500 rotational program - one guy did go into trading, but when/if they leave its usually another corporate role.
I work for a fairly large hedge in our Texas office. I came from a Big 4 CPA background (Audit) and work for the fund in a research role. While the vast majority are of people are from I-banking backgrounds, we've had several former Big 4 accountants/engineers with MBAs/etc. Just depends on the fund and what their looking for sometimes. If one of the PMs of a fund has hired someone from a F500 rotation background before and had a good experience with them, there is a good change they would be open to hiring someone with that background again.
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