Hedge Fund Interview Preparation
Hey Guys,
I have a hedge fund interview/informational where I’m meeting the PM. What I wanted to know is what should I study and prepare for (such as technical/behavior questions)? I recently just graduated from college this may and don’t have any IB/HF experience. Thanks for the insight.
Well...which fund? You should know what their strategy is, what their AUM and ROI is, and how they managed to weather the crisis. You should know the economy and be able to pitch a strategy or at least sound confident.
dont know what type of hedge fund this is, but see my post on interview trading ideas //www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/trading-ideas-matter-of-edge
First of all congrats, I'd also say stay current with market news. End of year trends and potential future trends also would be nice to talk to. Maybe also bring up some stocks that you have been following and weather they will increase or decrease and why etc. Things like this will also look well I think.
I'm curious to find out tho how did you get this interview? With no IB experience I give you a lot of credit in getting this interview.
http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/preparing-for-the-hf-informationa…
Hedge Fund Interview Prep (Originally Posted: 12/16/2014)
What are the best prep guides for hedge fund interviews? Looking for anything that can help me prepare for behavioral/technical questions and for long/short investment pitches etc.
Thank you in advance for help! I'd assume this is out there but searching didn't yield great answers.
bump
bump
Night Interview on Thursday with Hedge Fund. What to prepare for? (Originally Posted: 03/10/2009)
So I have an interview scheduled with a small hege fund. I doubt it will be any technicals because this particular fund uses an algorithm to trade. Everything (when to buy/sell) is all computerized and there are alarms/alerts notifying the trader when to execute the trade.
Also, what should I wear? It's a small shop with only 5 guys total. When I go for my interview it will just be the night trader who works the Asian/European Markets. I was thinking of wearing a suit just to be cautious but I don't want to come off as too formal when meeting just one guy in what appears to be a more laid back firm.
I appreciate the help.
Definitely wear a suit.
He emailed me saying I should not dress up. It seems kind of strange but I guess when meeting just one person at night with no one else at the office, it makes sense.
I think I'll do a suit minus the tie.
I'm interested in seeing what this interview will be like.
Any other comments/suggestions?
that is a dilemma, suit no tie should be fine if he said don't dress up... good luck
def. wear a jacket, lose the tie, good luck!
Don't you think highly computerized/algorithmic shops will ask you highly technical questions? They may not be on DCF or LBO, but I would expect receive some brain teasers, pure math/prob/stat questions and etc.
If the whole system is computerized and it's working well, why do you think they need you? If they are hiring anyone, they are probably looking for smart people who can enhance the trading system.
that's just what i think, unless you applied to an admin position
Here's the scoop:
They are looking for an extremely dependable individual to execute their trading stratgy, which is this funky algorithm created by one of the founders/partners that happens to have negative correlation, reduced drawdowns and enhanced performance. The trader is going to work independently during the evening/night market hours for the Asian/European markets. They specifically say that reliability and a high level of personal integrity are musts. Market experience is helpful but not required. An excellent long-term opportunity for a quant. oriented night person with an interst in the financial markets.
I already had a phone interview with them today and even before our conversation ended, the interviewer asked me to come in to their offices this Thursday (talk about quick progress). It was all fit (no technicals). I'm really thinking that the trading will be exactly like what the interviewer said - less market intuition and probability etc.. but more being able to follow the computer's commands which read out what the algorithm says to do.
How should I prep for this HF interview? (Originally Posted: 02/11/2012)
Never had an interview with an HF but I have had a handful of IBD/S&T interviews, is it fair to assume it will be more like an S&T interview than a banking interview?
The posting says the fund has a 'multi strategy approach' to investing and that it seeks absolute return so I'm not sure what the exact strategy of the fund is.
Is this a new TO based HF that starts with 'C'? If so, G.P is one of the nicest guys out there- doubt he'd grill you since that doesn't fit his personality.
Has that fund even launched yet?
March 2012. Drstrangelove, I looked through our school's career portal and I was unable to find any buyside postings aside from a small-cap asset management firm. Did you find the posting on the fund's website directly, or dare I say some service like monsterjobs.ca?
HF interview prep (Originally Posted: 02/14/2007)
I've got this interview coming up for a very large hedge fund. I'm in 2nd year IBD. Basically, what should I know going into the interview and how can I best prepare?
Apart from showing off what I did in banking, understanding the different HF strategies and having some investment ideas of my own, what else would help (input on the abovementioned also welcome!)?
Understand the investment strategy of the firm you're interviewing at. Do your homework on the founder and try to understand who his influences are and motivates them. Go through a few of their 13F filings and reverse engineer their old/current investments. Try to understand why they made the investment(s).
Cheers wingman, kind of tips I was looking for.
This is most easily done by looking at positions they got big/small in within the last quarter. Will be a more salient topic of conversation.
Don't pick something big though you can't figure when they got in. Won't work that way.
hedge fund interview prep help (Originally Posted: 05/08/2015)
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description sounds like the dudes that execute trades at the firm i work at. essentially, whether you are a head trader or jr trader.. it's a support role... you support PMs.
its definitely better than back office..
oh and the part about maintaining good relationships with brokers and etc.. well i think you'll like that alot. think of it as endless free drinks after work and you rarley have to fork out money for lunch and dinner... you'll also will get free tickets to sporting events...
although ^^^ that heavily depends on how big the HF is... if you work for multi $BB HF, you will get treated very well due to the amount of fee your firm would generate. also, the degree of free shit depends on whether your head trader is free cool with sharing the spoil. if not, you probably wont see shit other than free sushi time to time that new guys on the street brings when they make their round.
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Youll most likley be asked about trade execution. If you have any friends who are sell side traders, i would reach out and ask them questions since they deal w/ the guys in the position you are applying for on a daily basis.
Good luck OP!
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How to prep for HF interviews? - Accounting, finance, and modeling? (Originally Posted: 05/24/2008)
Have an interview with a distressed/merger arbitrage/convertible arbitrage fund. How should I prepare?
Accounting, finance and modeling?
Studying up on those strategies?
Generating an investment thesis?
Studying up on my deal experience?
Obviously would love to do all of them, but with the limited time I have, need to focus.
Thanks.
PS- I'm a second year investment banking analyst in an industry group.
Bump! curious as well
Disclaimer: I only interviewed for a few L/S equity HFs, so maybe it's not quite as relevant for what you're doing.
I found that HFs did not care quite as much about deal experience as PEs did because you don't really acquire companies (obviously some funds do)... so understanding how an M&A deal works is not as relevant. Of course, if they really do merger arbitrage, this could be off.
They asked me a lot about my own investment ideas and what I had invested in before, so I would definitely focus on those.
I wouldn't spend too much time on accounting/finance/modeling... obviously you know the basics and I think that's more than enough.
HFs may also ask you brain-teaser or pure math questions - they did that to me a couple times, whereas PEs do not at all - so you may want to review those as well.
i would say: 1) have a long idea and a short idea modeled and fleshed out, preferrably in a write-up (heard this from a pm at a $1.3 bn fund)
2) have a comfort with basic acct., but moreso, with financial statement analysis, and being able to pick out oddities in a company (if you're a coverage banker, then this is where all the bs comp spreading you did might start coming into play)
3) if you bring up an industry, know the multiples / trends in that industry
4) read seekingalpha.com, 24/7 wall street, or other hedge fund/investment blogs like these to prep
those are the tips i would have; going through this myself, best of luck!
Hedge Fund Interviews (Originally Posted: 07/18/2006)
Hi, I was wondering what interviews for hedge funds are like. Any advice for preparing? Thanks.
they are very different from anything else, and are all very similar, (after all hedge funds are all identical). What they do is put you at a computer with 100,000 to invest and you have 10 minutes to double that. Win and your in, lose and your not.
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