Q&A: HF out of Undergrad,

Haven't posted in a while but wanted to given the interesting hiring climate I imagine most college seniors are facing today and the changing landscape across HFs... ####My background: Pretty non-target school with a handful of solid internships across IB/HF, involvement in the student run fund, dual major in finance and math. Full story can be found on earlier posts... but TL;DR would be I interned at a BB in a top group, did not get a return, recruited for FT IB, got an offer and turned it down to pursue L/S HF out of school. ####How I did it: Again, network, network, network... The main difference I expect and found during recruiting and networking with hedge fund professionals versus bankers and/or private equity is 1) less focus on background/prestige and 2) ability to pitch or source ideas. Everyone knows it, but the primary reason a PE shop or hedge fund is reluctant to hire out of undergrad is not only because you know nothing, but they don't have the time or resources to train you & need someone capable of modeling. You aren't expected to generate serious P&L from the get-go, so you need to be a value add in other ways. **The number 1 way you can demonstrate this to a hedge fund is by building models and writing pitches/research reports.** I made a shortlist of every hedge fund I was interested in, found their email domain either via their brochure or Bloomberg at school, and sent both a long and short pitch to a PM or analyst. I can tell you that they are looking for 1) how you think and 2) your ability to model. I'm finding it increasingly common for several people to make the leap to HF out of undergrad more recently. ####Comparisons to banking: In hindsight having been on the job almost a year, it's a different level of intensity/stress I'd imagine from being FT in IB. FT in IB requires you to be ultra-sensitive to deadlines in terms of client facing materials, whereas HF risk $mm of dollars daily (or more) and can, but are not always, time sensitive. You are tied to your performance and the fund's performance and comp reflects that - in IB you're bucketed based on performance, attitude, effort, skill (I'm assuming) whereas HF it comes down to how well did the fund do and how much did you contribute to that profit or loss. If your ideas are not good and losing $ for the firm, you will have a more difficult time. ####HF's should be at less risk during times like this I think the one positive in a moment like this is that HF's should and can make $ in (most) market environments, whereas I've read posts about IB layoffs and potential bonuses being clawed back. Not sure to the truth of this, but ideally a HF is designed to outperform in these sorts of scenarios and therefore should be at less risk than an IB with M&A frozen for the time being. Average day: in at 7a, out at 9p or so... Don't want to drone on too long if these bullets and points aren't useful and do want to answer any potential questions you guys may have...