5 January , 2011
One of the first questions I like to ask clients when starting to work them with our hedge fund resume service is “What are you trying to accomplish with this resume?” More often that not, the resumes I see being sent to recruiters as well as those I see on my desk when hiring for positions internally, can be summarized as paper full of a bunch of activities and duties you did at previous jobs.
In my mind, this is not the way to approach a resume targeted to getting a buy side job. What question will a hedge fund manager be thinking about when reviewing your resume?
- Will this person have the work ethic to keep up with the demands of this job?
- Is this person intelligent / fast learner / adaptable to change and dynamic markets?
- Can I trust this person with analytical work? Will he/she be able to present his investment ideas cohesively and coherently?
- Will this person make us money?
There may be a few more specific to certain types of funds, but the questions above are those that your resume should be answering with a resounding affirmative. The reader should have NO doubt in his/her mind that you can help the fund generate excess returns.
I hesitated when I first entitled this post. I, in no way shape or form, want to see the word “Objective” on your resume. More often than not, that objective section will be at the very top of the resume which is incredibly valuable real estate. Save the “Objective” for your cover letter or your introductory email to funds / recruiters. For the resume, YOUR objective should be answering those questions above. How do you go about doing that?
Without giving too much of our proprietary system away, you want to demonstrate to the reader through the use of concrete examples that you have an insatiable work ethic, you need very little training, you have incredible attention to detail and communication skills, and without a shadow of a doubt: you can pick stocks and bonds with the best of them.
Over the next few months, I plan on updating this site significantly more frequently that in previous months. I plan on touching topics like hedge fund compensation, hiring trends among various strategies, new fund launches etc. For those interested in our hedge fund resume service as well as a case study service we will be launching in February, please send me an email
This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.