Whilst the pandemic has certainly taken its toll on the wider market, hedge funds have benefited from the volatility in the markets. Finding individuals with innovative strategies and trading ideas has become even more competitive in the current climate.
What Are Hedge Funds Looking For In A Candidate?
Typically, Hedge Funds look for the very Crème de la Crème of candidates with STEM focused degrees. Ideally individuals with experience working at bulge-bracket banks or renowned Funds. Now the focus is very much on previous performance and Product/Market knowledge.
Which Areas Are Hedge Funds Recruiting In?
As the world becomes more and more tech focused, Hedge Funds look to employ tech focused individuals to help them build cutting edge investment tools to assist them in providing the strongest returns in a volatile market.
With increased pressure from the FCA, Hedge Funds have also needed to build their compliance teams to cope with new and upcoming changes in the regulatory field. Finally, as firms grow, they need to ensure their infrastructure grows organically too.
We have seen a 18% rise in Middle Office/Operational positions across the market.
How Can Firms Keep/Attract The Best Staff?
During a hiring process it is vital to move as quickly as possible, but this doesn’t mean rushing the process to be finished in a week.
We have seen, firms that consolidate interviews into a maximum of 3 stages carried out over 2-3 weeks have attracted the best talent and have very rarely lost the candidate to another opportunity.
Depending on the role, candidates also want to take on as much responsibility as possible and continue learning and building on their skills.
Another key point is that while a candidate would need to “sell” themselves to a potential firm, it is also important for firms to “sell” the opportunity to the candidates. This can be paramount when a top candidate has 2 opportunities to choose from.
