The Hedge Fund Industry Has Two Barriers to Entry – Can You Break Them?

The hedge fund industry is regarded as one of the most appealing sectors within the financial community. That appeal has created unprecedented demand for fresh talent and skilled investors who are looking to make their mark. But how difficult is it for job seekers to break in?

“It’s a hard industry to break into if you don’t know the right people or don’t have the capacity to learn very quickly,” said Will Thompson, co-founder and CEO of HedgeComm, a marketing and PR agency that focuses on the alternative investment industry. “I put the emphasis more on the second than the first because you can always meet people. If you can’t learn quickly, that’s just something you can’t do.”

Thompson said that there is a “massive amount of info” that job seekers have to absorb before joining a hedge fund.

“We’re required to watch the commodities market, the equities market, understand what is going on there so we can find opportunities for our clients,” he said. “So you’ve got to understand finance.”

Thus, Thompson said that “unless you can learn really, really fast, you’re not gonna have the industry knowledge that you need to serve your clients.”

“I think that’s the biggest obstacle and barrier to entry in getting into hedge funds — getting that institutional knowledge,” he said.

Get Hired Now

These days, job seekers have a million options, but we know where they should turn: StreetID. We built StreetID (a financial career matchmaking website) from the ground up to accommodate Wall Street’s growing community of financial professionals. In good times and in bad, current job seekers and those looking to move on in the future can turn to StreetID and sign up for a free account and make a direct connection with relevant candidates and employers.

This entry was posted in Financial Job Market, Hedge Fund Commentary and tagged , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Comments are closed.