Not all is bleak for those seeking hedge fund jobs, even as the industry tries to recover from one of its weakest years in memory. It’s just that you need to know what jobs to look for. If you expect to be hired by a hedge fund in 2012, it would be important to focus your attention in the key areas in which they need the most help.
According to Bob Olman at Alpha Search Advisory Partners, that isn’t on the portfolio side, but rather on the operations and marketing side. For many hedge funds, the priority this year is to reduce operational costs and increase client retention. For that, they are looking to fill a lot more key positions than they have in any prior year.
Among some of the key areas Olman has identified:
Operational Risk: Hedge funds experienced a lot of bleeding last year on the portfolio side which they expect to remedy this year. But, it is on the operational side that they saw the bigger threat to profits.
Investor relations: With the threat of fund outflows still hovering above them, hedge funds will be taking a more proactive stance on improving relations with their clients, providing enhanced services and communication for investors. For this, they will be looking for people with technical expertise to serve on the marketing side.
Product specialist: Along the same lines as investor relations, product specialists will provide more technical support for clients while managing product development. Olman expects the number of these positions to more than double this year to 500.
The emphasis on these types of positions is expected to draw a lot of interest from people who have been downsized in the banking industry and who number in the thousands, so you can expect the competition for these jobs to be pretty fierce.
And, having gone through the turmoil of a banking industry in retreat, many of these jobseekers would be willing to sacrifice a bigger paycheck for more stability which can make them very attractive to overhead-conscious hedge funds.
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Many firms in the financial industry use recruiting agencies to help them fill positions. Recruiters are third-party companies employed by the hiring firm to sort through the hundreds of applicants to find those that will be just the right fit for the hiring firm. Because recruiting agencies are independent of the hiring firm, they can be more objective in the hiring process.
Here’s what you need to know to make the most of your experience with a recruiting agency:
Do Your Homework. Do some research on the leading recruiters for the industry in which you are looking to be hired. There are agencies that are more well-known and/or respected than others; those are the ones with which you might want to align yourself. We see that major hedge fund recruiters are most commonly located in the Northeast U.S. (New York), California, Chicago, Atlanta and Florida. Job Search Digest members get access to a database of hedge fund recruiters
Match Your Expertise. Make sure that your recruiting agency works with the types of firms in which you are interested. Recruiters can work specifically with one or more of the following: private money firms, private equity firms, mutual funds, hedge funds, blue-chip companies, boutique firms in the U.S., or in other countries like England. Because there are only a few “hubs” of hedge fund and private equity recruiting agencies in the U.S., be prepared to relocate if you really want a job in this industry.
Align Your Interests. Find out how the recruiter is paid. Most recruiters are paid by the company for which they are recruiting, and not by the candidates themselves. The fee ranges from 10-30% of the candidate’s first-year salary. (Recruiters that only charge 10%, however, often exhibit poor communication, infrequent contact, and tend to churn applicants.) Recruiters can be paid on either a retainer or a contingency basis. A retainer is a fixed engagement fee of which a percentage is paid to the firm to source and hire the candidate. Contingency refers to the recruiter not being paid unless the candidate is placed. The contingency fee tends to be 20-30% of the candidate’s first-year salary.
Get More From Your Recruiter. Find out what other services, if any, are offered by the recruiter. Some recruiting agencies can also provide you with marketplace statistics, compensation data, hiring trends and information on growth areas. This information can help you position yourself more successfully.
About the Author:
Debra Wheatman, CPRW, CPCC, is a Professional Resume Writer and Career Coach with nearly two decades experience working with professionals in finance, management consulting, legal, and technology.
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