Rejection for Quant Trading internship

[kevin_green]

Hello everyone,

recently I didn't even pass a screening process in one of big hedge funds for quant trading intern role.

I tried to contact an HR to understand why they didn't proceed with my application. The person was very kind and I got the following reply:

"I can provide you with some further feedback! This is a very competitive environment and at this moment we have many qualified candidates in the pipeline. Our selection criteria include education, experience, extracurricular activities and motivation.

Typically, the background of a quant in a firm like ours involves a bachelor and/or master in STEM studies such as maths, physics, engineering or econometrics. Furthermore, the ideal CV will show that the candidate has engaged in a bit of trading (either with real account or a demo account) or has created their own trading bot/back tested their own trading strategies. Candidates who have done personal projects, joined study societies or followed business courses related to trading, stand out above others.

Finally, seeing a strong cover letter, IMO, IPhO, chess, poker, competitive sports or musical instruments at a high level is a big plus. The choice is always difficult."

The first thing that blows my eyes, is that they really looking for people who do math olympiads, playing music instruments professionaly or whatever. Alright, fine.. This can be one of the criteria for fitering, why not...

The other part, except this, I tick all the boxes:

1. I have my bachelor in math in highly ranked university and will start my masters in financial engineering there as well.
2. I did my bachelor thesis on pricing of European and American options
2. I engaged in trading. I manage actively a pair trading strategy that has a quite decent pnl and I report it daily on my github page. I noted it in my CV
3. I worked on a lot of personal projects related to deep learning, machine learning, natural language processing and finance. Some of them I also reported on my CV and are available on my github page.
4. I took part of 2 associations in my university. One of them is finance association where we communicate very closely with financial companies and work on trading strategies.
5. I also have a few internships in financial industry. One of them where I worked as analyst and another as software engineer for the AI platform.
6. Was teaching assistant for 7 advanced courses during my bachelor studies

Can someone, for me stupid guy, explain what I did wrong and how to pass even screening process which is not even step 0, its step -1000 before even starting the process. Probably should think to reorientate?

Feel free to write any feedback or your experience in comments.

Have a nice day.

 

[fabiantum]

Hello everyone,

recently I didn't even pass a screening process in one of big hedge funds for quant trading intern role.

I tried to contact an HR to understand why they didn't proceed with my application. The person was very kind and I got the following reply:

"I can provide you with some further feedback! This is a very competitive environment and at this moment we have many qualified candidates in the pipeline. Our selection criteria include education, experience, extracurricular activities and motivation.

Typically, the background of a quant in a firm like ours involves a bachelor and/or master in STEM studies such as maths, physics, engineering or econometrics. Furthermore, the ideal CV will show that the candidate has engaged in a bit of trading (either with real account or a demo account) or has created their own trading bot/back tested their own trading strategies. Candidates who have done personal projects, joined study societies or followed business courses related to trading, stand out above others.

Finally, seeing a strong cover letter, IMO, IPhO, chess, poker, competitive sports or musical instruments at a high level is a big plus. The choice is always difficult."

The first thing that blows my eyes, is that they really looking for people who do math olympiads, playing music instruments professionaly or whatever. Alright, fine.. This can be one of the criteria for fitering, why not...

The other part, except this, I tick all the boxes:

1. I have my bachelor in math in highly ranked university and will start my masters in financial engineering there as well.
2. I did my bachelor thesis on pricing of European and American options
2. I engaged in trading. I manage actively a pair trading strategy that has a quite decent pnl and I report it daily on my github page. I noted it in my CV
3. I worked on a lot of personal projects related to deep learning, machine learning, natural language processing and finance. Some of them I also reported on my CV and are available on my github page.
4. I took part of 2 associations in my university. One of them is finance association where we communicate very closely with financial companies and work on trading strategies.
5. I also have a few internships in financial industry. One of them where I worked as analyst and another as software engineer for the AI platform.

Can someone, for me stupid guy, explain what I did wrong and how to pass even screening process which is not even step 0, its step -1000 before even starting the process. Probably should think to reorientate?

Feel free to write any feedback or your experience in comments.

Have a nice day.

Do they have like an OA after the screening or first round interview?

 

[kevin_green]

Do they have like an OA after the screening or first round interview?

They have an OA after the screening also..

 

[fabiantum]

Hmm maybe they got an OA which is cost intensive idk. Or they are just smarter than some companies, who give an OA to everybody and however passes gets to the next round. For them, it obviously makes more sense to filter out before any OA and only give it to candidates they would want to hire.

 

[nuraV]

do you mind sharing your resume? with more info relevant to your specific profile, it would be easier to pinpoint exactly what was the deciding factor for your experience

 

[Andy Nguyen]

The other part, except this, I tick all the boxes:
Can someone, for me stupid guy, explain what I did wrong and how to pass even screening process which is not even step 0, its step -1000 before even starting the process. Probably should think to reorientate?

This means even your resume ticks all the boxes, they may not have a look at it.
You did nothing wrong there. I don't know how screening at that specific firm works but from reading many members, it's a game of luck or numbers.
Most people who got a position because they know someone inside.
Hang in there, you have a good profile and there are many other fishes to catch. Cast a wider net and don't just focus only on the big names.
It is a lot harder to land a position today than it's just a few years ago. Too many applicants going into this field and not enough roles. Everyone seems to apply to the same roles at the same firms.

 

[kevin_green]

This means even your resume ticks all the boxes, they may not have a look at it.
You did nothing wrong there. I don't know how screening at that specific firm works but from reading many members, it's a game of luck or numbers.
Most people who got a position because they know someone inside.
Hang in there, you have a good profile and there are many other fishes to catch. Cast a wider net and don't just focus only on the big names.
It is a lot harder to land a position today than it's just a few years ago. Too many applicants going into this field and not enough roles. Everyone seems to apply to the same roles at the same firms.

Thank you for your insightful reply.

 

[MikeLawrence]

Hello everyone,

recently I didn't even pass a screening process in one of big hedge funds for quant trading intern role.

I tried to contact an HR to understand why they didn't proceed with my application. The person was very kind and I got the following reply:

"I can provide you with some further feedback! This is a very competitive environment and at this moment we have many qualified candidates in the pipeline. Our selection criteria include education, experience, extracurricular activities and motivation.

Typically, the background of a quant in a firm like ours involves a bachelor and/or master in STEM studies such as maths, physics, engineering or econometrics. Furthermore, the ideal CV will show that the candidate has engaged in a bit of trading (either with real account or a demo account) or has created their own trading bot/back tested their own trading strategies. Candidates who have done personal projects, joined study societies or followed business courses related to trading, stand out above others.

Finally, seeing a strong cover letter, IMO, IPhO, chess, poker, competitive sports or musical instruments at a high level is a big plus. The choice is always difficult."

The first thing that blows my eyes, is that they really looking for people who do math olympiads, playing music instruments professionaly or whatever. Alright, fine.. This can be one of the criteria for fitering, why not...

The other part, except this, I tick all the boxes:

1. I have my bachelor in math in highly ranked university and will start my masters in financial engineering there as well.
2. I did my bachelor thesis on pricing of European and American options
2. I engaged in trading. I manage actively a pair trading strategy that has a quite decent pnl and I report it daily on my github page. I noted it in my CV
3. I worked on a lot of personal projects related to deep learning, machine learning, natural language processing and finance. Some of them I also reported on my CV and are available on my github page.
4. I took part of 2 associations in my university. One of them is finance association where we communicate very closely with financial companies and work on trading strategies.
5. I also have a few internships in financial industry. One of them where I worked as analyst and another as software engineer for the AI platform.
6. Was teaching assistant for 7 advanced courses during my bachelor studies

Can someone, for me stupid guy, explain what I did wrong and how to pass even screening process which is not even step 0, its step -1000 before even starting the process. Probably should think to reorientate?

Feel free to write any feedback or your experience in comments.

Have a nice day.

Ok, well, first:

1. Table stakes
2. Not going to attract much attention
2. This does address what they claimed to look for.
3. Ok. Doesn't address what they said they look for, unless they were all trading related.
4. Cool. Well done.
5. None of these are trading, or you would have said so. Does not address what they mentioned.
6. Not at all relevant, except for the academic bit tying into point (1), and does nothing for you beyond the minimum threshold.

Now: they did not say you are unqualified.

But they did turn you away. They chose from among the 'many qualified applicants in the pipeline.' That didn't include you, big whoop. You may or may not be qualified for the role. There is nothing you can do now, and you shouldn't put much stock in the corporate mess you were given as a reply. It is meant to be broad and cover bases. You will not get an interview because you joined your local finance club. Move on and try for another.

That you are complaining about it on a message board shows they may have made a good choice. As does your being shocked that they are looking for elite performers from other areas. Anyone who pays attention to the hiring process knows trading interns have a type.

 

[nuraV]

Ok, well, first:

1. Table stakes
2. Not going to attract much attention
2. This does address what they claimed to look for.
3. Ok. Doesn't address what they said they look for, unless they were all trading related.
4. Cool. Well done.
5. None of these are trading, or you would have said so. Does not address what they mentioned.
6. Not at all relevant, except for the academic bit tying into point (1), and does nothing for you beyond the minimum threshold.

Now: they did not say you are unqualified.

But they did turn you away. They chose from among the 'many qualified applicants in the pipeline.' That didn't include you, big whoop. You may or may not be qualified for the role. There is nothing you can do now, and you shouldn't put much stock in the corporate mess you were given as a reply. It is meant to be broad and cover bases. You will not get an interview because you joined your local finance club. Move on and try for another.

That you are complaining about it on a message board shows they may have made a good choice. As does your being shocked that they are looking for elite performers from other areas. Anyone who pays attention to the hiring process knows trading interns have a type.

any reason why the bachelor thesis won't draw much attention? would doing similar research, but with heavy emphasis on trading, would that be more beneficial (since it is showing passion/deep knowledge in trading)?

 

[kevin_green]

Ok, well, first:

1. Table stakes
2. Not going to attract much attention
2. This does address what they claimed to look for.
3. Ok. Doesn't address what they said they look for, unless they were all trading related.
4. Cool. Well done.
5. None of these are trading, or you would have said so. Does not address what they mentioned.
6. Not at all relevant, except for the academic bit tying into point (1), and does nothing for you beyond the minimum threshold.

Now: they did not say you are unqualified.

But they did turn you away. They chose from among the 'many qualified applicants in the pipeline.' That didn't include you, big whoop. You may or may not be qualified for the role. There is nothing you can do now, and you shouldn't put much stock in the corporate mess you were given as a reply. It is meant to be broad and cover bases. You will not get an interview because you joined your local finance club. Move on and try for another.

That you are complaining about it on a message board shows they may have made a good choice. As does your being shocked that they are looking for elite performers from other areas. Anyone who pays attention to the hiring process knows trading interns have a type.

Thanks for reply, I understand your point. In my opinion, overall, all the points I mentioned show a strong interest in finance/trading, show the interest for the domain on my own without someone pushes me to do this (e.g. lectures or whatever), and that I'm not only finance focused and have diverse knowledge that is in general applied in finance/trading.

Also, my message is not a complain, I dont care that I was rejected for one role. Specifically, for the company, where they just described my profile and still didn't forward to an OA (what would probably mean, based on ones user comment above, that they just didn't read my CV or my school is not a target one). I wanted to share and see what people would say about this and to se if it is something common or not.

 

[MikeLawrence]

any reason why the bachelor thesis won't draw much attention? would doing similar research, but with heavy emphasis on trading, would that be more beneficial (since it is showing passion/deep knowledge in trading)?

Passion is fine, but it does not show deep knowledge. You won't get that from an academic paper, especially one written by an undergrad.

It's fine, but likely that you won't be able to defend it when talking to a real trader. I view it as more of a liability than an asset, but I do know a guy trading at SIG who wrote his bachelor's thesis on trading with some bayesian slant and I think they liked it.

 

[kevin_green]

Passion is fine, but it does not show deep knowledge. You won't get that from an academic paper, especially one written by an undergrad.

It's fine, but likely that you won't be able to defend it when talking to a real trader. I view it as more of a liability than an asset, but I do know a guy trading at SIG who wrote his bachelor's thesis on trading with some bayesian slant and I think they liked it.

Would strongly agree on "more of a liability than an asset" and about the fact that it shows more passion rather then deep knowledge.

 

[MikeLawrence]

Thanks for reply, I understand your point. In my opinion, overall, all the points I mentioned show a strong interest in finance/trading, show the interest for the domain on my own without someone pushes me to do this (e.g. lectures or whatever), and that I'm not only finance focused and have diverse knowledge that is in general applied in finance/trading.

Also, my message is not a complain, I dont care that I was rejected for one role. Specifically, for the company, where they just described my profile and still didn't forward to an OA (what would probably mean, based on ones user comment above, that they just didn't read my CV or my school is not a target one). I wanted to share and see what people would say about this and to se if it is something common or not.

That's all fine. But, there is no reason to post about this. Everyone who wants these jobs has these qualities. You must do your best to outcompete the others, and this post adds nothing to that effort. It is unfortunate that you didn't get an interview. That is all.

 

[nuraV]

Passion is fine, but it does not show deep knowledge. You won't get that from an academic paper, especially one written by an undergrad.

It's fine, but likely that you won't be able to defend it when talking to a real trader. I view it as more of a liability than an asset, but I do know a guy trading at SIG who wrote his bachelor's thesis on trading with some bayesian slant and I think they liked it.

instead of doing this type of research myself, would contributing to another experienced professor's work be viewed more favorable and show more deeper knowledge, especially if it is in a relevant area?