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What quant recruiting firms are legitimate? Which are scams?

Joined
11/6/19
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110
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Are companies like Selby Jennings and Charles Waldorf legitimate? If a recruiter from there reaches out to you directly, is it worth talking with them or are they spamming people looking for suckers?
Any reputable names, or names to definitely avoid?
 
This post on Reddit seemed to mention both these places as bad, but that post was more focused on IB/PE. You are saying they are both fine for quant jobs?
 
The reddit post is complaining that these companies aren't really looking out for the candidate, and to be honest I don't know what OP expected. Head hunting is a business, they're not in it to find you the job of your dreams. The main advantage I got from using headhunters like Selby Jennings (I didn't use Selby) was that they got me interviews with a number of firms that I would not have otherwise considered. Afterwards, I decided for myself whether the company was a good fit and just ignored the headhunters.

Just remember, they're not your friend and they're not looking out for you. It's a business, and if you don't meet their criteria (i.e. you're going to take up too much time and not get them the commission they're looking for) you're going to get dumped fast
 
Also, I highly suggest applying yourself / networking yourself if you can. Most of the time firms prefer to receive their candidates w/o headhunters because they have to pay the headhunters a "finders fee"
 
Are companies like Selby Jennings and Charles Waldorf legitimate? If a recruiter from there reaches out to you directly, is it worth talking with them or are they spamming people looking for suckers?
Any reputable names, or names to definitely avoid?
I used Selby Jennings to get my current role as well as interviews for other roles. The recruiter who helped me also got me higher pay than what I think I could've negotiated individually.

Like @tips mentioned, these recruitment firms open you up to opportunities that you may otherwise not have known about and they're most helpful when your background/experience actually matches closely with the job they're recruiting for.
 
Most recruiting firms don't give a damn about candidates. You are essentially commodities for them to sell. They are salesman.

But Selby Jenning is overall not too bad when it comes to decency. They are (at least those that i have worked with before) are transparent about the roles.
I have seen quite a bit of recruiters delete few section of job descriptions in order to suck the candidate into interviewing jobs that they might not be interested in.
 
The main advantage I got from using headhunters like Selby Jennings (I didn't use Selby) was that they got me interviews with a number of firms that I would not have otherwise considered.
This is definitely true, when I was in Singapore I've had the opportunities to interview at a few places that aren't well-known (e.g. in my case I got the chance to interview for a family office that isn't small but have very little to no online presence, I didn't even recognize the firm name until the recruiter told me the family which owns it -- admittedly it's not a sector I'm familiar with in the first place).
 
The reddit post is complaining that these companies aren't really looking out for the candidate, and to be honest I don't know what OP expected. Head hunting is a business, they're not in it to find you the job of your dreams. The main advantage I got from using headhunters like Selby Jennings (I didn't use Selby) was that they got me interviews with a number of firms that I would not have otherwise considered. Afterwards, I decided for myself whether the company was a good fit and just ignored the headhunters.

Just remember, they're not your friend and they're not looking out for you. It's a business, and if you don't meet their criteria (i.e. you're going to take up too much time and not get them the commission they're looking for) you're going to get dumped fast
This was very helpful, thank you
 
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