| Have you just completed a PhD, or are nearly there? | | | | each firm, be it hedge fund or investment bank, |
| This article is for people who are looking for junior | | | | utilises these roles to achieve their business goals. |
| quant jobs, i.e. you are fresh out of graduate school | | | | The next task is to be honest with yourself about |
| or other postgraduate education and wish to enter | | | | your skills and level of knowledge. It is not useful to |
| the exciting world of financial engineering. If you wish | | | | recruiters or employers if you aren't being fully |
| to land that dream job as an entry level quant, then | | | | transparent with your skillset. A CV or resume should |
| read on! | | | | fully elucidate your abilities and prior experience |
| Gaining an entry level quant job is not to be | | | | working on technical projects - be they academic or |
| underestimated. There are plenty of candidates who | | | | professional. Specifically, remember to go into a |
| wish to become a quantitative analyst or financial | | | | reasonable level of detail about the PhD thesis - |
| engineer and the majority of them will possess a | | | | headhunters will find it a hard sell to describe you to |
| good technical skillset. So how does one compete in | | | | the bank/fund if you haven't provided any evidence |
| such a market? Naturally, you will need the technical | | | | of your technical mastery. One thing that commonly |
| skills - a PhD in Mathematics, Physics or Engineering | | | | crops up is the large variance in C++ skills. If you feel |
| will help here. A good knowledge of object-oriented | | | | that you a real wizard in this area, then say so - |
| programming, particularly C++, is also now a | | | | make sure that you provide examples of how you |
| prerequisite. Finally, external study of stochastic | | | | utilised particular parts of the codebase to solve |
| calculus, derivatives, risk-neutral pricing and probability | | | | modelling problems - this will impress both |
| theory is a necessity. However, these are just the | | | | headhunters an more senior quants who will be hiring |
| basic skills. In this climate of economic uncertainty, | | | | you. |
| one must really stand out from the pack to be | | | | The standard way into a quant job begins by asking |
| noticed. | | | | your friend a few years above you in your PhD |
| The first question to ask is what type of role is | | | | group who is now lucky enough to possess a quant |
| suitable. The term "quant" is very broad and now | | | | job. See if there are any open positions going, or if |
| encompasses many areas of mathematically-based | | | | they can help you get onto the next grad scheme. |
| finance. Are you interested in junior trading jobs? | | | | The next step is try contacting recruiters. There are |
| Perhaps you seek a graduate trading job in a hedge | | | | specific headhunters for junior quantitative analyst |
| fund as a quant trader. Alternatively you may wish to | | | | positions as well as junior quant trader jobs - try one |
| venture into a quant structurer role. Many associate | | | | or two initially and see how you get on. Be careful |
| the phrase "quant" with the practice of financial | | | | though - the variance in quality of headhunters is |
| engineering or mathematical finance. These quants | | | | extremely large, so try more if you aren't happy with |
| spend time pricing derivatives and implementing | | | | your current set. |
| models numerically to obtain these prices. Then there | | | | This is a broad overview of how to hunt for a junior |
| are quant developer jobs, which involve implementing | | | | quant job. In later articles I will expand on how to |
| pricing libraries and infrastructure for traders or | | | | handle recruiters effectively so that both parties end |
| modelling quants. Make sure to spend time | | | | up happy as well as how to achieve and act in |
| researching the different roles on offer and how | | | | interview. |