2017 Q2 Summary
Summer has arrived, and the market has slowed. Walls Street’s Q2 results are expected to be down significantly. However, if there’s a silver lining to the news, it’s that nobody seems panicked. Yes, budgets are being reevaluated, and hiring has slowed. However, in prior years we’ve seen hiring shut down hard and fast when results weren’t good. This year firms continue to hire, albeit more slowly, and the budget reassessments are a real exercise, not an excuse to stop all hiring for an extended period.
Buy/Sell-Side Rotation
I mentioned last quarter that it felt like the market was starting to favor the Sell side for career advancing opportunities. While anecdotal, I did speak to a someone who recently made the switch from a large hedge fund to a leading investment bank. He reported that he’s very happy in his new IB job and prefers it to his previous hedge fund position.
Age Spots
Ageism is illegal – and very real. I talk to people on an almost daily basis who are struggling to find job due to their age. My advice? Keep your technical skills sharp, consider contracting (a double-edged sword, since you’ll be even older when you need to find your next contract), and/or consider being your own boss. Age was certainly a factor when I pivoted from my previous career into recruitment. A good friend of mine recently left JP Morgan and is heading to NC to open his own franchise business in a completely unrelated field. See 2017 Q1, “Have you thought about doing something else?”
Big Data
Seen on LinkedIn recently:
The sentiment rings true, as roles we see involving Big Data usually have quite a bit of ambiguity around the Big Data component of the position.
Goldman Diversity
In this business, I look at a lot of profiles. One thing stands out as I peruse LinkedIn profiles: Goldman Sachs is very committed to diversity. I see far more women and minorities in junior positions at Goldman Sachs than any other investment bank. Good for them.
Hedge Funds faced net redemptions in 2016
Hedge funds had their 3rd ever year of net redemptions in 2016. That hasn’t stopped a number of new funds from opening. Here’s one CIO’s perspective on what you need to work at a hedge fund these days.
The 2 biggest job interview mistakes people make
This article is titled “The 2 biggest job interview mistakes young people make.” I changed it slightly, as I see candidates of every age make these 2 mistakes frequently. I give people a lot of interview advice, and I’ve been guilty myself of not stressing to people that they follow-up after the interview. Frequently hiring managers are on the fence about a candidate. Receiving a thank you note can make a big difference, especially when the vast majority of interviewees don’t bother these days.
Useless job interviews
I always stress to candidates that they need to put themselves in the interviewer’s shoes. Understanding what the interviewer wants to hear is half the battle. This NY Times article describes how poor people are at evaluating individuals based on subjective criteria. Of course, here we are concerned with technical and quantitative positions, and interviews are heavily weighted towards quantitative lines of questioning, which are a much better predictor of performance. This article is useful for both interviewers and interviewees to avoid the pitfalls of evaluating “soft skills.”
Pleased to be included in Business Insider
I was recently included in Business Insider's "We asked 6 Wall Street recruiters about the hottest trends in hiring".
Contract rates are going up
In the past few months, we have seen last year’s contract rate reductions reversed. In addition, there is clear evidence of rates going up, as we frequently see contracts posted at one rate, then revised up in subsequent weeks.
Current Priorities
Javascript and AngularJS in particular. One hiring manager told me last week, “We’ll pay whatever it takes.” In addition, he trimmed his skill requirements. His description is a good overview of what nearly all our hiring managers are looking for:
I’m looking for someone smart. I don’t actually expect that the person has all of listed skills – that’d be impossible. I just need someone who can demonstrate he/she is willing and smart enough to pick it up.
Buy Side
- Data Strat – A sophisticated data oriented developer (Python, C#)
- Labs Engineer – “explore and evaluate new technologies for our evolving needs” (great role!)
- Senior KDB developer
- Elite C++/Python developers to help develop a new trading platform
- Low-latency C++ developer for expanding prop shop
- Expert C++ developers to help build multi-strategy trading infrastructure
Sell Side
- JavaScript – see above, opportunity for top developer to move to business side/strats team
- Java Dev Lead/Manager for greenfield development of new risk/stress testing platform
- Java/Web (AngularJS) developers - greenfield development of new risk/stress testing platform
- Data Modeling/Warehousing expert – Executive Director - Finance IT – requires significant experience with Finance department and sub-ledger accounting
- Dev Lead w/ hands-on .net Web Services or AngularJS – Wealth Management
- JavaScript/AngularJS – full-time and contract
- Java Algo trading developer, Equities - Contract
- Java Algo trading developer, Fixed Income Credit - Fulltime
- Senior Scala/Java developer for Credit/Rates/FX cross asset risk implementation – Fulltime
- Scala developer – Contract, wealth management
- KDB developer for equity market data – Contract
- Treasury Quant – front-office quant to work on funding optimization issues