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Category Archives: Advice and Tips
Looking for an Summer Internship? …
… then you should have started looking back in the summer! When I was an undergrad eons ago, we had the luxury of waiting until after winter break to begin looking for summer internship opportunities. Back then, nobody, save for … Continue reading
Still Using Gmail? Time to Switch
As you probably already know, Google profiles and tracks its users to an unbelievable extent. Some reports have painted Google’s practice as akin to spying on private citizens. Gmail, in particular, is reported to read every word in every Gmail … Continue reading
Etiquette of Reqesting Recommendation
In the last few years, more and more Wall Street employers have begun to ask candidates for written recommendations — especially of those candidates who are about to graduate or have just graduated from school. When asking an old professor … Continue reading
‘Why Do You Want to Change Careers?’
In my book (paperback edition: http://bit.ly/quant2, $9.82; Kindle edition: http://amzn.to/quantkindle, $3.99), I give some advice for readers who are already working in a non-financial industry and who are looking to get into the quant industry, on how to answer the … Continue reading
Spring Cleaning… of the Job Hunting Kind
If you live in the Northern Hemisphere and somewhere where there are four distinct seasons, spring is by now in the air. Besides enjoying the springtime weather and outdoor fun, or, like me, hiding indoors and trying to contain the … Continue reading
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Get Ready for Openings
A belated happy new year! It’s January again, which means financial investment firms like banks and hedge funds will be paying out their year-end (from 2010) bonuses soon. (The actual bonus figurse were disclosed to employees back in the 4th … Continue reading
Questioned About Surfing Habit
The following story came from a friend whom I ran into recently: “I had a job interview with [a large investment bank] last month and one of the managers asked me what kinds of websites I regularly visited. At first I … Continue reading
Immediate Action: Clean Up Your Online Tracks
In the past I have warned my readers about the perils of social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn. Recent hacks on Facebook drive my points home. The biggest problem is, these sites are very good — too good IMHO … Continue reading
Interview in Native Tongue?
If English is not your mother tongue, you may be wondering that, if you run into a job interviewer who shares the same mother tongue as you, whether you can conduct the interview in your common ancestral language. This is … Continue reading
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Tagged accent, ethnicity, foreign-born, interview, language
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Bonuses Can Be Tricky
On Wall Street, things can always be tricky, especially when it comes to compensation. One thing to keep in mind is your year-end bonus may not be paid out in cash, but instead in some kind of “deferred compensation” scheme, … Continue reading
Paid Job Search Sites
Some job websites, like Job Search Digest, are aggregators that pull together openings posted on other websites and, if you’re willing to pay for a subscription, give you access to those job postings. I do not recommend such sites. In … Continue reading
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Recruiting Season for Students
This is a remind to all students interested in a quant career: the campus recruiting season has started! The first stop you should make is your school’s career office. Don’t procrastinate! In this weak economy competition is going to be … Continue reading
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Objective Statement Can Be Useful
A few years ago I subscribed to the belief that an objective statement on the résumé was an outdated practice and served no real purpose other than wasting (precious) space. The logic behind that belief was that employers didn’t care … Continue reading
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Slow Month
December is traditionally a very slow month for the job market, for the obvious reasons: it’s almost Christmas and New Year, and people are busy planning for the holidays and shopping for gifts (and hunting for deals). So if you … Continue reading
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Most Jobs Aren’t Advertised
In most professions, the majority of available positions are not advertised. Instead, they go to insiders of the second degree, i.e., people who know people working at the companies. Employers actually prefer such candidates because they come by way of … Continue reading
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Even More Important to Have Plan B
I spoke to a headhunter, a veteran of the industry, last week and was told the job market is still very bad. Any opportunities that do exist in the quant field — which has now been redefined as predominantly quant development — require … Continue reading
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Beware of Job Listing Scams
Bad economy brings out bad behavior in terms of people trying to get at your money, and in this terrible job market, scams abound. Here are a couple to watch out for. 1. Beware of job listings that ask … Continue reading
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Accent Training
Most quant jobs are in the United States, so being able to speak good American English can give a quant job candidate a significant advantage. Of course, for some aspiring quant job seekers who did not grow up speaking American … Continue reading
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Changing Definition of “Quant”
Nowadays, when I see an ad for a "quant" job opening, chances are it’s a developer position — usually a quantitative developer position. In the last six months, it’s becoming rarer and rarer to see a quant position in the … Continue reading
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“Outrageous Resume Lies”
MSN Careers has a humor article on lies on resumes; it’s worth reading. I liked this one: "2. Applicant invented a school that did not exist." It reminded me of a true story I’d heard a long time ago, about … Continue reading
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Quant Career Guide 