Intern with Hedge Funds?
A question that came in today:
“Dear Michael, I am a young trader and have developed a passion for the markets over the last three years. I am also extremely interested in your research and frequently refer to your book/websites for insight. It is always inspiring to hear about successful traders, and I look forward to reading more of their stories through your work in the future. I have a question about pursuing trading as a career. Currently, I am a first-year MBA student, and many of my colleagues are searching for internship opportunities for the summer. It would be exciting to gain some experience with a professional trader, although I understand that positions at hedge funds are extremely difficult to come by. Still, I wanted to see if you had any suggestions or ideas that might be worthwhile to pursue, either with an up-and-coming trader or a fund willing to extend an opportunity to someone new to the business. Any information would be very much appreciated. Sincerely, Jeff M.”
Good question. Unless you have a contact through friends, family, etc., an intern position is hard to come by. If you only need 20 employees to run a billion dollar fund that doesn’t leave many spots for interns - especially in an industry that stays ‘low profile’. You may also consider the mind set of many great hedge fund managers: they often started with little money as one man shops. If you really want to be “them”, working for them might not be the way to get there. If you want to be them it might be best to emulate them.
