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complexity101
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When to start looking for quant jobs

December 4th, 2015, 8:27 pm

Hi everyone,I've just started my final year of PhD in mathematics (UK) and I'm interested in becoming a quant. My question is when should I start to look seriously for quant jobs? I say this because the amount of reading required to get up to speed for quant interviews is potentially going to interrupt my research. So I'm just thinking is it better to wait till after the PhD before seriously starting to look out for jobs? I would appreciate the thoughts of more experienced folks in this community. Are most jobs advertised cyclically or can I get a job anytime? Thanks PS: In hindsight, I later came across this post-http://www.wilmott.com/messageview.cfm? ... adid=97173
Last edited by complexity101 on December 4th, 2015, 11:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
 
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Alan
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When to start looking for quant jobs

December 4th, 2015, 10:10 pm

I'd say wait until you've successfully defended your dissertation and the pressure's off.
 
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complexity101
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When to start looking for quant jobs

December 4th, 2015, 10:14 pm

Thanks for your reply Alan
 
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liam
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When to start looking for quant jobs

December 9th, 2015, 1:50 am

QuoteOriginally posted by: AlanI'd say wait until you've successfully defended your dissertation and the pressure's off.I second this. This was advice given to me by a housemate as I was finishing my MSc - he'd just finished a CS PhD, subsequently joined IBM, and seen quite a few classmates wind up with no masters or PhD by letting the jobhunt get in the way and get a stinking hole on their CV as a result. Best advice I ever got that year as had listened to too much rubbish advice from people that worked in sectors that aren't as involved as stochastic modelling.Sometimes people call it bad time management to not do both thesis and jobhunt but there is a long way to go - nailing the quant reading material and little things like deciding what products to specialise in and which areas to enter could be tougher to sort out than you might think.Your PhD thesis comes first.When I was on the market first there were junior roles all year round - I got my first one through a HH. So in theory you can wrap up the PhD, then boom, contact HHs, maybe contact DCFC etc. It's not as easy to get into a quant role these days and you are up against MFE grads, which was not an issue for PhD maths guys back then (2004/05), but a PhD is the ideal candidate in many ways.The main thing is you are unlikely to be going through grad schemes - I'm not even sure if there are many quant grad schemes out there (I was once advised that entering a grad scheme as a 'general analyst' and then working towards a quant role might work but I'm not convinced and the guy that suggested it was a bullshitting trader), but the plus side is that with the kind of entry level roles you get you will go straight into work and paid better.
Last edited by liam on December 9th, 2015, 11:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.