I’m a strong candidate looking to find my first quant job in London to start in September/October. I did well in the international olympiads while in high school. I have a double first in physics and applied maths. I completed my PhD in computational physics in less than 3 years from a top 10 UK university. I am currently a few years into my own university research fellowship and have a couple of minor grants. I’m aged 28 so I still have lots of energy! I’ve spent the last 5 years primarily solving PDEs using finite difference methods. I’ve been learning my finance and polishing relevant areas of my technical skills for a couple of months and want to start interviewing soon. I’ve heard some bad things about recruiters and head hunters – are they a necessary evil or will it be possible for me to get a job that suits me and pays appropriately without their assistance? Any advice?

they're no more evil, on average, than you are. you want money, they want money. you offer services, they offer services. everybody has to make a living.

and there's a headhunter DCFC right here on this board: try him

QuoteOriginally posted by: threetoedslothI’m a strong candidate looking to find my first quant job in London to start in September/October...I’m aged 28 so I still have lots of energy!I believe that it may be illegal to emphasize this in UK, as there is supposed to be anti-ageist legislation there.

It's not illegal to state your age, the issue is with hiring people because of it. It's all a bitr Blairite, since it's obviously possible to get a good approximation to people's age from their CV if you really care.

QuoteOriginally posted by: threetoedslothI’ve heard some bad things about recruiters and head hunters – are they a necessary evil or will it be possible for me to get a job that suits me and pays appropriately without their assistance? Any advice?It's possible, but more difficult. What the HH provides is a pre-existing network of business contacts that you can tap into. You can create such a network on your own, but it involves about one year of going to conferences, gathering business cards, calling people on the phone, and generally thrashing before anything happens. It can be done, but one problem is that people who tend to be good at math and physics are more likely than not to be introverted people that dislike doing sales and marketing.There are some horror stories about HH's, but the good news is that if someone finds a HH that works well with them, they get a reasonable job, and everyone is happy, then they aren't likely to be posting about it.

Hey there,Like twofish said, it can be done, and is usually easier than most people make it out to be. Put on your sales hat, muster up some courage and confidence, and hit those phones. Persistence pays but don't be annoying. Working this way along with HHs will greatly increase your chances of success. A rolodex, the internet and a phone line are the most powerful job search tools available. It's all in how you use them...

thanks for the discussion. It helps me too.twofish, your right, sadly also right about the time and means to build network. For a period I tried cold-sell myself into a new industry by sending emails/ calling people unfortunately it didn't seem to work at all. Perhaps I didn't bring along the level of trust people usually have for someone they met at a conference, saw in person, or got business card. Or that this method will cultivate but take longer time than I expected or can afford.one thing I noticed about most agents and that put me off is they generally sell candidates cheap, perhaps so that the companies are more inclined to consider such a very good deal. Cheap here means lower level then candidate otherwise can get, lower pay, different scope of work from what desired but which candidate can do well. In a familiar market a candidate can reckon this and push back straight, but if one emerges in a new market like myself (going to London) then it is very stressful.

Any horror stories (experiences) of dealing with agencies and headhunters experienced by people in this forum?

QuoteOriginally posted by: threetoedslothI’m a strong candidate looking to find my first quant job in London to start in September/October. I did well in the international olympiads while in high school. I have a double first in physics and applied maths. I completed my PhD in computational physics in less than 3 years from a top 10 UK university. I am currently a few years into my own university research fellowship and have a couple of minor grants. I’m aged 28 so I still have lots of energy! I’ve spent the last 5 years primarily solving PDEs using finite difference methods. I’ve been learning my finance and polishing relevant areas of my technical skills for a couple of months and want to start interviewing soon. I’ve heard some bad things about recruiters and head hunters – are they a necessary evil or will it be possible for me to get a job that suits me and pays appropriately without their assistance? Any advice?You have all the right skills, but if you have not done any C++ in the last 2-3 years it is going to be very hard.

Cm'on, headhunters are not all bad. I've dealt with DCFC from both sides now, and he's OK. When you want to buy a house, do you have to go through agencies? Not necessarily, but if you don't, you just make life unnecessarily hard for yourself.

One thing we can do for you, which you won'get from applying to banks is hints why you didn't get a given job, and a steer on what to do about it.Most banks say "thank for your application, but due to the high volume of applications, blah blah blah"My view is that you maximise your options by using both paths.

DcFC, I've never gotten a useful answer from an HH explaining why I didn't get a certain job. Most explanations are vague, like "They decided to hire somebody else." or "They were looking for something else." What other reasons have you come up with?

Obviously we can't always come up with an answer because we're not told, but pass on our interpretation where we can.Also we can often indicate why you are unsuitable for your target job.

Just read Hull (sounds like you have already read it tho and more!) and you'll get a job absolutely no problem. If you have done computational physics your programming will be superb and it sounds like your maths is superb also (im sure better than your interviewer on both counts!). Only thing left is your social skills - if you meet someone in finance in a pub in london they will get you a job because they get paid for it. Wear a nice suit to the interview.