Hedge Fund Recruiting

Hedge Fund Recruiting - 3 Secret Handshakes

When I first glance at your info, there are clues right off the bat that tip me to either keep reading or hit the "delete" key. You might call these "secret handshakes" because top recruiters and hiring managers know them but they're rarely discussed. Getting these right doesn't guarantee you the job. It's table stakes at the highest levels of competition. Here are 3 hallmarks of "A" players who know the "secret handshakes":

1. Be Concise. Great people at great companies are concise. They have to be because they're busy and their time is worth a lot of money. When I see resumes and emails with blathering I know the person just doesn't get it. Ditto with phone and in-person interviews. A failure to be concise makes you look insecure, inconsiderate, and weak. Cut to the chase.

2. Be Discrete. Great people keep confidences and err on the side of understatement. They avoid gossip and they avoid trashing people or organizations. When ethics demand whistleblowing, they handle it professionally. That means revealing the problem through the proper channels to the proper authorities with no "leaking" and no drama creation. Discrete people are balanced when revealing their own past mistakes - giving adequate disclosure without getting too personal or graphic.

3. Focus On Results, Not Activities. Great people are results-driven. They get excited talking about what they have gotten done. Great people know that preparation, planning, meetings, and process-mapping are meaningless by themselves. Nothing happens until something happens. If the resume details accomplishments and achievements then my interest grows. If a resume limps along with gems like "managed relationships with 200 broker-dealer offices in 4 states" and "oversaw department of 20 people", I start wondering whether you just like to run up the phone bill and sit on a pile of overhead.

If your resume suggests conciseness, discretion, and results-orientation then content begins to matter. Without these three things, it really doesn't matter that you went to Stanford or worked at Citadel. Resumes don't always give a clue to all three "secret handshakes" and that's okay. No news is good news. But if your resume shows these things, it's a leg up against the competition. Savvy recruiters gather info on these traits in the phone screen and the in-person interviews, so keep them in mind at all times. These 3 "secret handshakes" are key emotional intelligence competencies: they are common to almost all true "A" players.

- Guest Blogger Marc Goormastic of Goormastic Executive Search

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