Looking for a summer job shadowing/intern opportunity at hedge fund

[Daniel Chen]

Hi everyone,

My name is Daniel Chen. I am a junior at Harvard College enrolled in a four-year A.B.-A.M. program in Applied Mathematics-Economics with an A.M. in Statistics. I am looking for a paid internship or unpaid job shadowing opportunity in the hedge fund industry this summer.

I consider my greatest strength to be my analytical and problem-solving ability. I have participated and performed well in numerous national math competitions including a qualification for the USA National Math Olympiad and scoring a perfect score on the USA Mathematical Talent Search in 2004 as well as being selected as one of 75 to attend CEE's Research Science Institute.

I have coursework completed in complex analysis, measure-theoretic real analysis and probability, linear algebra, econometrics, capital market theory, and macro- and micro-economics and have current coursework in partial differential equations, statistical inference, and stochastic processes in spring 2008. I am also an avid programmer and statistician, with a strong command of C/C++ and object-oriented development as well as familiarity with multiple statistical and mathematical computing environments.

Outside of my coursework I have edited for our school newspaper's editorial board, served on Harvard's Undergraduate Council, directed for Harvard's two Model UN programs, and have been on the House crew team. As hobbies I am also a DipABRSM-certified concert pianist, and play duplicate bridge in the ACBL.

I have no previous experience working in finance, and am looking for advice on breaking into alternative asset management. I have tried cold-calling hedge funds but have not had much success because most funds don't have internship programs.

I thank you in advance for any advice or direction you guys could give.

Best,
Dan

 

[John]

check this thread, he gave some insightful pointers
Exclusive Interview with Tim Grant of UBS - QuantNetwork - Financial Engineering Forum

One thing that stuck out for me was the following

If you were asked to design a curriculum for MS program in Financial Engineering which core courses would you pick?

Well I think they need more practical application experience. Turning up to the interview knowing how to derive Black-Scholes from first principles won’t actually help you as much as having priced and mock traded options strategies with the model you’ve implemented.

I would create a financial model, say option-implied vol, and start paper trading. If you don't have access to real-data quote, you can use something like quote.yahoo.com. Run a book of options on a spreadsheet and report your PnL and other risk measures. Do this for a period of time and write a report. You can leverage this experience to not only open doors, but once you are face to face with the recruiter, and something tangible and practical to talk about. Good luck.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

I would hit the career service at Harvard very hard. Search for H alumni who work at heggies in the Boston area and call them up. Contact the alumni association. Talk to your professors. Knocks on doors.
I refuse to believe that if you do that hard enough, you won't find something.
Your profile is solid enough to at least get someone interested.

Now, it begs the question that since you have no finance experience, what makes you want to work for heggie and in alternative AM. What kind of research you did prior to this choice ?

 

[iosakwe]

I would create a financial model, say option-implied vol, and start paper trading. If you don't have access to real-data quote, you can use something like quote.yahoo.com. Run a book of options on a spreadsheet and report your PnL and other risk measures. Do this for a period of time and write a report. You can leverage this experience to not only open doors, but once you are face to face with the recruiter, and something tangible and practical to talk about. Good luck.

Following up on John's comments, This http://news.efinancialcareers.com/NEWS_ITEM/newsItemId-13143 was just speaking to the job market in Boston. Could be encouraging in your pursuit...