Employers

Today, there are more than 30,000 hedge funds in the world. Many U.S.-based firms are headquartered in New York and other cities on the East Coast, Chicago, Dallas, and Los Angeles, although firms can be found in nearly every state. Many top U.S. firms have offices in foreign countries. For example, Brookfield Asset Management (the 31st-largest firm by assets under management as of December 31, 2022, according to Pensions & Investments) has operations in more than 30 countries on five continents.

Starting Out

Popular job-search strategies in the hedge fund industry include the use of recruiters and job boards, personal contacts, and one’s professional network (both at in-person networking events and industry conferences and on social networking sites such as LinkedIn). Additionally, be sure to utilize the resources of your university’s career services office. Career counselors can help you improve your resume, develop your interviewing skills, and direct you to finance career fairs. Some professional associations, such as National Investor Relations Institute (https://jobs.niri.org), offer job listings at their Web sites. Institutional Investor’s Alpha (https://www.institutionalinvestor.com) publishes an annual list of the top 100 hedge fund firms in the United States with the highest amount of assets under management, as well as rankings of the top firms in Europe and Asia. Use these lists as a starting point in your job search.

At a large hedge fund, an entry-level investment relations specialist can advance to the position of IR manager, and then IR director. Investor relations professionals with considerable experience on the finance side could eventually be promoted to the positions of hedge fund manager or administrator. Additionally, many investor relations jobs are available outside the hedge fund industry, especially at large companies.

Take classes and participate in other activities that will help you to develop your communication and interpersonal skills.

Visit the following Web sites for job listings: http://www.efinancialcareers.com, https://www.indeed.com/q-Hedge-Fund-jobs.html, and https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/hedge-fund-jobs.

Use social-media sites to network and learn more about the industry. One useful resource is SumZero (https://sumzero.com), a social-media site for buy-side hedge fund, mutual fund, and private equity professionals.