Skills you need to work for a hedge fund

Only a few hedge funds have graduate schemes and those that do tend to only take on a handful of graduates. You'll need to be among the best and brightest; impeccable academics are expected, but you need more than this. If you want to work for a hedge fund, you'll should be able to show a passion for markets.

"A hedge fund manager needs to be able to balance risk and return, to develop an investment process, and understand his or her so-called edge," says Lex Van Dam, a former Goldman Sachs trader who now manages a hedge fund and helps graduates into finance careers.

We are looking for people who can demonstrate an interest in investment management," says Kester. "This could be through membership of a finance society or running a portfolio in their own time as an alternative to relevant work experience and internships."

Kester says they're not looking for graduate hires with fully formed trading ideas ("although if you have ideas we're happy to listen to them.") Instead, “it's about showing that you've got initiative,” says Kester, “showing that you're really focused on and interested in a career in investment management.”

Man Group looks for bright people who are good with numbers, says Kester, but students don't need a statistical degree. "We're not prescriptive about degree subject," Kester says. "But we do look for some evidence of numerical ability in the CV."

A hedge fund manager needs to be able to balance risk and return, to develop an investment process, and understand his or her so-called edge

If anything, Keizner says analysts at hedge funds need to be even smarter than analysts at investment banks: "Compared to those hired at banks, hedge fund analysts need to be even more resourceful because don’t typically have the access or the systems that the big global banks have."