Quant recruiting strategies to help differentiate your firm from another

Matthew Rooney, vice president and head of quant analytics – Europe at Selby Jennings, offers advice on how quant firms can secure the best candidates in an increasingly competitive hiring environment.

The “Great Resignation” is real

More and more quant professionals are open to looking for new opportunities and seeing what other companies have to offer them. This trend began at the onslaught of the pandemic and has trickled into 2021 and beyond. The first step to optimising your recruiting and retention strategy is recognising this and working backwards from there.

With demand for good talent and open jobs at record highs, our quant clients across the globe are taking unprecedented measures to make sure they are not only securing the best talent, but keeping them around. This also brings diversity and inclusion to the top of the priority list for many of the largest hedge funds, investment banks, and asset managers in the world.

Perception is reality

For many of the best quant researchers, analysts, and portfolio managers out there, perception is reality and how a firm is viewed by the public eye is a high priority. Quantitative investing falls in a niche of its own, within a much wider public finance sector, and many professionals who work in it realise and recognise how far a good brand name goes. Our advice is to focus on a few areas you really want to be known for and communicate those well, rather than trying to tick too many boxes.

Candidates have options

Over the past six months, we have been regularly working with quant professionals who end up with multiple offers. Some of the best candidates will get as many as five offers from five different hedge funds and trading firms. With more people being open to exploring the market – and the demand for research and trading candidates at an all-time high, talent is much harder to secure and keep around.

Offer a Q&A every step of the interview process

Where we see many organisations go wrong is not giving candidates enough time to ask questions and truly understand what it’s like to work at the fund. A day in the life of a researcher or trader at your firm and a constructive discussion around this could be the difference between keeping a candidate engaged in the interview process and losing them completely. We’ve found that the most successful hires are made when each interview is also a Q&A session and therefore advise our clients to make sure that every single interview is a chance for the candidate to learn about life at the fund, ask good questions, and a platform to understand what the fund has to offer them.

Time is your worst enemy

In a highly competitive marketplace, keeping interview processes short, sweet, and to the point is something we always advise. The longer the interview process takes, the more chance you are giving that candidate to line up interviews elsewhere, collect offers, or think about all of the reasons why they actually don’t want to leave their current employer. Keeping the candidate engaged is a simple way to make sure they have a good experience through the interview process and also set you up for the best chance to secure them. Setting strict three-day deadlines on offer letters, or only offering a sign-on bonus if the offer is accepted by a certain date, are just two strategies to differentiate you from competitors and leave a good impression on a candidate you really want to hire.

Final best offer first

Compensation has massively increased this year with funds paying more, giving more guaranteed bonuses, and including sign-on bonuses where they traditionally didn’t have to. In an effort to put their best foot forward, the most successful funds at hiring have been the ones who pay up and always put their best offer first. Working with an experienced talent partner to benchmark where your compensation sits, what a competitive offer looks like, and what it would take to secure someone is an easy way to make sure you are staying competitive and offering something that candidates are excited about.

Conclusion

As a recruitment business with foundations stemming from the quant markets, we have helped clients across both the buy-side and sell-side to continue to navigate the challenges of hiring and retaining the best quant talent out there. Having won the Quant Services Award for the second consecutive year, we pride ourselves in having some of the deepest relationships and networks within quantitative analytics, research and trading. We expect the hiring landscape to remain competitive in 2022, so paying close attention to the current landscape and using the right strategies to secure candidates is going to be critical.

Join Matthew Rooney at QuantMinds International this December!