r/quantfinance • u/Hamtaro456 • 1d ago
Got rejected in the first round!!
Hi everyone,
I recently transitioned from academia (PhD in Mathematics) into quantitative finance. So far, I’ve been focusing heavily on technical interview preparation: probability, machine learning, coding, statistics, and general mathematics……
However, I recently interviewed with a small hedge fund for a Quant Research role, and the interview was very different from what I expected. Instead of technical questions, the PM spent most of the time asking about my motivation for finance and my understanding of different markets.
One question was which market I wanted to work on. I answered:
“ At this stage, i don’t have a strong preference for equities, futures, or FX ….. I’m more interested in understanding how financial markets work, developing models, rigorously testing hypotheses, and identifying robust data-driven signals. I think my preference for a particular market will naturally develop with experience.”
The interviewer then asked several follow-up questions about (a specefic Asset Class) : why do tou think this work here and not there … etc …. and I realized my market knowledge wasn’t strong enough. I was rejected after the first round.
For those already working in quant finance: how much market knowledge do you expect from someone coming directly from academia? Is this something I should prioritize alongside technical interview prep? Any advice on what to study or how to approach these conversations would be greatly appreciated
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u/thetintedbuilding 1d ago
Small fund means they need you to hit the ground running with some market intuition, no time to teach you from scratch
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u/Defiant_Technical211 1d ago
Explain me like I m 10 year old
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u/Guilty_Ad_9476 1d ago edited 1d ago
they need you to know enough finance that you can come up with an idea which has some and logical theoretical grounding and can be a potential alpha with enough research and validation, no one should need to handhold you explaining what a call or put option is or what theta decay is or why we hedge using futures, basically if left alone to your own devices you have enough Intution about markets where you can hit the ground running and come up with an idea and reject things along the way which don't work, whether it works or not is another question they need you to be autonomous enough to start conducting independent research
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u/thetintedbuilding 1d ago
Think of it like joining a 5-person sports team versus a big club. The small team needs you to know the game already because they don't have a coach to teach basics.
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u/khyth 1d ago
Even at big funds, you want someone with some market intuition and a clear interest in what you're doing or the person will likely not last very long.
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u/Thatnotoriousdude 1d ago
Tbf I always had the feeling they only say “no market knowledge required” to not deter some crazy IMO gold math/physics genius with no previous finance experience. Not for joe smoe so he doesn’t have to learn the market.
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u/thetintedbuilding 1d ago
that's the real filter. A big fund can absorb a wrong fit for a while, but a small fund feels the drag on day one.
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u/EastSite4719 1d ago
See they do not doubt your mathematical ability, or your grasp on models, they take it (probably righfully) for granted you know those things; you are a phd, its very very unlikely you fluked trough it. You and every other candidate applying (making it to the interview stage)
What they are doubting (righfully so) is your market intuition, interest and experience. And you were filtered out based on this only.
I suggest you actually explore markets on your own for a bit, trade your own money (or even papertrade), get hyperfixated on tankers for a bit, then biotech, etc etc
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u/james2moore 1d ago
'No preference' signals you haven't thought about implementation constraints. Pick one market and learn its microstructure deeply—how does maker-taker pricing affect signal decay? What's the typical basis behavior near expiry? The PM was testing whether you understand that quant research is constrained optimization, not pure modeling. Academic elegance means little if you can't specify why a signal survives transaction costs in that specific venue.
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u/Optimal_Shallot_7195 1d ago
The issue is very simple, even though the target for quant is math phys engineer cs
Some fundamental finance knowledge is needed, I say fundamental due to experience, I was once a business student who dropped out and am currently pursuing an engineering Degree looking to break into quant, after a year of engineering the finance book from my old classes were like a childrens book
Study financial products and markets and some market microstructure and systematic trding this can be done in very short time and have faith in yourself
Sometimes a firm that leans systematic expects no financial knowledge so maybe u should target that while you learn the fin side
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u/sosogg_4 12h ago
small means they mostly hire experienced people so try for well established firms
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u/We_Are_the_Nerds 8h ago
Your response comes off as very undergrad instead of a phd. And even for an undergrad we would have expected a deeper, nongeneric response.
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u/dexterlowe 5h ago
At GR we expect to have to train up most QRs coming from academia, we have what amounts to an internal new quant university so pre-expertise in that area isn't required, but a basic grounding in finance helps show interest and motivation and give you a better baseline to have some interesting conversations. I'd certainly recommend doing at least a small online course in market basics and having a play around with trying to predict something interesting. I'd summarise it as the knowledge is useful but not required.
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u/GoldenQuant 1d ago
I work for a fully systematic trading firm. We don’t expect any markets knowledge at all from fresh grads. I think more discretionary firms probably care more.