Every firm is different and I'm sure many hedge funds would definitely consider that an asset, but for us since we do not invest any capital, we are not a hedge fund, and we are not in anyway in the business of constructing portfolios for long term investing, we don't have much use of knowledge of finance, economics, or trading. When we hire people they all go through a fairly comprehensive 3 month ramp up period where we teach everything one has to know about those subjects from the absolute fundamentals and in a way that is tailored to how our business operates.
Our interview process involves data structures, algorithms, probability and statistics.
For example if I asked you to write an algorithm to generate 4 random uniformly distributed positive integers (that means excluding 0) that sum up to 100, could you do it? That question or a similar one like it will eliminate about 80% of applicants, including those with PhDs, who are unable to produce an even remotely viable solution even after considerable assistance is given. Then you have the remainder who can produce a competent solution but it's not exactly uniform, there's some small bias in the answer but it's good enough and I can usually walk them through it to work out the kinks, and then maybe 5% or less are able to work out a perfect solution.
Some other questions you should be able to handle confidently would be... how many times should I expect to flip a coin before I see heads 3 times in a row?
More challenging questions will be about Markov chains, optimal stopping, random walks. All questions can be solved either by writing an algorithm, or providing a mathematical solution.
Then just go over your resume and ask you technical questions about it... usually I will find something you worked on, you will describe it casually and then I will ask a technical question about some specific area you bring up that you seem interested in.
I'm glad I asked. It's been a very long time since I've done statistics. I'll definitely put more time into refreshing the basics.
Are these questions asked on a computer? As in do you allow the applicants to program it up and show you a working version, or do you have to perform it there on the spot on the blackboard?
Whatever works for the person, especially with COVID all my interviews are done remotely over Zoom so people type it up on their computer or write it on paper and then hold it up to the webcam.
Our interview process involves data structures, algorithms, probability and statistics.
For example if I asked you to write an algorithm to generate 4 random uniformly distributed positive integers (that means excluding 0) that sum up to 100, could you do it? That question or a similar one like it will eliminate about 80% of applicants, including those with PhDs, who are unable to produce an even remotely viable solution even after considerable assistance is given. Then you have the remainder who can produce a competent solution but it's not exactly uniform, there's some small bias in the answer but it's good enough and I can usually walk them through it to work out the kinks, and then maybe 5% or less are able to work out a perfect solution.
Some other questions you should be able to handle confidently would be... how many times should I expect to flip a coin before I see heads 3 times in a row?
More challenging questions will be about Markov chains, optimal stopping, random walks. All questions can be solved either by writing an algorithm, or providing a mathematical solution.
Then just go over your resume and ask you technical questions about it... usually I will find something you worked on, you will describe it casually and then I will ask a technical question about some specific area you bring up that you seem interested in.