I’m preparing for an interview with a university endowment. I was thinking of compelling questions that I should ask that would help to indicate my interest and knowledge without actually telling them, ‘hey i’m smart, hire me’. Anyone have any good examples of questions you asked at interviews where the interviewer went 'wow if this guy is asking that question, he must be perfect for the job"
What kind of underwear are you wearing?
Boxer briefs, good thing I posted here, I would have never thought to ask that question
None.
Jhunt12280 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I’m preparing for an interview with a university > endowment. I was thinking of compelling questions > that I should ask that would help to indicate my > interest and knowledge without actually telling > them, ‘hey i’m smart, hire me’. > > Anyone have any good examples of questions you > asked at interviews where the interviewer went > 'wow if this guy is asking that question, he must > be perfect for the job" I have no experience here so take it with a grain of salt; but something I’m curious about is how Pension/Endowment Managers hedge these tough markets. So you may inquire as what their hedge is for when the Dow goes South. Otherwise ask about restrictions, leveraging, etc. Just my .02.
Anytime you can ask a question about something very current and top of mind you can score some great points. Example. I once asked a guy what he thought about outsourcing analyst jobs to India and he happened to have an article on his desk that he was reading before I interviewed with him. It was sorta dumb luck that I brought that up, but you get the idea.
I would ask a question about what the current endowment draw is funding(operating, scholarships, building additions, etc). Not that you care that much, but I think it shows you are interested in the actual usage…above that maybe something around what their investment process/team is like(CIO, presentations to an investment board, etc)…thats about all I got…oh maybe something about free tuition and where the hot coeds hang out on campus
I currently work at a large foundation. Try to get your hands on an annual report if possible and jot down some high level notes on it. Asset allocation, AUM, etc. My foundation had detailed lists of grants made so I made sure to look for interesting ones to bring up during the interview, which I think scored me some points. Also take note of any initiatives they are touting in the report. I second what tvPm said, esp about investment process/committee/etc. Some other things to ask might be: - How do they “slice up” the porfolio in terms of classifying different investments? This seems like a no brainer but a lot of places make a big deal about it. - What kind of allocation to alternatives (HF, PE, commodities) do they have, and do they expect to increase this in the future? This is a pretty hot topic in the E&F world right now. - What is the team like that I’ll be working with? - Will I have the opportunity to meet with external managers and attend conferences? - Do you support your analysts in pursuing the CFA? (mainly to show your interest in pursuing it) Try to do some research on what’s going on in the endowment world, what returns were like over the last year among endowments, what issues are facing them (i think there’s a tax issue coming up but foundations aren’t treated the same as uni endowments), who the biggest players are, etc. Some good pubs to check out are institutional investor and pensions & investments. I don’t like them as much as WSJ or financial times but they provide a good glimpse of what’s happening with E&F for the most part. That’s by no means an exhaustive list, if i think of more i’ll get back to you… good luck! if you have any questions, you can hit me up at bdenyer at gmail. might take me a little while to respond though… EDIT: full disclosure: i’ve been in my current gig for about 2 months and before that worked in an actuarial consulting firm, so my comments are by no means authoritative. but the interview is still fairly fresh in my mind.