The deep weirdness of some hedge fund interviews

If you interview at an investment bank, you may be asked weird questions. If you interview at a hedge fund, the chances of this happening are higher.

Last year, research conducted by eFinancialCareers in the US concluded that hedge fund interviews are the hardest. This week, it has also become apparent that they can also be strange.

Absolute Return Magazine has interviewed Ray Dalio, a hedge fund manager already known for mild social abnormalities which have not inhibited his ability to run Bridgewater Associates, the world's largest hedge fund with $87bn in assets, $37bn of which netted a 45% gain last year.

Among other things, it emerges that Bridgewater likes to incorporate the following elements into his interviews:

1) Questions on a candidate's views on abortion

2) Questions on a candidate's views on God

3) A Myers Briggs personality test (Dali is an ENTP - extraverted, intuitive, thinking and perceiving).

Bridgewater tends to hire, "smart liberal arts graduates in their 20s," about 30% of whom either leave or are fired within the first two years of joining.

One London-based hedge fund employee who has not interviewed at Bridgewater, but has interviewed at a succession of smaller funds said the egos tend to be bigger at hedge funds and the interviewers tend to be more aggressive.

The propensity for cryptic questions is also higher. Candidates report being asked to complete complex theorems. There may also be completely incongruous questions such as: 'What is your favourite email address and why?'

Jane Mann, an employment lawyer at Fox Williams Solicitors said it would illegal to ask a candidate's opinion on God in a UK interview as this would counter religious discrimination laws. She also says that employment claims involving hedge funds are rare: "Hedge funds tend to be smaller. They often have lots of money and are able to resolve their own issues without resorting to legal fights." In other words, they settle out of court.