Jaimi Goodfriend on the Wall Street Oasis Podcast
April 2021
Jaimi Goodfriend, Head of Investment Professional Development and the Point72 Academy, recently sat down with Patrick Curtis from WallStreetOasis to discuss her road to the buyside, Point72 Academy's track record in developing thoughtful investors, and how she views talent. You can read highlights below, and find the episode on your podcast platform of choice.
On where Point72 looks for talent:
“We have three intake dates per year, around the world… You could be an undergraduate. You could be an MBA graduate. We really like to hire veterans who have come back and gotten the graduate degree, so they may not have civilian work experience. People may come from banking or be a doctor, or we’ve hired people from the White House. As long as they haven’t had really any buy-side experience, we consider them to be a good candidate for the Academy where we can then teach them the Point72 way of investing.”
On Point72 Academy’s success:
“We have a 91% placement rate. Not everybody chooses to go into long/short from that—almost everybody does—but for example, we have a Ventures group and some people have chosen to go to the ventures team, or the macro team. We have never placed anybody in Cubist or the super-quantitative sides of it because they really look for a slightly different kind of candidate. I feel very fortunate about our retention rate, but I think the Firm has worked really hard to solidify the fact that we are the top development brand in the hedge fund space, and we will continue to work with analysts, to develop them. And I think that’s compelling.”
On what students interested in finance should look for:
“You want to be at a firm that invest in you no matter what. And that invests in itself to make sure that it stays on top… I think there are still people who earn great returns in this industry, but it is harder than it used to be. And so you need the training to be great. There are more professionals in the market than there used to be. And so you need to find a firm that invests in you and frankly to find a mentor that invests in you. I’m sure so many of your listeners have thought about mentors in their careers to kind of get where they are, and that shouldn’t stop in college or in your first job. We have mentorship programs in Point72 because I respect the fact that you need a community. This is a tough job and you need a community to be successful.”