Chapter 11: Paul & Dominic’s Guide to Getting a Quant Job 395
Covering letter In your covering email, mention where
you saw the advertisement, and importantly which job
you are applying for. If you don’t say which job you are
applying for, you are relying upon the person receiving
it to guess correctly. That does not always happen, and
the larger the firm, the lower the probability, and at the
very least it makes their lives harder which is not the
way to start the relationship.
A good format for a covering letter is to respond to the
job specification point by point. State your ability to
handle each item, together with why you think you can
do it. This makes your CV more digestible, and shows
that you are serious about the application.
Opinion is divided about whether you should have some
‘‘statement of intent.’’ If you can think of something
useful to say here, by all means put it, but be aware
that a lot of new entrants to the market ‘‘want to pursue
a career in finance with a leading firm.’’
Above we emphasize getting your CV checked, and this
applies especially to the covering letter. Some managers
discard the CV unread if the letter is sloppy.
Fonts and layout SomethingsoNYOURcvare
important,and youmaywanttOdrawtheirattention
to them.Donot dothisexcessively.Itisreallyirritat-
ing.TheonlytimebreakingTHISrulehasworkedto
ourknowledgewasahardcoreprogrammerwho
learnedthePOstscriptlanguagethatPCsuseto
talkdirectlytoprintersand hedevelopedApro-
gramthatprintedhisCVasconcentricspiralsoftext
invaryingsize.Viewedonscreenitwouldslowly
spin.YES,Dominichiredhim.
