Ilana Weinstein.
Ilana Weinstein.
- Ilana Weinstein is the founder of The IDW Group, which focuses on recruiting investment talent for all kinds of investment strategies.
- We asked Weinstein about the biggest trends in the hedge-fund business and how to get a senior-level job today.
- She says senior-level employees' attitudes about changing jobs still surprise her, even after 15 years in the industry.
llana Weinstein, founder of the The IDW Group, is a tour de force within the hedge-fund industry.
She recruits top-level talent for the world's most prestigious investment firms, including hedge fund managers, family offices and private equity funds.
Weinstein recently sat down with Business Insider's hedge fund reporter, Rachael Levy, for a wide-ranging interview about the industry. She says there are still things that surprise her, even after 15 years of recruiting for every aspect of the industry.
Weinstein says people are scared of change, even when it could greatly benefit them. Here's more from the interview:
Levy: What has most surprised you in 15 years of interviewing the best people in this business?
Weinstein: How hard it can be to get them to make a move! Even now where they are the most receptive because of this disconnect between their performance and that of their fund, I still see the economic loss-aversion theory at play. These are people who are the most talented at taking risk for a living and yet when it comes to assessing their own career they have an inherent bias to weight the risks of a new opportunity over what they are likely to gain.
It's amazing how lopsided their thinking can be, but luckily they are also highly rational, so once they wrap their head around what they are doing they can make the leap.
You can read the full interview with Ilana Weinstein here.