Hedge fund manager Buzzy Geduld didn't follow a conventional path to Wall Street.
Raised in a middle class Brooklyn neighborhood, he was fired from his first two Wall Street jobs within months of getting hired, and left the industry to open a chain of donut shops. It was several years before he got back into finance, and worked for the brokerage firm that would become Herzog Heine Geduld. (Merrill Lynch acquired it in 2000.)
Geduld sat down with OneWire's Skiddy von Stade and shared his thoughts on what he now looks for when recruiting for his fund, Cougar Capital.
"I want somebody that's smart, hungry, not spoiled. Someone that comes in and actually says, 'I'll work 15, 18, 20 hours a day - just give me a shot. I'll mop floors, I just want an opportunity to learn,'" he said. "I'm not impressed by fancy schools - doesn't matter to me."
Geduld described one of his analysts - a first generation American, born to Colombian parents, who worked days and took night classes at Baruch College. She later did an MBA, also at night, at Fordham University.
"She lives it, breathes it, eats it. That's the kind of person that I like to have," he said.
And, while Geduld is a particular fan of unconventional career paths, he added, "You've got to enjoy that journey. That's the best part of it, is the beginning all the way through to the end."
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