Hedge fund internships are some of the hardest jobs to get in finance. At Citadel, and sister firm Citadel Securities, for example, just 0.4% of those who applied got one of its 300+ internships. However, it turns out these aren’t the most unattainable entry level jobs in finance. Jobs at one crypto firm are even more competitive still.
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Emilie Choi, president and COO of $89bn crypto giant Coinbase, said this week that just 0.1% of applicants get hired. This is intentional. Choi said the Coinbase application process is “tough by design” to create an “incredible team with infectious drive and shared values.”
Headcount at Coinbase rose by 356 people year-on-year in 2024. This means that roughly 356 thousand people applied to Coinbase for its new positions alone. It may well have had 1 million applicants, given that it stated that it had 500,000 applicants for its jobs halfway through the year.
Why does Coinbase have such a wealth of applications? For one, it’s a remote first company, meaning it has a much larger geographical talent pool to work from. Citadel recruits from universities all over the world for its internships, but ultimately those that are applying must be content with moving to Miami, New York, or near another of Citadel’s offices.
There’s also the pay. Total compensation for employees averaged $474k last year, the majority of it coming in the form of Coinbase stock, which is up 35% so far this year. That’s big for a fintech, but not for Citadel. In the worst paid entity of Citadel’s UK division, for example, pay averaged $566k in 2023.
Coinbase has detailed its hiring approach in the past, stating last year that it overhauled the structured assessments staff must take to receive an offer. There are both technical and cultural assessments as part of this process.
Insiders have previously told us that Coinbase has a type, however, and quizzes whether worked at a FAANG firm like Amazon or Meta during the interview. Chief people officer L.J Brock, conversely, said in 2023 that Coinbase doesn’t want people who rely too heavily on their association with these institutions.
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