eFinancialCareers

Exactly what do Scots fund houses look for when they're hiring trainee fund managers?

Will Brydon, human resources business partner at Martin Currie, says numeracy is vital, as is the need to assimilate a huge array of information about the way markets are going.

But, he adds, what ultimately makes the difference between a good or bad fund manager is their ability to take calculated risks.

Richard Fletcher, of fund management headhunter Fletcher Jones, says recruits need to be able to "think outside the box," and that it helps if you're "very competitive, very articulate and have a general understanding of financial markets."

Another specialist fund management headhunter says it's all down to "gut instinct," or, more precisely, the ability to sit down in front of the chief executive of the company you're investing in and unearth what's really going on with his or her business.

The easiest way to penetrate Edinburgh's fund management sector is straight out of university, when companies will typically hire you on a three- or four-year training stint earning £35k a year plus a 25% first-year bonus, rising to £45k a year and a 60% bonus in year three.

The unlucky majority try and switch into fund management as career changers and typically either fail or take a drop in earnings. Brydon says people who have a transferable skill – such as accountants – are welcome, but "but they have to go back to square one to be the equivalent of a graduate trainee, as they have no track record."