Trading game helps FS firms pick job candidates

Wall Street may have lost some sheen since the 2008 crash but firms are still inundated with applications from university graduates and have to manually review thousands of resumes before they can determine candidates for in-person interviews.

Startup Stockfuse is promising to help cut down on the time and resources necessary to find the best bets through its platform that enables firms to create portfolio management games through which they can gather insights into candidates’ investing styles, thought processes, engagement levels and even behavioral biases.

A multi-dimensional profile is automatically generated for each candidate based on their investing activities and interactions with other participants throughout the duration of a game. The system quantifies the skillsets of each candidate, allowing financial institutions to specify the exact criteria they are looking for and quickly filter candidates.

Patrick Adelsbach, cofounder of hedge fund research and advisory firm Aksia, says that banks often miss out on talent because they only conduct on-campus information sessions at a few universities. He says: "Using a skill-based recruitment strategy, Stockfuse allows us to identify talented students at the 99% of universities that we can’t reach via on-campus recruiting."

Stockfuse was one of the startups to win a place on Barclays' fintech accelerator programme in London this year, and the experience is bearing fruit, with the banking giant saying that the gamification platform will form part of its graduate recruitment campaign.

Sean McCormack, CEO, Stockfuse, says: "Stockfuse uses gaming technology to provide candidates with fun, engaging experience while allowing them to showcase their skills. Financial institutions are able to review candidates more efficiently and based on demonstrated acumen. The increased efficiency also allows them to expand their reach into a new, more diverse talent pool."