Citadel CTO says he personally calls top entry-level candidates who are deciding whether to join the firm

Group 1 - Hedge funds are engaged in a competitive talent war, offering pay packages worth tens of millions to attract top talent, including entry-level positions [1][6] - Citadel's CTO, Umesh Subramanian, personally reaches out to in-demand candidates during their decision-making process, which includes recent graduates [2][6] - Subramanian identifies four key qualities in candidates: intellectual curiosity, teamwork passion, interest in commercial applications, and a strong engineering background [3] Group 2 - Despite personal outreach, not all conversations result in hiring; sometimes Subramanian advises candidates to consider other opportunities that may be a better fit [4][5] - The competition for talent has intensified due to the demand for AI expertise, raising the stakes in the recruitment process [8] - Other tech executives, such as Sam Altman from OpenAI and Mark Zuckerberg from Meta, also engage in direct outreach to attract top talent [7]