A $40 billion hedge fund identifies its rising stars using 3 simple factors everyone should know

Two Sigma

The number of employees at the firm has grown 400% over the past seven years, and it now has 1,000 staff, with offices in New York, Hong Kong, Houston, London and Tokyo.

It has generated $13.1 billion in returns since its inception in 2002, according to London-based fund of funds LCH Investments, making it the 20th most successful fund of all time. Only one fund, Brevan Howard, has generated more in a shorter period of time.

Evan Anger is a senior vice president in recruiting at the firm, and at a breakfast event organized by recruitment firm Options Group, he explained how the firm identified the next generation of leaders within the firm.

He said it's all about three things:

• Engagement - Anger and his colleagues in HR look at how engaged an employee is in what they're doing, life at the company, and their level of engagement with the company culture.
• Contribution vs scope of the role - The firm also tracks how actively employees engage with topics outside their own day-to-day role. That helps provide insight into whether someone could maybe step up one day, or take a bigger role in a different team.
• Career velocity - How fast is someone rising through the ranks? Are they being promoted ahead of schedule?

It sounds pretty simple, but it's useful to know.