Twenty-five years ago, Ken Griffin launched his hedge fund in his Harvard dorm room.
Griffin now has a net worth of $7 billion, and Citadel, the hedge fund giant he started, employs 1,600 people and has $26 billion in assets under management.
In an interview with CNBC's Kate Kelly on Thursday, Griffin talked about what it took to get a job at his firm.
He noted that Citadel planned to interview 10,000 candidates this year to fill 300 job openings.
"I think Harvard is a bit easier to get into," he said. "I think the upside at Citadel is a bit better."
Harvard has a 6% acceptance rate, according to US News & World Report. Based on Griffin's numbers, Citadel has a 3% acceptance rate.
Griffin has been a huge supporter of his alma mater. Last year, he made a $150 million donation to the school.
Griffin explained that when making a hire he wanted to bring on the "best and brightest in markets."
"So one of the great advantages that I had in my career is I started trading 24 hours a day in my early 20s, and I had to learn to delegate to people," he said. "I had to learn to trust people, and I realized that success was going to be born in hiring really bright people — very self-motivated, very able to make good judgment calls day in and day out.
"And if you look at Citadel today, that's really the founding principle of the firm is a real pursuit of talent, a pursuit of people who have a passion for finance, and a pursuit of individuals who make good decisions day in and day out."
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