Any advice on how I can get on to a S&T desk at an IB?

jotec90

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Hi all,

I have been following this forum for a while now and have decided it is now time to write a post. Unfortunately, for you, it has been asked a thousand times before – how can I get on to the Sales & Trading desk at an investment bank? I would really appreciate any feedback. I apologise in advance for the long post however I thought it might help you to understand my position better.

My background is as follows:-

I went to a local grammar school where I obtained 10 GCSES A*-A’s, an A in AS-Level IT and AAB in Mathematics, Economics and Physics respectively – my Physics grade was highly disappointing as I was only 1 UMS mark from an A.

I then read Economics at the University of Southampton achieving a 2:1. Throughout my first and second year, I tried to obtain an internship at a number of Investment Banks, which proved to be fruitless. In light of the aforementioned, I decided it would be best to open up a trading account and start trading. I also taught myself about technical and fundamental analysis – I have read a number of books such as Market Wizards 1&2 and “Technical analysis of the financial markets” etc.

In my third year and Post-graduation, in July 2011, I applied to all the Investment Banks once again – I was restricted to the graduate schemes as these are designed for individuals who have recently graduated/in their final year. I took a number of the bank’s online tests and I know that I passed some, if not all, of them. However, once again, this proved fruitless. My only assumptions for not obtaining an interview were because I either did not have an internship on my CV (even though I mentioned I have a personal trading account), my Physics A-Level let me down (and an auto-filter picked this up), they decided to interview the individuals who scored the highest in the online tests, I did not go to a target university or a combination of the above. I also understand that many interns make it onto the graduate scheme. This made getting on to a graduate scheme even more difficult in the current economic climate.

I am sure those of you who have been in a similar position can appreciate how frustrating this has been for me. Trading is all I have wanted to do and I have never really contemplated doing anything else. I intend on applying, once again, to the Investment Banks’ graduate schemes this year but some of them are limited to individuals’ who would have graduated more recently than I.

My question therefore is does anyone have any ideas about how I can get into an investment bank?

HR, at the banks, are not interested and they just shun me away. I also have a few friends at Citi/Goldmans (a few years older than me) who have told me that the IB’s aren't really hiring at the moment and that it is also very difficult to do things outside of the formal process.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Josh
 
Your experience is shared by me and thousands of other graduates.

I went the boutique investment banking route for a while to try to step up, until I realised that rarely ever happens, so copped out.

Rather than an IB sales/trading desk you could try IDB but that is still v.competitive.. unless you can sell ice to eskimos that is

****ty market, ****ty times, sorry dude
 
Your experience is shared by me and thousands of other graduates.

I went the boutique investment banking route for a while to try to step up, until I realised that rarely ever happens, so copped out.

Rather than an IB sales/trading desk you could try IDB but that is still v.competitive.. unless you can sell ice to eskimos that is

****ty market, ****ty times, sorry dude

Thanks for replying James. I thought that would be the case.

May I ask what you are doing now/ what route you are going down?

Kind regards,

Josh
 
Josh,

yea its a shame that ppl like Evolution Sec. have been cleared out as they offered a genuine alternative route in for Grads to a S&T desk but they were obviously small fry compared to IBs.

Ive left finance industry altogether, actually looking to emigrate.. if I cant get the choice of career I want, I at least want to work in a country of my choice (give and take).

What are you doing instead? I know someone who works for one of those trading arcades but that really is desperation and money isnt exactly flowing in.
 
Josh,

yea its a shame that ppl like Evolution Sec. have been cleared out as they offered a genuine alternative route in for Grads to a S&T desk but they were obviously small fry compared to IBs.

Ive left finance industry altogether, actually looking to emigrate.. if I cant get the choice of career I want, I at least want to work in a country of my choice (give and take).

What are you doing instead? I know someone who works for one of those trading arcades but that really is desperation and money isnt exactly flowing in.

Yeah, its all a bit frustrating really especially, like you said, there are limited alternative routes onto a S&T desk.

Where are you looking to emigrate to out of interest? I've always liked the idea of packing up my bags and leaving but I've just never really had the bottle to do it. I actually live with a couple of kiwi's who have been travelling around the world, whilst working, since graduating (they are 27-30) and they absolutely love it. They've lived in the US, Australia, some parts of Europe and the UK obviously.

I'm currently working as a research analyst for a large hedge fund. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy my job but I want to be executing rather than researching/advising.
 
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