anyone know anything about the INTERVIEW??

[hemy]

hi guys

im a recent grad, and have got an interview at curvalue next week. Have passed a telephone interview and havnt got a clue whats gonna come up.

I got two numerical tests, one 8 minutes long and one 30 mins long.

any one with any ideas about what kind of questions they will be, what kind of qs they will ask!!??

 

[Chrissy T]

I'd imagine one of them would be a psychometric test which will test your ability to understand tables and data charts and answer questions on them, basically you need to absorb as much info as possible and answer 3/4 simple questions on them...
The other numerical test may be their own one, giving real - life trading examples, such as,

If I buy 200 vodafone shares at £X and the price goes to £Y , and sell short 5 FTSE Index contracts at A and close them out at B, how much have I made/ lost in the overall trade?

 

[Robertral]

I'd imagine one of them would be a psychometric test which will test your ability to understand tables and data charts and answer questions on them, basically you need to absorb as much info as possible and answer 3/4 simple questions on them...
The other numerical test may be their own one, giving real - life trading examples, such as,

If I buy 200 vodafone shares at £X and the price goes to £Y , and sell short 5 FTSE Index contracts at A and close them out at B, how much have I made/ lost in the overall trade?

u will probably get a lsit of simple mental arith and u have to answer them quickly......

 

[hemy]

what do you think are the interview answers they are looking for, why do u want to be a trader? because of the dynamic environment, the ability to earn and be responsible for your wages.. any other tips? or relevant questions which may prop up?

 

[Airthrey Capital]

As a matter of interest which University did you graduate from?

That way I will know immediately to discard any CV's I receive from anyone else who went to that particular University.

Do they spoon-feed everybody at University these days to the extent that they are totally incapable of thinking for themselves, or cannot answer a question without asking someone else first?

If you ever want to trade you are going to have to think on your feet. So in my eyes you have already failed.

What are you going to do when you are trading and a seriously poor / good economic figure is released?.......Post a question on T2W and wait for the answer as to whether you should go long or short?....Give me a break!

I can understand that you might want to ask questions on this site in order to do some pre-interview research, but having to research the answer to "why do you want to be a trader" beggars belief!

The Dumbing Down of UK PLC is all but complete.

 

[lightning bolt]

play nice!

 

[hemy]

i went to UCL, I did a mathematics degree, and am trying to soak in as much information as possible about trading as it is absoloutely new to me. No advice is bad advice and even if i ask a foolish question, theres no need for you to give a foolish answer.

So Blairlogie.. being a senior trader, and somebody who accepts graduates into your company.. Is there any decent advice you can possibley share with us graduates?? Or do you just waste your time writing pathetic degrading messages on threads in t2w..?

 

[Airthrey Capital]

Hemy,

Has it ocurred to you that I might work for Curvalue?

See you at the interview.

Who looks silly now?

 

[mikeyk]

no u dont

 

[Calypso]

Is it for a prop. position at Curvalue France in Canary Wharf?

hi guys

im a recent grad, and have got an interview at curvalue next week. Have passed a telephone interview and havnt got a clue whats gonna come up.

I got two numerical tests, one 8 minutes long and one 30 mins long.

any one with any ideas about what kind of questions they will be, what kind of qs they will ask!!??

 

[Mr. Charts]

C,
If you are who I think you are, drop me an email - long time, no see my friend ;-)
Richard

 

[hemy]

yes its for a prop position at curvalue france in canary wharf

 

[Calypso]

Why you want to be a trader? What you expect from curvalue? How you can benefit from their skills and services to make you a successful trader. Make sure you know the products (fixed income eurex and liffe). tick sizes, value of contracts, rollover dates, volatility of contracts, and product specs. If you have a basic understanding of technical analysis make it known.

You probably will be interviewed by their risk mgr and floor mgr. Both are nice and there to help their traders.

They will teach you a basic style, probably based on bollinger and trading spreads, but then it is upto you to use this knowledge and develop your own style to be successful. There are some very good traders in the office who trade schatz/bobl and euribor/schatz spreads.

The splits are good as well.

yes its for a prop position at curvalue france in canary wharf

 

[Roberto]

If you ever want to trade you are going to have to think on your feet. So in my eyes you have already failed.

Interesting how differently people can react to things. I feel that, especially for a trader, it's a good idea to research and plan first, and then think on your feet. I wouldn't want to employ someone who had made no effort to find out what the interview might be like beforehand, especially if it's comparatively easy to try.

 

[hemy]

thanks for advice guys, really really helpful, any ideas on the two numerical tests and where i can get practise tests from, I asked this question on the telephone interview and they said you cant prepare..

but i dont believe in cant!!

 

[anley]

Why don't you do things differently and when they ask you to do these completly useless tests tell them the truth that they're a complete waste of time, and the only reason they're done is a) everyone else does them and b) everyone thinks that they're useful.

Personally I'd be impressed if someone said that to me (but only if they didn't come across as arrogant) and I'd certainly invite them back to another chat.

This business thrives with people being different and thinking different, not by creating a series of corporate robots that all think and do the same.

 

[Robertral]

Why don't you do things differently and when they ask you to do these completly useless tests tell them the truth that they're a complete waste of time, and the only reason they're done is a) everyone else does them and b) everyone thinks that they're useful.

Personally I'd be impressed if someone said that to me (but only if they didn't come across as arrogant) and I'd certainly invite them back to another chat.

This business thrives with people being different and thinking different, not by creating a series of corporate robots that all think and do the same.

ermmmmm they are used as a filter....a company gets 1000 applications for 1 job!!!! you filter the CV's/....down to 200 people, are you going to interview 200 people? I think not!!!!! how do u filter them??? numerical test!!!!!

 

[hemy]

well it looks like im doing the tests!

ive spoken to somebody who did an interview at Optiver, they also said they had an 8 minute numerical test. 80 questions a pass rate of 50, with negative marking.

I think I may be in for a similar treat!

 

[anley]

ermmmmm they are used as a filter....a company gets 1000 applications for 1 job!!!! you filter the CV's/....down to 200 people, are you going to interview 200 people? I think not!!!!! how do u filter them??? numerical test!!!!!

Easy, pick them at randon - That would be no better or no worse than giving them all these tests.

In my old job I saw far too much evidence that brains and quickness was NO guarantee that you could make it in this game, infact many of the best guys in the office that I worked in were not that clever or sharp with figures, of course though some were.

Take the top 25% guys in your office, put them through these tests and I reckon you'd soon see why they're not worth the paper they're printed on.

If everyone is looking for people with the same sorts of 'brain characteristics'' or 'thinking patterns' then it's time to look the other way..........

 

[anley]

Another better test would be to try and look for individualism or a different way of thinking.

Pose an imaginary political problem or a battlezone situation and ask them to write 2 paragraphs on what sort of solution they'd propose, then chuck out all the people that approach the problem head-on.

If I was looking to filter I'd put far more emphasis on lateral and individual thinking than I would as to who can multiply 123457 by 3.5 the quickest etc.

Check it out on the net, you'll find so much research available that states that most if not all of the test for trading are useless and the only reason why they're done is that most if not all the firms is that they've all fallen for the marketing of the companies and Universities that produce these tests.