anyone know anything about the INTERVIEW??

[Chrissy T]

I agree with Anley that companies should be looking for individualism or creativity, but I still think the numerical tests have to be done to reduce the numbers (as Robertral mentioned). There are too many grads out there who are very intelligent but are clones of each other. Two years ago I was a graduate who was not as intelligent as the Oxbridge types (but still got a Masters from a top Uni) but stood out above most of these people because I was determined to succeed... I fought my way onto the trading floor, got battered down many times by some very arrogant traders/ HR/ Managers, but there were others who went out of their way to help as they saw my commitment and I really appreciated that. Even now I'm in a tough situation but I've got my head down and am fighting my way through it, and I know I will succeed, and I know that in five years time I will be a Senior Manager on an Investment Bank Trading floor...

Moral of story... BE CREATIVE, BE DETERMINED, AND DONT GIVE UP.

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.

 

[TWI]

Educational qualifications matter very little in this environment. From what I have seen it is the people who can make a quick decision, are numerically sharp and hungry to succeed who do well as traders in the arcade environment. Problem for the companies is that CV's really provide so little information that is relevant to the job that is being offered that cutting down from 500+ cv's to something manageable ends up being based on criteria that bears no relevance to the skill set you actually want to recruit. If there was a way to find the specific skill-set required it would be worth a lot to the recruiting companies.
Best suggestion I heard was to take the prospective candidate to the pub and get them to score a few games of darts. That would certainly make more sense than where or what degree they have. I have a first in Maths but know far more talented traders than myself who do not have a GCSE.

 

[hemy]

well guys ive had the interviews.. was an excellent learning experience last interview contained a test with economic issues and questions such as who is the chairman of the fed?
fingers crossed from here on..

thanks for all the advice

 

[sissymoon]

well guys ive had the interviews.. was an excellent learning experience last interview contained a test with economic issues and questions such as who is the chairman of the fed?
fingers crossed from here on..

thanks for all the advice

Hemy, would you be able to provide any details of the economic test? Is the numerical test just mental arithmetic? I've got an interview at another company, was also told that one of the tests would be economical.

cheers

 

[Chrissy T]

Hemy, would you be able to provide any details of the economic test? Is the numerical test just mental arithmetic? I've got an interview at another company, was also told that one of the tests would be economical.

cheers

I'd imagine the questions will be something like:

Who is the Chairman of the fed (as Hemy said) - Alan Greenspan
Who is chairman of ECB - Jean Claude Trichet
Previous ECB Chair - Wim Duisenberg
ECB Chief Economist - Issing
Chair of MPC - Mervin King
How many on the MPC - 9
What did the FTSE close at last night - 4808
And the Dow Jones - 10572.5
What was the latest inflation rate in Britain - 1.1% (target 2%)
What does this suggest? - look to possibly drop rates to stimulate the economy
What is the current "cable" (USD/GBP) rate - approx 1.84
What is spread trading- trading two (or more) products (inter or intra market) against each other
How is the war affecting the US economy - increased spending -> greater deficit -> etc..

 

[hemy]

yes very similar questions as these..

Other questions were.....

What US figure is released every first friday of the month?
What is the current rate of the dollar against the Euro?
How much did the US interest rate increase by recently?
What does the FTSE 100 comprise of?
If Interest rates go up, what happends to Goverment bonds?
What current factors are affecting inflation?

which company do u have an interview for?? gdluck!

I'd imagine the questions will be something like:

Who is the Chairman of the fed (as Hemy said) - Alan Greenspan
Who is chairman of ECB - Jean Claude Trichet
Previous ECB Chair - Wim Duisenberg
ECB Chief Economist - Issing
Chair of MPC - Mervin King
How many on the MPC - 9
What did the FTSE close at last night - 4808
And the Dow Jones - 10572.5
What was the latest inflation rate in Britain - 1.1% (target 2%)
What does this suggest? - look to possibly drop rates to stimulate the economy
What is the current "cable" (USD/GBP) rate - approx 1.84
What is spread trading- trading two (or more) products (inter or intra market) against each other
How is the war affecting the US economy - increased spending -> greater deficit -> etc..

 

[Chrissy T]

yes very similar questions as these..

Other questions were.....

What US figure is released every first friday of the month?
What is the current rate of the dollar against the Euro?
How much did the US interest rate increase by recently?
What does the FTSE 100 comprise of?
If Interest rates go up, what happends to Goverment bonds?
What current factors are affecting inflation?

which company do u have an interview for?? gdluck!

Non Farm Payrolls
25 basis points rise
top 100 British companies by market capitalisation
Interest rates go up, govt bonds go down
Oil, House prices... now reverse might be happening with some weak data coming out..

 

[alpha_monkey]

cable rate - one mine.
1.8570 trades....

I'd imagine the questions will be something like:

Who is the Chairman of the fed (as Hemy said) - Alan Greenspan
Who is chairman of ECB - Jean Claude Trichet
Previous ECB Chair - Wim Duisenberg
ECB Chief Economist - Issing
Chair of MPC - Mervin King
How many on the MPC - 9
What did the FTSE close at last night - 4808
And the Dow Jones - 10572.5
What was the latest inflation rate in Britain - 1.1% (target 2%)
What does this suggest? - look to possibly drop rates to stimulate the economy
What is the current "cable" (USD/GBP) rate - approx 1.84
What is spread trading- trading two (or more) products (inter or intra market) against each other
How is the war affecting the US economy - increased spending -> greater deficit -> etc..

 

[Chrissy T]

cable rate - one mine.
1.8570 trades....

sorry alpha monkey, i didn't have cable infront of me... just knew it was approx that!

 

[binsley]

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..........

i understand the logic behind this thinking - but in this business numerical tests work!!!

Take Optiver - they hire almost exclusively on the basis of their (very hard to pass) arithmetic test. If you pass they throw you in and see if you can trade - and believe - they have some of the smartest and most profitable traders in the business.

 

[Tubbs]

These prop firms - do they all require the rental for the seat? i.e. £18000 per year. If so I can't believe anyone would put themselves through all the pain of the interviews. I went to London Capital & answered a few questions - pretty easy I must say. They were interested but in a real sleazy kind of way (bucket shop). I got the hell away from that pretty quick.

 

[miniboot]

Yeah I recently applied for a graduate position (equity research, not trading) at Threadneedle, and it asked some pretty stupid questions like 'what do you think are the three most important factors affecting today's markets' and 'what one stock would you invest in and why'. I was gonna write Bluestar Airlines as my answer, citing corporate takeover rumours. I bottled it in the end and gave a growth stock followed by textbook reasons.

As it is I should have had a go with cocky joke answers, as they rejected me straight up. These graduate schemes aren't worth applying to unless you go to one of the top 5 universities.

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.

 

[pp599]

wish to thank all of you for your insights, i have a test with curvalue on tuesday and this has been a great help!!
could you guys tell me a little more about the maths test please. what i'd like to know is what type of questions they did ask and if there was enough time to complete all of them. could you also compare it to the optiver test as well please.

Thanks!!