How to get a job as a trainee trader! Please help!

babbar sher

Hi all,

Thanks for viewing this.

I was recently at the gradireland.com fair in the RDS and saw a presentation by SIG (Susquehanna), the trading firm in IFSC. Im sure most of you know about it. Anyways, I always thought about being a trader, but this presentation really made me determined to be a trader.

I graduated in Accountancy & Finance, and received a 2.1 hons award. I have completed all my ACCA exams, a substantial part of my education in college & professional level was finance (futures, forwards, options, forex etc). I dont have a quantitative maths background. I know SIG really look for that in their potential trainees. Does everyone hiring trainees look for that? I mean I am willing to put in a year into studying a masters in a quantitative discipline! But I'll be great if I can get in somewhere right now!

I spoke to someone in a firm, he said they dont just look for people with maths, but they're open. The man has asked me to send him my CV & a letter of achievements. I have experience of working in an accountancy practice, a 5 star hotel, and have held supervisory positions in multinational organisations.

I just want to ask all traders out there, what can I do to enhance my application & increase my chances for an interview? And any other advice & tips are greatly appreciated!

Thanks very much! Feel free to ask anything else that'll help in giving advice!

soddy1979

I don't have any direct experience with SIG, but I know someone who has a masters in economics who did not pass the telephone interview with SIG. She said the telephone interview was very much leaning towards the quant side of things.

MrMatisse

The level of quantative ability demanded is very high. Unlike ACCA which would be focused on how derivatives are used someone going to work at SIG would have to be familiar with the mathematical basis behind them and be able to manipulate those formulae depending on various mathematical scenarios.

Probability is very important also.You would need to be able to work out the probability of different events very quickly in your head, you will be asked things like

there are three ships a b and c, one submarine is trying to blow up a ship, it has 5 missiles, the probability of a direct hit is .05. If you are in ship a what is the probability your ship will be hit?

and have to do it in your head quickly.

As a rule of thumb they look for a min of 500 points in the leaving and a very high 2:1 in a quant discipline or a first.The content of the a&f course at dcu(if that is where you didn it) or the acca is not the type of things you would be asked so you would need to brush up on your probability theory and general maths.

There is a graduate diploma in maths by correspondance available from the LSE. If you are comfortable with the content of that course then you might just make it into SIG.

DJDC

Theres lot of different types of trading out there.

Different Asset Classes..... Credit, FX, Commodities, Equities

Different Trading Desks....Hybrids,Vanilla,Exotics etc.

Its impossible to know which area suits you starting out. SIG might suit you but pressurised flow option trading would bore a lot of people.

Getting some kind of internship is mandatory nowdays.

babbar sher

Looks like I definitely need to have a quantitative degree or a maths qualification on my CV to get through into the selection process at SIG.

Can any of you recommend a quick way of attaining that? Application at SIG was declined there

Can anyone out there recommend a proven path to take in order to get a job as a trainee trader?

I've been speaking to others and got advice to get into investment banking etc and then work my way up to be a trader.

Also do all trading firms want their potential trainees to be efficient at poker? Havent a clue about the bloody game? Is it hard to learn, does it take long to get to know the basics?

Thanks for all your help!!

ixus

babbar sher, you're all over the place at the moment.
This isn't a criticsm, but you have little understanding of the industry going by your posts. You've applied to SIG way too early.

You need to spend some time exploring the various avenues that can be persued. You won't find everything here, but it's a good place to start. I'd suggest you go down through the threads going back 12 months or so and look for ones that can help you. You would be at a disadvantage going into any interview right now I think. But it's something you can change.

Quants/Maths isn't the be all, but you do have to have a decent ability and it really depends on the role you'd be performing. I'd guess, given your present info, you don't love maths. Quants love the feckin stuff. An MSc in it or a Certificate in it would be worth investigating if you're really interested.

Programming skills are also desirable for Excel, VBA, C++, Java etc.

Searching the net for trading jobs will throw up plenty of specs to give you a better picture.

For SIG, my understanding is that they use poker to train people in strategy, money management, psychology etc.

Getting into trading can be a long process; trust me on this one

gman100

ixus wrote: »

Getting into trading can be a long process; trust me on this one

can you elaborate on the steps you took to get into trading?

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

damnyanks

Simple enough really

Cash products (The actual asset) - Join a grad program and they'll have you trading within 3 months easy.

Exotic products (Usually a lot of 'terms and conditions' applied to a underlying product) - join as a trader assistant or market risk. Spend 12 - 24 months supporting senior traders and you'll wait for a position to open up.

As for getting an interview it really depends on the firm. If you are looking at a large investment bank you need to pull out the template and fill in the gaps (good scores in school, active in college, occasional 'something special' moment), assuming you are going for a grad program.

Buy side / asset management (usually execution / portfolio calibration) you'd have the right background.

small prop house - anything goes.