Sales & Trading Summer Associate

Standard OCR process - company presentation, crop circles, follow-up events, office visits, etc, as they thin out their shortlist. HR is unusually present in the process compared to other firms. Gave you plenty of opportunities to meet with their people, but they controlled the access - less room to take your own initiative. Culminated in a Superday onsite. I have no evidence for this but I suspect that unlike other programs, they actually read things like your cover letter to get a sense of how you present your case. Set limits on expense claims; realistically you were out-of-pocket. Interview process was meeting several back-to-back S&T folks of varying degrees of seniority in strictly timed interviews. There was nothing out of the ordinary with the interviews - they went exactly as expected. If you've prepped for S&T, you know they care about your story, signs that you follow the market, trade ideas, brain teasers, behavioral questions, and just seeing if they like you. Very low douche factor - the majority of the people there are on the outgoing side, but quite serious about their work (they have a greater technical focus than other firms). Generally speaking they are straight-talkers, won't BS you and expect the same. The interviewers are usually from desks with a track record of hiring your profile. Office architecture is outwardly elegant, a little more restrained inside. I thought it went well and felt pretty good about getting an offer, though I ended up not getting one.