Create the Step-by-Step Guide to attaining a S&T internship

I've been looking throughout the boards and I noticed that to get a full spectrum of knowledge on S&T internships, how to get them and how to prepare for them, you need to go through numerous threads and find a fraction of what your looking for at best with every thread.

So in this thread I would like, for the benefit of all of us out there looking to attain S&T internships or even full time roles, every one who has experience with the road to the S&T internship/full time role to post as many suggestions, methods of attaining interviews, interview questions, and preparation methods as possible so to create one thread with, hopefully, every answer available.

 
Best Response

There isn't one path to it. The one thing that should be standard is how you would ideally be prepared for an interview:

Know that interviews will be tailored to your past experience. Banks don't just have one template of interviews for all candidates because each candidate has different skills and ambitions. Thus, the polisci major isn't getting the same level of questions as the econ major with prior internship work.

With that in mind here is what you should do:

  1. Keep up with the markets. Get yourself a WSJ subscription if you dont have one. Open the papers, read the blogs, look at the quotes. As a junior guy in S&T most likely you won't have much to offer to the banks other than passion for the business and displaying an interest in the career you are able to embark on. So get to it.

Read everything. Deals that are in the market, market overview, currency news, credit news, rates news. Hell if you can slap a bid-offer on it, read about it. If one of your interviewers trades an esoteric rates product, and you can name a development in their space they will definitely appreciate it (true story).

  1. Prior to going into an interview with a particular bank, do some research. If you are interviewing for UBS S&T check out their site, see if there are any new acquisitions, new products, new awards, revenues/stock price/metrics. You want to go in there knowing something about the company you are interviewing for.

Also, use resources like WSO to see what past candidates of a particular company experienced at the interview. This will give you context.

  1. Create a simple single page. Have the major stock indices, currencies, treasuries, commodity prices. Update that the night before you go into an interview. Know the numbers. I did this. While I never got a question asking for exact prices of an instruments, my peers did. Its easy, so be organized and do it.

  2. Have a good answer for the following questions: What do you think about the stock market/credit/currency/rates market and whats your view? Pitch a long idea/pitch a short idea.

You will be expected to at least give a halfway decent answer to one of these questions. So make it something you know cold. Write down your answers. Poke holes in your thesis so you know what sort of questions your interviewer might ask. Talk about stuff you know about (dont bring up a metric and have no idea what it actually is).

  1. Know the typical fit questions: Walk me through your resume, why S&T, S or T (and why?), previous experience (tie it to your interest in S&T), market related work you have done etc etc etc. Search WSO, find these questions, prepare.

Again, write it down, poke holes at it, and get that ideal answer down in stone.

  1. Don't overdo brainteaser preparations unless you have the background or are interviewing with certain firms (prop, arb groups). If you do need to prepare, get your mental math down and go through the standard brainteaser questions (urn, dice, cards, whatever).

  2. Treat it like you job. The work you are putting into it is more important for your post-collegiate future than the 2.5-3 years you have spent in college. So, hustle and haul ass.

The return on investment you will experience by preparing for your internship and then getting that full time offer before you start your final year of school is ridiculous. So don't half ass it.

Remember: More you prepare -> More confident you are -> Better you perform. Simple as that.

 

Great post Baddebt! It is greatly appreciated. One thing I would like you to expand on though is #4, "Pitch a long idea/pitch a short idea". Would you mind providing an example? Im new to this so I would love to see what you are actually talking about.

 

Just have a long stock idea or a short stock idea. I didn't get asked this question (mine focused a lot on past experience) but friends got it. Look at some research online, find a stock, and remember the arguments for owning (or shorting) that stock.

I suggest NOT choosing IBM/MSFT/anything that is typical knowledge. Its riskier to pitch a tech stock to a guy that trades (or analyzes) tech companies for a living. Shoot for stocks in the

 

[quote=baddebt88]Just have a long stock idea or a short stock idea. I didn't get asked this question (mine focused a lot on past experience) but friends got it. Look at some research online, find a stock, and remember the arguments for owning (or shorting) that stock.

I suggest NOT choosing IBM/MSFT/anything that is typical knowledge. Its riskier to pitch a tech stock to a guy that trades (or analyzes) tech companies for a living. Shoot for stocks in the

 

"Overly Eager" in my opinion is short for saying "lacks basic social skills" or "pretends to know his s*** when he doesn't".

No one is going to ding you because you spend some time in your day reading wsj, keeping up with deal flow. No one is going to ding you because you opened a demo FX account so you could see how the currency markets work. No one is going to ding you for going out there and networking with people to get a better understanding of the industry you are about to join. Those are all activities a person who genuinely enjoys the subject matter would do.

The other side of being over eager is where you have candidates just talking too much or interrupting to make it known how much THEY know about the markets. Regardless of your experience, person on the other side knows more than you. So when they explain something, you dont need to jut in. Remember the old saying: "I would rather be silent, and have them think i am a fool than open my mouth and be confirmed a fool".

To counter this remember: never speak too fast (confident people don't need to speak a 100mph because people will listen to them regardless), don't interrupt, be courteous.

Remember: You might know the rates of GBPUSD, USDJPY, JPYCHF, LIBOR, S&P, DOW, and GOLD. But if your interviewer asks about the EURUSD rate and you don't know it, he is just gonna assume you don't know the rest. Doesn't matter you knew 7 out of 8 products, not knowing the 8th will bite you in the ass. Thus prepare and know it all.

 

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