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Jane Street Capital FIRST ROUND phone Interview.. what to expect?
 

sahilarora's picture
ST
(Monkey, 34
 
Points)
 on 10/3/09 at 12:59am

Hey Guys,

I have my first round phone finance interview with JSC in 4 days. What should I be expecting? Anyone who had their ph interview with JSC.. your insight would be of great help.

Also, any site where I can get a good prep?

Tags:
monkeyface's picture

they will pretty much just

ST
(Baboon, 173
 
Points)
 on 10/3/09 at 1:41am

they will pretty much just fuck you and then not call you for 2nd rounds

Zalfor's picture

yep

O
 
Points)
 on 10/3/09 at 2:47am

unless ur a god. prepare to die.

DontMakeMeShortYou's picture

.

HF
(King Kong, 1,900
 
Points)
 on 10/4/09 at 4:41pm

.

See my WSO Blog

she_monkey's picture

to the op: there are lots of

 
Points)
 on 10/3/09 at 9:13am

to the op: there are lots of posts with jane street's questions if you search on this side

...i have a in person first round with them in a few days. having read the posts on this site about them (this thread doesnt help either).. i'm prepping for getting butchered :|

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xht's picture

to op: How long did it take

O
(Chimp, 1
 
Points)
 on 10/3/09 at 9:57am

to op: How long did it take you to hear back from JSC after submitting your application?

mactrader's picture

I've heard JSC is more in

ST
 
Points)
 on 10/3/09 at 12:39pm

I've heard JSC is more in the market making business than other top prop shops, is this correct?

mcmoran23's picture

Does anyone know if they

IB
(Monkey, 63
 
Points)
 on 10/3/09 at 1:29pm

Does anyone know if they invite you in for an in-person interview if you are located out of state ?

Thanks.

she_monkey's picture

got the interview. have to

 
Points)
 on 10/11/09 at 1:47am

got the interview.
have to agree with the first two posters--
you're f***ed.

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brotherbear's picture

Not terrible

PE
 
Points)
 on 10/11/09 at 7:50pm

I interviewed with JSC. The first round questions were honestly pretty easy if you're not terrible at math. I was asked to do some mental computations, and a basic probability question regarding dice.

Second round questions were a bit harder, but still reasonable. They are all mental problems (i.e. no pencil, no paper).

Third round--harder still. One of the questions I got was: my roommate and I are having a house party. We invite 15 couples. At the party, everyone must shake hands with everyone whom they do not already know. At the end of the party, I can't remember the number of people I have met, so I go ask all other people at the party how many hands they have shaken, and they each tell me a different number. You do not shake hands with yourself or your 'partner' (the person with whom you came). How many hands did my roommate shake?

Fourth round--same as third, but they have you bet on the answers you give. In all rounds, they ask how sure you are about your answers (as a percentage). In this round, if you are asked to give a 95% confidence interval, and then a 90% confidence interval, you should understand how to construct one. They'll ask you to 'make a market' on your answer, and ask how much you're willing to risk per point. So if the answer to the question which you're not (unless you're Rain Man) going to be able to compute in your head is, say, 22.375148 and you go 20-30, they're going to ask you to narrow it. They're going to make you do this quickly, by the way. They might say they want a two point market. Then you go 24-26, and you're given at 24. Then you go, say, 20-22, and you're lifted at 22. They then ask for a 1 point market, and you go 22.5-23.5, and given at 22.5. At which point, they're likely to ask you how much money you have lost making the market. You need to be able to do this stuff in your head. If you can't, well, you wouldn't have made it to the 4th round in any case.

5th round was an in-office interview. It's the only time that you're asked ANY fit questions. It's also the only time I went to their offices (as I was in London, and they VAST majority of their traders sit in NYC). Nice offices. Anyway, a few more brainteasers. At this point, you have to be pretty strong at math, so the questions I got were actually easier than the 4th round questions. One of the questions I got was: I'm thinking of a 10-digit number, where each digit represents the number of that ordinal number in the whole number. So, the first digit represents the number of 0's in the whole 10 digits. The second digit represents the number of 1's in the whole 10 digits. And so on. The first digit is not a '0.' What is my number. Once again, there was no pencil and no paper. And you're given about 20-30 seconds to respond.

There were a couple of game theory questions in the earlier rounds, but I don't know if everyone gets the same sorts of questions, as I have a mathematics degree, was a math olympian, and have a graduate degree in economics (so if I couldn't do remedial game theory, I was in trouble).

I didn't end up getting the job. Apparently, I messed up in one of my last interviews. I have a good deal of respect for the mathematical aptitude of the people there, though, and if you're good at math (not the shit from a classroom--I mean if you're naturally good), you will probably fit right in. They don't care about anything else until the final round, so good luck.

cruz12's picture

OK so I don't mean to be

IB
 
Points)
 on 10/11/09 at 9:00pm

OK so I don't mean to be rude - but is it the norm that someone with a 3.4 in econ can be pulled for interviews at a HF as top-tier as Jane Street? And that too as quant as Jane Street? I realize GPA means little to nothing as far as long term success or capabiity - I mean, Sandy Weill nearly failed out of college, right? - but for better or worse, it is the dominant screening mechanism for getting a job. I'm guesssing that the OP is from a target, but even then, are these stats that would need to be supplanted by something else quite potent.....say networking?

chewingum's picture

6210010000

IB
(Baboon, 145
 
Points)
 on 10/11/09 at 9:37pm

Are all prop trading interview questions as hard as this, or is JSC an anomaly?

Also, how would you go about learning how to answer the market-making question? Does that kind of stuff appear in econ/finance classes or in books?

Thanks in advance.

brotherbear's picture

6210001000

PE
 
Points)
 on 10/11/09 at 11:10pm

I'm assuming you meant 6210001000. Anyway, you wouldn't learn how to do a problem like this in any class. A good brainteaser shouldn't be a test of knowledge, but of ability. They're meant to test your way of thinking, not what you already know.

Whilst I used to think they were an absolute waste of time when I was monkey, having sat on the other side of the table, you'd be surprised how few kids can actually answer these. And, because brainteasers don't serve their purpose if the candidate has already heard the question, places like Jane Street ask A LOT of brainteasers. It's a way to make sure that over-zealous DBs with interview performance anxiety get discovered before getting a job offer. These firms are looking for alpha. If you can't think creatively (which isn't something that is obvious from reading a CV), how are you going to add to a firm's trading operations?

I'm not saying that being good at brainteasers is the only thing that is important in being a good trader, but it's a signal. Just like going to a good school is a signal. Just like having a strong GPA is a signal. Just like having good contacts is a signal (especially for sales or M&A, but knowing people in the market is important for traders too). The truth is--not everyone who comes out of an Ivy, Oxbridge or LSE with good grades is going to be cut out to be a trader. And there are very few junior trader positions available every year for all of the applicants applying for the positions, most of whom have (basically) the same resume.

So, they're an equalizer. I went to a debate the other day where Professor Bhagwati from Columbia said (in a remark completely unrelated to the topic-at-hand) that after teaching at MIT and Columbia, there were always 20-30% of the class that had no business attending those schools. And due to grade inflation, loads of kids graduate with a 3.5 from a good schoool, so we have to find a way of discovering if you're part of that 20-30%.

indian-banker's picture

Third round--harder still.

IB
 
Points)
 on 10/12/09 at 12:12am

Third round--harder still. One of the questions I got was: my roommate and I are having a house party. We invite 15 couples. At the party, everyone must shake hands with everyone whom they do not already know. At the end of the party, I can't remember the number of people I have met, so I go ask all other people at the party how many hands they have shaken, and they each tell me a different number. You do not shake hands with yourself or your 'partner' (the person with whom you came). How many hands did my roommate shake?

This question is answerable if you draw the different people in a circle and start pairing the up two different roommates based on the number of hands they shake. The person who shakes 30 hands will be the roommate of the person who shakes zero hands. The person who shakes 29 hands will be the roommate of the person who shook only one hand. So on and so forth. The original roommate will have shaken 15 hands. Right?

cruz12's picture

.

IB
 
Points)
 on 10/13/09 at 9:04pm

.

cruz12's picture

no worries its all good :)

IB
 
Points)
 on 10/12/09 at 3:46pm

no worries its all good :)

Arbit10's picture

qn for brotherbear

HF
(Chimp, 6
 
Points)
 on 12/8/09 at 9:44pm
brotherbear's picture

Nope

PE
 
Points)
 on 12/8/09 at 10:08pm
iluvhermione's picture

Yep

IB
 
Points)
 on 12/8/09 at 11:42pm
Arbit10's picture

sounds familiar

HF
(Chimp, 6
 
Points)
 on 12/9/09 at 12:40am
Arbit10's picture

iluvhermione, was your third

HF
(Chimp, 6
 
Points)
 on 12/9/09 at 12:44am
Zalfor's picture

their questions actually

O
 
Points)
 on 12/9/09 at 2:48am
mdog267's picture

6210001000

ST
(Chimp, 1
 
Points)
 on 12/9/09 at 3:49pm
juklano's picture

Sandy Weill nearly failed

AM
 
Points)
 on 12/9/09 at 5:00pm
Myrmidon73's picture

Quote: I'm thinking of a

O
 
Points)
 on 12/11/09 at 12:36am
Viper247's picture

Not that hard...

ST
(Chimp, 14
 
Points)
 on 12/11/09 at 1:51am
Myrmidon73's picture

Quote: 4) Play poker/bridge

O
 
Points)
 on 12/11/09 at 2:02am
bingman's picture

First round

IB
(Chimp, 1
 
Points)
 on 12/15/09 at 8:08pm
iluvhermione's picture

Hey

IB
 
Points)
 on 12/16/09 at 5:32pm
OchoCinco's picture

I've seen some Jane Street

CO
(Baboon, 113
 
Points)
 on 12/16/09 at 9:34pm

- Child Please.

Myrmidon73's picture

I just had my first round

O
 
Points)
 on 12/16/09 at 11:49pm
Myrmidon73's picture

So, I've been fortunate

O
 
Points)
 on 12/17/09 at 7:19pm
icetortoise's picture

I dont know much about

(Chimp, 1
 
Points)
 on 10/22/10 at 8:16am

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