HELP Best S&T role to prep for buy side trading?

Hi all,

I've been a summer analyst at a top BB, have excellent credentials and come from a top school - please offer some advice as I try find a role within S&T that will meet my goals!

Ultimately I want to go into buy-side trading/portfolio management and want the best prep. I think structuring is the most creative role within S&T (not as a quant, spending your time pricing things) and will thus give me the best understanding of how risks in the markets are broken down and may be exploited.

I think its better than sales because it requires a deeper knowledge and better than trading because it is much more dynamic.

Please offer your thoughts and suggestions. THANKS!

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Best Response

"I've been a summer analyst at a top BB, have excellent credentials and come from a top school - please offer some advice as I try find a role within S&T that will meet my goals!"

Well if that doesn't sway you...

This will depend on the type of buyside strategy you want to move into, obviously the parallel trading desk (or structuring/research if they have such a role) - ie: FX/rates for macro, cdo/SIV for structured credit, etc - would be most appropriate... beyond that, more specifics in terms of your goals would help.

I'd caution you on structuring in general however. A lot of it is very product specific modeling of very esoteric products, that service a very niche need. Just my 2 cents.

 

How client facing are structurers? How clear is the distinction between them and quants (who price things)? How exotic are the products they work with?

 

@"GoodBread" The OP needs to synergize his focus and interface with an MBB recruiter so he can re-purpose his talents and take advantage of the low hanging fruit his skill-set provides.

 

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