Breaking into S&T SA. How are interviewers evaluating “markets interest”?
I’m interested in S&T and starting prep for 2028 summer analyst recruiting, but S&T prep feels much less structured than IBD.
There’s no obvious checklist beyond “know the markets”, “have a view”, “be curious”....which is super vague...
Does anyone know how technical were the interviews this early (brain teasers, Greeks, macro, etc.)? and how do you build a real edge without sounding like you’re just repeating headlines?
Any insight on how desks evaluate candidates early-cycle would be really helpful.
Most important: "know the markets"
This just means you should be reading and be able to answer "what's going on in the markets right now" which I expect you'll be asked in every interview. Expect follow-up questions since your interviewers will probably know more than you.
Not as important (in my experience): "have a view"
I would say its a good thing to have a pitch in equities, macro products, and vol products, but I didn't really get asked to pitch anything. Usually interviewers might ask you to take a stance on something after you've answered the above markets question and you can give a nuanced answer going through pros and cons of how you can proceed and that's better than just giving one side.
As for greeks, I didn't really get asked these despite having some relevant coursework. I think it's helpful to have some preparation about different products and having some baseline understanding of greeks but it shouldn't be a priority. The benefit of this is more being able to "talk the talk" and seeming like someone the traders can picture working with rather than someone who knows what the vega of a risk-reversal looks like.
Macro was probably the most important thing to internalize in my experience. Knowing what the fed has been doing, what data is coming in and how that affects them, and what traders are pricing in is all important. I would highly recommend trying to understand the economic levers of how different choices by the fed have different affects. You should also be able to answer "how does the Fed's interest rate propogate throughout the economy" or in other words what does the Fed Funds Rate actually mean/do.
Brain teasers is a bit harder to address. It's basically up to the interviewer if they like to ask them, and it's very hard to prepare for them other than just seeing them. I kinda grinded these and it paid off the few times I was asked them but they weren't super common.
Woah, this is so detailed, thank you so much for such a thoughtful response super freaking helpful.
The lack of structure is mostly due to how varied the products are. If you’re interested in joining an S&T program to trade distressed debt and you’re being interviewed by a rates vol salesperson, there really aren’t many questions they could ask you to test your technical knowledge because the roles are so different.
The only way I could see you getting product specific technicals is if you’re asked which product(s) you are interested in (which you should have an answer to) and you happen to say the product that your interviewer trades/sells. Therefore, most of your interviews will probably be more behavioral and/or tailored to your background as opposed to product specific. They’re looking for someone who is smart, personable, and genuinely interested in S&T. Interest in S&T is really the only trait of the three that you can prepare for. To do this, I would:
1. Understand what S&T actually is. Should go without saying but a lot of underclassmen seem to have no idea how a trading desk actually works. Check out sales and trading dot org for this.
2. Have 1 or 2 products that you think are good fits for you and a reason why. Learn the basics about how these products work and some technicals, which will be product specific. Interested in bonds? You should understand what duration and convexity are. Derivatives? Know the Greeks and Black Sholes. Also have an answer to whether you prefer sales or trading and why. Saying trading will open up a higher chance of mental math or brain teasers, while sales might lead to more behaviorals. (Disclaimer: it would be good to mention that although you have an interest in x product, you are keeping an open mind. You don’t want to come across as someone who would rerecruit if you don’t get the exact product you want, especially since most desks will hire 0-1 full time analysts a year.)
3. Follow markets. (Listening to podcasts is a great way to do this. WSJ What’s News, Making Sense, and Forward Guidance are a few I like). Think critically about what’s going on.
Don’t lose your mind over trying to find an “edge” for recruiting. Talk to people, be genuine, and do the small things right and you’ll find a seat. Good luck.
It's based on how hot you are and which boxes you checked on your application, hate to break it to you buddy.
No way we have finance interview blackpill content 🥀🥀
Keep it on .org buddy, wso is resume maxxing
Blackpill content has been on WSO for years especially after COVID. Terrible thing to see.
Show me the recent GS S&T class or JPM.
This is mostly accurate. A lot of S&T interviews aren’t deep product technicals unless you line up perfectly with the desk.
Where people struggle is explaining what they know out loud under pressure. That’s usually what sinks interviews tbh.
I've came across this tool called Cook'd AI - has been kind of helpful in just making sure you nail the interview portion.
Everything else still matters. Talk to people, follow markets, don’t overthink it.
hrpowers9 has a good overview but I'll add on the following:
1. in my xp I'd say any technicals I've gotten typically skew towards fixed income, so stuff like hrpowers9 mentioned (duration/convexity, etc)
2. each bank will also vary in the questions they'll ask
I've interviewed at places where it was super structured (random interviewer had a list of technical/behavioral questions they had to ask prepared by HR) vs basically 2-3 school alumni running the process and just being all beahviourals + markets discussions
In 2 different first rounds I was asked things like what happens to currency if the interest rate in a country goes up
vs spending like 5 minutes on one of the interests on my resume in the other one (my friend interviewing the same day spent 15 talking about snowboarding)
3. I'd also be tapped into where major indexes/currency pairs/commds are trading - have been asked multiple times variations of the below
E.g
S&P/Nasdaq/DOW
Gold/Crude/Silver
USD/GBP , EUR/USD, USD/Whatever local currency (if interviewing internationally)
PE/Stock price of the bank you are interviewing for
Interned and now work full-time in sales/trading =
Its not structured because there are so many potentials desks you can land on, and desk-specific interviews for internships in my experience ask more general questions. For example I interviewed for a FX sales/trading internship role and was asked to pitch a stock lol. It's more so just about how interested you are in the industry, role, product, and ofc how chill of a person you are. Don't have to be the smartest one in the room, but you should be the one that is most eager to learn. Much of S&T learning is on-the-job, so interviewers want to make sure that you can handle any sort of pressure and be pro-active during your internship (asking questions, digesting everything, etc.). Unlike IB where you can participate in pitch work as an intern, there is not much value-add work you can do as an S&T intern; mostly ad-hoc stuff that may or may not even matter much.
thanks for the information!
Yea I think hrpowers9 covered most of it. I would like to chip in my 2 cents though.
Greeks did come up quite a bit for me personally this past recruiting cycle during interviews and even during coffee chats (ig some traders are assholes and just want to gauge out competency before taking you seriously during the call). I think just knowing what first and second order greeks are and what they mean are the very least you should know at the top of your head. For one of my SPDs, I got asked "what's the delta on a deep ITM call option?", "variables in black scholes model?", "given this scenario, what's your thought process on how you would hedge this position?" Just some food for thought.
A lot of the interview is just stress testing you and making sure you can think under pressure. I got a couple random behaviorals where there was no way in hell I could of prepped for the question and I just needed to pull out of my ass. Get good at being spontaneous with your answers.
Good luck with your process next semester
Dolorum maxime soluta provident illum. Fugit fugiat modi nesciunt in.
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