Climbing the ladder to trading desks

I work at one of the largest asset managers in the states in the Philadelphia area. Right now I just took a job in brokerage to get my foot in the door as they have a very large corporate culture. Do any active traders have any advice about positioning yourself as a new hire to get in the pipeline for trading desks. Part of this means just waiting for internal postings to go online but the other thing I want to significantly focus on is personal development so I am a decent candidate in a year or so. I am Studying for June 2019 CFA and contemplating the 57. Too early for the 57?

Thanks

280 WSO Academy Sales & Trading Session Reviews: 4.85/5

Class of '28 Aug 2026 Cohort

5.00/5

Sales & Trading Career Roadmap (optional)

“John listened before giving advice. I told him I had accepted an offer at Bank of America but was still interested in JLL and Wellington. Instead of telling me what to do, he asked what I wanted from my career and helped me think about which path would give me more options. I also liked that he was honest about what he knew and didn’t know. He gave me a clear reason to keep working toward JLL, while reminding me that Bank of America was still a good place to start. When I practiced my interview answer, he told me what worked and gave me one simple way to improve it. That made the feedback easy to use. Most of all, John made me feel less stressed about figuring everything out right now. He offered to help with a mock interview too, which meant a lot to me. ”

Class of '28 Apr 2026 Cohort

5.00/5

Sales & Trading Mock Interview

“The mentor provided extremely detailed and thoughtful feedback throughout our session. What I appreciated most was that the advice was not generic. He took the time to understand my background, past experiences, and the specific roles I am currently recruiting for, and then tailored his suggestions accordingly. He also connected many of his recommendations to his own professional background and experiences, which made the feedback much more practical and credible. Instead of simply telling me what to change, he explained why certain answers or approaches would be more effective and how an interviewer might interpret them. He also shared specific examples from his own experience to illustrate his points. I came away from the session with a much clearer understanding of both my strengths and the areas I should improve, as well as several concrete ways to strengthen my interview preparation. Overall, the session was extremely helpful, personalized, and actionable, and I would definitely work with him again.”

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3 Comments

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Hey grant.heckler96, I think you deserve a response...heck, everyone does. We're listening, sorry about the delay ...my best guess at places on WSO that could help:

Career Ladder: Equity Research vs. Investment Banking- (A Definitive Guide, Part 3) Definitive Guide, Part 2) In today's edition, I wanted to discuss the career ladder in equity research ... fairly early for equity research. So, I leave it to other commentators to fill in the career path beyond ... mobility is non-existent in equity research, and we'll get to that in a minute. The
Job security, ladder climb, and level of autonomy within respective fields of finance/careers? know/care to share. Investment Banking Private Equity Hedge Funds Asset Management Venture Capital corporate ... finance Sales & Trading Consulting Equity Research Private Wealth Management Financial Advising ... a job can be at higher positions. All of these don't have to be answered just as much as people ...
Need an MBA to climb the ladder? It's all in the title.. Do people in PE need an MBA to get promoted to Principal, Partner ... after the associate stint? It's a bit unclear what happens after the associate level, you do ... 2 years in IB as an analyst, 2 in PE as an associate, and then what? do you need to get an MBA to be able ...
How to climb the ER ladder? climb the ladder to that senior analyst level? What do you have to be good at? For Banking I've ...
Citigroup- Trading- Summer Analyst desk preferences? I understand that when it comes to desk allocation the needs of the bank are fulfilled first but I have been ... then I have a better chance in getting my preferred desk. The problem is with my limited exposure to ... different desk and asset classes beyond my wider reading I am not in the best position to make an informed ..
Top Sales & Trading desks Does not seem to be a ton of updated info out there. Looking to know what the top banks are for ... each product (FX, Commodities, FI, etc) based upon flow, the street's opinion, Hf exit ops, ...
HELP: The Future of the S&T Job Market and Selecting the Right Desk time finding forums on here that give insight on the sales and trading industry. I'm open to ... people in sales or trading on various desks what would you ask to determine if it was right for you? ... My only issue right now is that the internship is NOT rotational so I have to make sure I'm on ...
More suggestions...

Or maybe the following WSO members have something to say: farz mjmiheron Samail

I hope those threads give you a bit more insight.

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