Okay so most discussions on here are focused towards traders, which I can understand. But what is it like for the ones who want to be salesmen? Are quant skills as demanding as that of someone who is interested in being a trader? Do interviews have the same technical questions? Or is it more of a fit interview, to see if you can actually communicate? I will be the first to admit, my math skills are not the greatest, meaning i could never in a million years major in math, but i can handle my current major (finance) which of course is heavy on quants. Matter of fact, my math courses have been the lowest marks I have received in college :\ But Im interested in Sales, and believe that I can communicate my thoughts efficiently. Thanks
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If you can handle the math in finance, you can handle the math needed to be a salesman.
And I think you're overestimating the math that most traders have or need. Traders aren't "quants."
yes. and also, at the analyst level, there aren't separate trading vs sales interviews except at the few firms that hire desk specific. you'll get interviewed. some will be more technical some will be more fit. you'll go through training. then you'll be placed on a desk. and if you want sales, you should have no problem...most ppl come in wanting trading, despite having no idea what trading at a bank is actually like.
i'm in sales, and I agree with what Jimbo said...
also, I wanted trading when I came into my bank, and had the choice between sales and trading at the end of my SA program. I chose sales, its a great gig. Lots of money, travel, contact with the buy side..I mean your on the phone/entertaining hedge fund managers all day, its one of the main things in the job description.
Sales is a great if you want exposure to all the different facets of the business. You deal with research, traders, bankers, etc.
But to come off my tangent and answer your question more directly, the math issue you are talking about is not a big deal. I mean if you are in fixed income sales dealing with interest rate derivs, then you better have some decent math skills, but other than that, you can get by. Good luck.
you'd be surprised....:-)
what is 'decent?' Like, if I want to trader IR derivatives, then what kind of math do I need to know - an example would help.
vanilla swaps you need to be able to add/subtract.
good stuff...that information could have been useful to me last year!
If you're doing interest rate derivs (and want to be good), you'd need to have an idea of how to price bonds, swaps, and options (duration, convexity, discounting cash flows, black-scholes, binomial trees, monte carlo). Don't need to be able to give proofs or derive anything but have an idea of their inputs and how changing the underlying inputs would affect the ultimate price. Having a strong interest in the market and being able to communicate that effectively would probably be the most important though.
I got hired to an FI desk with no financial or math background beyond basic calculus. The MD on the desk said I wouldn't have any problem with the math.
Awesome, thanks everyone. Anyone else that can comment on the lifestyle of a salesperson that would be great. Any good stories out there?
At least in my experience, your hours are reasonable, you get paid well, and generally the people you work with are cool and smart. Pretty much sums it up
Are the hours roughly the same as trading? How much travel is required?
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