S&T in London
What's the S&T recruiting scene like for London? I imagine less competitive than the US. But, what kind of A Levels are expected, and how is the process different to the US?
I know for consulting jobs if you have a certain number of UCAS points / Degree level (first/2:1 etc) / GPA then you will get the interview. How does it work for S/T? Thanks!
Nowadays, they're looking towards more quantitatively minded people. That being said, having a humanities (non econ) background could help you stand out too. They want to see you're comfortable with numbers. Can't speak for the US but in the UK, I really did appreciate that not having a finance background didnt disadvantage me during interviews too much.
A Levels they'll be looking for, it doesnt matter too much except for Maths which will be most valuable for having that critical thinking and problem solving mindset.
Also minimum 2.1 (A 1.1 will always be better) and a certain number of UCAS points which will be listed in the job description when you apply.
More competitive than US imho. Fewer places, more candidates (EU + visa are not an issue for BBs). Going to a target school definitely helps, at least 2:1 is a must. Quantative degrees viewed favourably.
Would anyone be able to provide some information on how technical a sales role in S&T actually is? What sort of technical analysis is required and done on a day to day basis? Thanks!
spoke with /interviewed with traders who implied that salespeople lack intelligence
Not personally agreeing or disagreeing with this, but yeah the traders I interviewed with also were giving out the vibe.
Some traders say that about salespeople, some salespeople say the same about traders and structuring people say it about both... More seriously, there are smart people on all desks. If you are a good sales, traders will speak to you first and share axes. Information is the most valuable thing on a floor. And if you are a good trader, salespeople will be transparent with you, try to get you on calls with clients, and share feebacks and clients views. Again, information. If you are a good structurer, sales/traders will keep you updated on potential trades and ask you to work on their transactions. If you're bad at what you do, doesn't matter what desk you are on, information won't come.
Depends on the desk. Flow desks are not as "technical" as derivatives or structured products desks.
In a structured products seat, you need to run pricings and need to understand payoffs, need to speak to trading/structuring and discuss payoffs with clients so technical skills are important.
In a flow seat, you have more macro economics and research reading to do and speak about to clients.
Depends on the desk. Flow desks are not as "technical" as derivatives or structured products desks.
In a structured products seat, you need to run pricings and need to understand payoffs, need to speak to trading/structuring and discuss payoffs with clients so technical skills are important.
In a flow seat, you have more macro economics and research reading to do and speak about to clients.
Thank you for the insight. This is very helpful. I'm not very well versed with the things you're speaking about unfortunately. I consider myself to be not very great at maths. I can manage in my degree in with various maths and statistics modules but I still wouldn't consider myself very good. Would you say that the level of technicality is "difficult" or rather just requires effort and time to learn? Thanks again for all the help.
S&T is not really mathematically challenging except for quant roles, its just basic math with finance concepts. You can learn all the concepts to join a desk pretty quickly and then you will learn the rest on the job. You could do some research to understand how a floor is organized: asset classes, flow/structured, sales/trading/structuring etc so its easier to network efficiently and ask relevant questions to learn more about what people do.
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