Strategy for Choosing Desks S&T SA
Hi everybody,
I'm an incoming SA at a BB for S&T in London. The firm allows SAs to suggest their desk preferences for rotation. There are 5/6 desks I know that want to try, across equity and FICC, but I'm unsure of the best way to proceed, though I know the desks will be in competition with the other interns so I'm not expecting to get any/all. I was hoping for some help on the following:
- Should I try to get all placements in equity or FICC, to learn as much about 1 business area as possible or spread them out across divisions?
- Should I try to stick to 1 product group? Like derivatives or spread out?
- Should I try to stick to 1 pipeline like sales, trading, structuring etc or go across a few?
I'm incredibly happy with any experience at all but just thought of some of these questions when speaking to another SA.
Thanks for any help.
how many rotations do you get?
3 rotations.
would be strategic about what you start off with. in these rotation-type programs, people tend to get the best looks (most spots open and ability to form the longest relationships) with their first rotation desk. if you like it, offer to do any work for them on the side, or at least maintain contact, even thru your 2nd and 3rd rotations.
as for what to do i'd try a mix of s & t, one desk in equities and two in ficc.
.
I would recommend spreading them out within your interests as wide as possible to meet as many people as possible. Is it only your first rotation that you're applying for and then you network once you start your SA or do they assign all 3 prior to the internship?
Assign all 3 prior to internship, get desks around a month before we start
I would say that you should go for 2 desks in whichever area the firm is stronger (FICC vs equities) and then split across all the pipelines. The main decision you would have to make is if you want to go for research or structuring as your 3rd business line. I would rec equity research, rates trading, and credit (probably HY or CLO) sales for the 3 you should look at but it depends on your interests.
Also agree with the other commenter that said try to be strategic ab where you start off at, typically I think its easiest to stay in peoples minds if you rotate there first or last. Rotating last means its harder for people to get to know you well though.
Interested
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