What internships can lead to a sales and trading job

Nah - I mean I know of one intern on a sales desk at JPM but most tend to be on the trading desk.

You sure you want to go into sales? Institutional sales is a dying part of the business, in my opinion. I work with sales guys daily and it's just as easy to call the research analyst, trading floor or whomever else you need to deal with. Honestly, most people on the buy side views the sales desk as a useless go-between. I get calls from sales guys detailing what an analyst reported and then I get the same analyst calling me later that day to repeat it.

That being said, a sales job is pretty sweet. You just need to talk on the phone, play golf, go to lunch/dinner and basically be at the beck-and-call of your clients all the time.

NorthEastIdiot, I'm interested in trading but math is not my strong suit, and that's why I'd prefer the sales side. A career test that I recently took also pegs me as being a solid match for institutional securities sales. But if this job is really dying then I better start looking elsewhere.

Anyone else care to confirm or deny if institutional sales is dying? The lack of job postings seem to suggest that NorthEastIdiot is spot on. They need to update those career guides...

Two issues: 1) People like CS, UBS, and many other bulge brackets are cutting jobs on the trading floors. Yes these layoffs happen to be a large number of under performing brokers (institutional sales jobs). The key word is UNSUCCESSFUL. From the standpoint of a corporation if you under perform I don't care if you're in sales, trading, wealth management, or a secretary you will get laid off. So the message is prove your net worth. If I have a large amount of clients I am bringing in money for the trading desk. Without my clients traders wouldn't have anyone to sell to.

2) What type of sales are you going into? Are you interested in equities? Fixed income, derivatives, currencies? Equity capital markets is less lucrative than FICC (generally speaking). This has to do deal with the spreads. These are questions you have to ask yourself.

Is it dying? If you're good, you're good. I can see some sort of phasing out with the equities side of sales. More complex products? Less of that. Lack of job postings? Well the industry itself is shrinking especially at the larger banks. Maybe look at a regional bank that is expanding. Hope that helps.

Khatar, is right in that my comments were equities focused, only because that's what I'm most familiar with and I should have clarified that. Sales in complex products will remain, I agree. The overall shrinking is a fact and a shitty one, at that, for people like me looking to land something this Spring.

Where did you get the idea that institutional sales is dying?! Sales is extremely important, it's the relationships that bring in the flow that the traders trade. Without sales you don't get clients to trade with you simple as that. If you're interested in sales go for sales. And another thing don't think you're not going to do any math, you have to be good with numbers and perform under pressure. A lot of sales people I know have a background in engineering / math etc. So don't think it's only wining and dining.

If you are not good with numbers - just don't go into banking.

You do not have to be amazing with numbers, but the last person I heard telling me "am not good with numbers" was probably someone in my high school 10 years ago. I don't come across people on the floor who tell me they "are not good with numbers".

For Sales - equity is taking a bit of a beating at the moment (for the last 4 years really...) - we will see how that goes. Also don't be too smug as an equity trader either, DMA and algos are taking over. Fact. As someone said: if you are good you are good - very bloody true.

For FI I don't know and I don't care. They are the ones that had the biggest cuts so far. Way too bloody many people.