Advice for undergrad seeking trading career
I am a senior in Economics with a concentration in Quantitative Economics, I am graduating in June. For the last year I been applying to jobs at proprietary trading firms, I am looking to get into options, derivatives, or arbitrage trading. I have never had an internship in the industry but I have experience in project management, programming, and consulting. I have strong analytical and problem solving skills. I am tech savvy, I have designed, created, and implemented software programs. I have more of a entrepreneurial mindset and have particpated in entrepreneurial consulting projects in school. I am seeking advice that would help me standout from others. For example one question I was asked in an interview was "Why should I hire you over a finance major?". Anyone have any advice that would help me land a good job at a prop firm? If I do not find a job by the end of summer I am either going to take the tests for the CFA or go to grad school for a MS in Finance.
School? Gpa? Resume? Start a mock portfolio? Network?
I go to DePaul Unversity in Chicago and I have a 3.56. I have a mock portfolio I started last year on a mock trading site with an initial investment of $10,000 quadrupling the initial investment within 12 weeks. I have networks and connections but I do not know why I am not receiving many interviews.
DePaul is not a target and 3.56 is on the low side. You'll need to majorly network to break into S&T, it will be rather difficult for you.
Could you explain why DePaul is not a target? The campus is in the loop near the CME, CBOE, Board of Trade, etc. I can also name several smaller firms within walking distance, you would think they would try to recruit from there.I don't see the logic behind it. I have worked with Big Ten Finance students, some of them are not the brightest bells.
To be fair, I'm speaking from the perspective of BB Banks recruiting for S&T. They only recruit from certain top schools (Ivies, Duke, Gtown, Michigan, NU, etc). It has less to do with location and more to do with where they can find lots of bright individuals (essentially playing the odds).
If you are talking about breaking into a prop firm, I have less knowledge about how DePaul is looked at, but I would guess it would be easier than breaking into S&T from a non-target.
Thanks for the advice. I believe I am just going to go to Grad school and pursue a Ph.D in Behavioral Finance. As it looks it will be easier to get a Ph.D then enter a firm since I do not go to a "target" school.
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