Cold-Emailed GS MD today with my resume, immediately got interview
I wanted to connect with an MD and learn more about his career because he's an alum of my university. He replied by CC'ing an associate to set up a technical interview. I have an interview on Monday and have never touched finance things outside of a couple of classes. These are some of the keywords on the Associate's profile and division:
Equity Structuring Sales Strategist, Global Markets Division, Exotic Vol
What type of finance is this and what are the technicals I should prepare for in a 30-minute call?
derivatives
What’s your background?
yeah you’re fucked buddy
*que dark souls boss fight song*
buy a guide and study your ass off
Yeah how familiar are you with the Sales & Trading role / interview prep? Would get all that down ASAP. Is it just a general markets role or a specific group?
Derivatives trading/structuring is one of the most technical and esoteric areas of finance. If you’ve never even heard of what it is, I’d honestly just be up front with the assoc and be like “hey I don’t know much about derivatives tbh but I’m interested in learning more and I was hoping you could point me in the right direction”. Do not try to bullshit your way through this - it takes people literally years to understand this shit
I'm a math major and knew almost nothing about finance, somehow managed to land a BB SA role. To me this looks like a generic 1st round interview since it's an associate - I'd be surprised if he grilled you on exotic derivatives knowledge. Goldman is a rotational program anyways, and the whole point is to learn on the job.
Below are some good S&T Interview topics to brush on, I really hope you have a WSJ / FT / BBG subscription. If not, just get their introductory $1 / 10 weeks deal. You've got a long weekend ahead, buddy:
Again, highly doubt you'll get technical derivs since GS is rotational. To be safe - if you want the basics of derivatives trading, I'd look up the Black-Scholes formula. Just know the 5 main inputs and what they mean. Also know calls/puts and how their payoff graphs work, and when an investor would want to buy/sell calls/puts to take a market view, or to hedge a portfolio.
Good luck and don't hesitate to PM me if you need anything. Remember WSJ / FT and Google are your best friend. You got this.
hahahahahaha
i studied applied math w a concentration in financial math. i fucking hated it but we had to derive black scholes formula and really understand the math behind options pricing / trading.
it took many hours of intense study but i also suck at math.
you are probably fucked just study what you can and take it on the chin - nice hustle to get interview.
delete
Who cares. This guy is clearly asking for some help. Good effort to get the interview. Prep hard over the next 48hrs.
How do you know this is a technical interview. If you are a freshman or soph I wouldn't expect you to know anything and certainly wouldn't be grilling you on any of the stuff mentioned above. I'd be looking to see your level of interest (evaluated by the questions you ask), your personality, general Quant intelligence (maybe brainteasers).
Here's a breakdown of the guy's title. Don't expect to understand the mechanics of his products by Monday. Just use this to get a general understanding and ask questions that aren't totally stupid.
Equity = stocks
Structuring = bespoke/ tailored solutions
Sales Strategist = client facing
Global Markets Division = sales and trading
Exotic Vol = vol means options, there are two kinds, vanilla (standard/simpler) and exotic (more complicated)
Either you’re embellishing the story or this isn’t that important: GS will only hire through the superday format (diversity of not) for interns, so this isn’t a final decision or anything like that.
Pmed you with a question, but also some help for the interview. Good luck!
how'd the interview go?
When networking goes wrong.
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