Few options... considering going to Swiss Graduate School

why swiss...

Because ~40% of global commodities traded pass through Switzerland and almost every major player has an office there. Switzerland has a very international presence and has been playing an increasing role in the commodities trade. I forsee that trend only increasing over time and can't imagine a better place to gain exposure to people and firms from all over the world.

just curious, where are the rest 60% commodities traded at? and how do you see the trend is toward there?

Have you consider what percentage of commodities traded "passes through" the United States?

I'm not an expert, but here are my views on why the trend will continue to favor Switzerland. There's a reason that Switzerland has so much trade... low taxes, neutrality, and high anonymity are some of the reasons. Taxes are probably going to increase globally to fix some of the financial probems we're facing and more strife is going to break out across the world. As it does, anonymous trading is very important. e.g. situation worsens in Iran and the US is forced to find "alternative" sources of oil. Independent swiss trading houses continue to do business with the middle east and sell to US firms. By proxy we're doing business with them, but at least it doesn't look that way in an official capacity. If the purpose of a trading house is to match buyers to sellers and buyers don't always want to know who the sellers are and vice-versa, doesn't Switzerland favor this environment?

The United States does a huge amount of trade, but it seems to be more focused and spread out. If I work in Houston it seems that I'll focus on trading energy (oil, natural gas, coal) and will probably focus on regional clients as most of the companies have branches that do the other business worldwide.

In Switzerland I would imagine that the firms represented are more multi-national and do business all over the world. Because their headquarters are often in Switzerland, I feel I'll get the broadest exposure (both in terms of products and markets) faster. I dont think there's a "Geneva" of the US...

I'm basing what I've said entirely on my opinions and own research, please step in and correct me if I'm saying anything ridiculous or missing anything important.

Thanks for your help guys.

I would check this out: http://www.tradingmaster.ch/modules/trading.html

Thanks GoodBread. I spoke to them recently. I just missed their deadline and they generally cater to those already employed in a relevant industry in Switzerland.

Any other thoughts?

http://www.cass.city.ac.uk/courses/masters/courses/stf Not in Switzerland but it's the only other directly relevant program I can think of.

What's the reputation of Cass? How do recruiting firms view them?

I honestly don't know much about them but this program seems to place decently into physical trading shops and quite well at shipbrokers which is a good first step.

Thanks for the response. Can you expand a little more? What are you basing their placement success on?

Linkedin searches mostly. A lot of people in the shipbroking business went through that program.

Some points to keep in mind: - getting out of the US and getting some international experience = awesome. But don't go to CH. If commodities is your path, head for Singapore, Hong Kong or even Shanghai or Sao Paulo. You need to live in the craziness of EM at least once in your life, and you will learn some interesting insights re: how the world really works. You will meet more interesting people, and have a much higher quality of life. More opportunities too. - Switzerland is incredibly expensive (pizza = 30 USD) and incredibly boring to live in (both ZRH and especially GVA). I can see why an American raised in Georgia or Wisconsin might find it quaint, charming and historical but please don't waste your youth! Come find it quaint, charming and historical once you are retired and need a place to store your stuff and spend your summers, walking by the lake with your dog and pipe. Also, crime rate in GVA is pretty bad. It's basically a French city. - Switzerland is starting to "crack down" on the commodities guys, because of public perception of "dirty practices" (like, ahem, every single shop openly trading with Iran). The Swiss are fed up with being mocked globally and especially in Europe for that. For now everybody is there, but the industry was in London just a decade ago and moved over very quickly, nothing stops them from moving again. There's quite a few people left in London (e.g. Noble's oil, metals and equities business, Glencore, etc.). HR issues (the shitty quality of life if you are not REALLY minting it, the lack of local talent because most talent wants to be in a proper hub, etc.) + that = at least one shop moved partially back out. - St Gallen is strongly represented, if you want a crack at the Swiss market, they are totally in love with it* (unjustifiably, IMO, vs any US/UK school). If that helps, every woman I have seen who graduated from there was stunning (looks not necessarily matched with brains). You will network with the right people if you ever reach HNWI status, too, you won't have to bank with UBS ;)

The deal at my alma mater was basically: thanks for turning up in this dump, if you survive long enough you'll get more and more responsibility. It didn't work out too well, many of the people who entered with me have either left altogether (as I did), moved to another office despite Geneva's best attempts at keeping them here, or are frustrated and looking for a way out.

*The Swiss are generally in love with everything Swiss, and especially with themselves since they are the Swissest of the Swiss. Foreigners generally do not share that view, except for universal admiration amongst the productive for their political system, and agreeing that it's physically quite well located: you can easily fly out to most of Europe for the weekend, with all major cities EasyJet hubs.

EURCHF, that's a pretty damning account of Geneva. Are you not into skiing? Also, I was under the impression a lot of big shops are still based in Geneva (TOTSA, Vitol, Cargill, Trafigura, Mercuria, Gunvor, Louis Dreyfus (I heard they might be moving back to Paris)). Doesn't that make Geneva a good place to start a career in physical commodities? I'm going to grad school in Milan and I'm pretty desperate to find a first experience in commodities, whether it be a grad role or a BO settlements/contracts type job.