I was asked this question in a final round interview for a pretty exclusive prop firm. Even thinking about it now I can't think of what they were getting at or how I would have answered it differently.
Say I give you the company credit card for a weekend. What would you do with it?
Upon mentioning anything small, I got called up on with well you could do that with your own card
What were they getting at? How would you answer it, and with that continuation?
T
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nothing?
Yeah I'm not really the foremost expert on interviewing, but I think the answer to that question is "Nothing".
I don't think it would be wise to let them know that you'd spend their money on anything that wouldn't build business contacts, or in the long run, make them any more money than they had before they hired you. That's what it sounds like they were getting at to me, maybe just the very obvious reason they asked is the actual reason. Are you gonna be a dick with their money or not? Again, as my namesake would suggest I'm a noobcake so I can only speculate.
I would say "I would hide it in a drawer till the end of the weekend, then I would return it on monday unused."
You should have said, "Well, that depends on the limit."
hahaha! great comment about the limit
can i ask you what you guys that said do nothing with it are rationalising that with?
If he's saying he'd spend it on small things and they're saying to him "you can use your own card for that", I don't know what they would consider to be a large purchase so I'd personally say that I wouldn't use it for anything. To say nothing would be my initial reaction. Why, what were your thoughts on the matter?
ethics test lol
Nothing is the right answer here
If it's a prop firm, they're probably looking to see that you're proactive and serious but also aren't going to earn them a visit from the SEC.
If it was me, I would say, "It isn't my money, so I would obviously be extremely careful with it. But if an opportunity presented itself to gain experience/knowledge to help me be a better trader for the benefit of the firm--an advanced trading course for example--that would be a situation where I would use it."
Just my two cents.
Say I give you the company credit card for a weekend. What would you do with it?
"i'd use it to cut up the coke i bought with it into lines. that way your card is being used more than once to facilitate a transaction that gets me high, even though i only used it for money once. i like to call that 'double dipping' "
Yeah. I am reminded of the parable of the servant who buried his cash in the ground.
You want to show that you can go out and either bring in business or make the firm more efficient or come up with some new trading strategy. Obviously, your response is going to depend on the firm.
This question is really much better suited to a thirty year old with several years of experience in a similar job to the one he's being hired into. This reminds me of the time I was applying to undergrad, interviewed with an insecure alumnus, who asked me (a HS student), "So what field are you doing your research in right now? Algorithms? Databases? Have you been working on any interesting studies?"
In your case (Prop trading): "Bring it back on monday"
In banking: "Bring it back in tomorrow"
For prop trading, you could say that you're not sure if the firm has 1-minute or 5-minute tick data, but if not, you'd order it from this website you've used and start backtesting intraday strategy X.
A prop trading interview is a friendly back-and-forth, until the guy turns out to be a jerk (many prop traders are). Then you smile, keep your poise/grace, and hit back hard. You show him you've got a few things the firm doesn't have already, and that you know what you're getting into. And then if you get an offer, you cross your fingers that you don't have to work for him.
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