Trafigura Interview
Upcoming Interview in Houston for Trafigura's Oil & Derivatives Graduate Development Programme, does anyone have any tips or foresight on how to prepare and the question that will be asked? WSO have a quite a few threads on Trafigura interview, but no one really has information on it. hopefully this one will be different and more useful for later readers.
Hey dude did you have a phone screening as well? I just had mine today (went so bad lol)
Hey dude did you have a phone screening as well? I just had mine today (went so bad lol)
hah, yeah had a phone call screening as well, asked some trivial questions, one of which was if I had to cook a dinner for the seniors what would I cook.... Steak and Pasta obviously, need proteins and carbs to get big!!!
Haha I had the same thing today but I bombed the screening because I'd just woken up. Hard to do mental math while still sleepy... I was having difficulty understanding her accent lol. But thankfully I was still able to accurately quote Brent and WTI.
Expect hedging questions on physical shipments and simple brain teasers. Basically understand that physical trading is nothing like trading paper. Traf has to finance each individual trade with banks and also invests in downstream assets. Arbitrage.
what kind of hedging and brain teaser questions would be asked Dateline? Is there a likelihood that interviewer will ask about understanding of the greeks?
I got the impression that it would be more along the lines of hedging against credit/delivery risk. Dateline: what would you suggest as study material other than Oil 101. My interview is in 20 days.
I also interviewed. Only got fit questions and several weird brainteasers. One was about at what exact times the hands of a clock would be perfectly on top of each other and the other one was how many zeroes are at the end of 100!. Did you guys all get these?
subscribing for more info..
pm me. lets prepare together. i have the interview too. had phone screen from Geneva today.
are you guys interviewing for oil? I'm going to houston for my interview for metals
.
this should be fun to watch
ahh yes, no matter how you try to cut out the waste/weed, it always grows back, and lurks for more.
Don't worry about the Greeks. Just know things like what a Coker does, INCO terms, importance of Naphta and it's relationship with other products/commodities etc... The brain teasers will surprise you.
Haha that's pretty awesome that you actually need to know refinery unit operations and the fundamentals of different distillates. Do you need to know anything about upstream/E&P for physical trading or is it mainly refining focused?
I would appreciate any feedback you could share after you finish the ITWs (thinking to apply next year) SB for any good insight.
Oh man, I also similarly bombed my phone screen and have an upcoming first round. Just got a couple books and planning on studying, of course, but any tips would be greatly appreciated.
Relatedly, it's proving to be incredibly difficult to find anyone who does physical trading. Pretty much everyone I know is a quant and the usually very useful alumni database has been useless...
Wow those questions are straight out of Heard on the Street. I haven't had my interview yet, it's on the 24th.
anyone going to the superday in 2 weeks?
If anybody would like to talk about metals, I have my interview on the 24th.
Pete: Stamford or Houston?
The position is for Stamford, although I'm being interviewed in Geneva.
Just had my 1st round interview for oil.. interviewed in Stamford. Significantly easier than the phone screen. They just focused on fit/behavioral. One oil guy video-conferenced from Houston.
View from Stamford office is beautiful but the whole office was relatively small and very quiet. They also had CNN on the TV screens for some reason (why not cnbc/bloomberg). Is this the norm for those who interviewed in Houston?
yep. fit/behavorial mostly. youll hear back tomorrow morning about 2nd round
because who gives a fuck about cnbc/bloomberg, put on espn
edit: if youre getting your news from bloomberg/cnbc it's too late anyways..
hey exceptionruled, you had no technical questions at all? did you get your feedback?
Does anyone know when this program would start?
Thanks
Yes, I have been invited for final round interviews. There were a couple semi-technical questions... I have some trading experience on a personal account so they asked me about my views on different commodity markets. Know the basics of MtM, hedging, and what the different types of risk are.
hello exceptionruled,
Thank you for sharing your experience. I was wondering if you interviewed with a division head for the first round of face-to-face interview? and how did the final round of interview go? I just had my first round interview, but in a different location.
Hey guys,
Great posts so far, but getting some mixed signals
I have my phone interview in a couple of weeks.
The 1st round seems to be fit/behavioral/ brain teasers for some and tech questions for others. Some clarity would be great.
Has anyone gone to the superday in Genva and is willing to share there experience? I understand its 2 days, but what do the 2 days comprise of? Trading sims, meeting people??
Cheers.
Hi, the application for me was as follows: Initial sift of applications, then telephone interview with brain teasers and questions about the industry and Traf., then first round interview at Geneva (approx. 40 mins) with two panels consisting of two people, then final interview at Geneva (approx. 40 mins) again with two panels of two people (approx. 20 mins each). After that you get an offer or get binned. Bare in mind this was for the graduate training programme based in Geneva for the non-ferrous metals arm of the business. Also, I am from the UK and I know application processes vary depending on what country you are applying from.
Hi pete, thanks for the info. I am also from the UK and am going to apply for Traf. Were there many Brits there? Are you going to be taking up the position?
I have an interview in Stamford tuesday for a coal trading position. Can anyone give me some good tips on how to prepare, especially the brain teasers and market questions they might ask??
I have an interview in Stamford tuesday for a coal trading position. Can anyone give me some good tips on how to prepare, especially the brain teasers and market questions they might ask??[/quote]
Simple brain teasers on stats, as far as market questions go; understand coal subsidies and have clear market outlook, also mention drivers such as transportation costs, shows the interviewed you did your homework.
Also, out of curiosity, are you from a non-target UG?
Simple brain teasers on stats, as far as market questions go; understand coal subsidies and have clear market outlook, also mention drivers such as transportation costs, shows the interviewed you did your homework.
Also, out of curiosity, are you from a non-target UG?[/quote]
That would be correct I'm not from a target undergrad school. I worked on BP's Supply and Trading team last summer so I have familiarity with power and natural gas primarily. Any tips on the main ideas to take away from my research via coal?
If you have done the research you should be fine, one mistake I made was not communicating the knowledge that I had. So before you walk out the door at the end of the interview, made it clear to those fuckers you know the market inside and out.
What you talking about is my general market take, not just my view on coal?
Great thread, would enjoy hearing more stories and results.
Thanks to all for these answers,
However, has anyone had any recent interviews/contacts with Traf. in Geneva?
I'm thinking of applying for the next round but am quite unsure if my profile (MA in Geography and experience in Consulting) would do - and if so, would I be too fucked on technical questions?
Always go for it.
However, a word of notice: (within my experience) Traf only employed those with relevant work experience (internships, etc.) during the 2013 intake. If you have no work experience within banking or shipping then you might find it difficult. They still interview those without experience, but the only people I knew that got offers were the ones with experience. I met some crazy smart guys with top rate academics but with no experience and thus no offers.
Yeah I get it..
But, like many others contributors threads about Trafigura and other commodities trading houses, I thought the whole point of it was just to be really motivated (and obviously a smart guy!) to learn all the tricks during the graduate scheme, isn't it?
Therefore, I am left wondering what would be the best way to "sell" my profile to them, any recommendation?
Motivation is key, as is being reasonably smart. You could learn the business inside out and back to front, but I guess their guys in HR like to choose people with experience as it's less of a risk. Some people can be very clever academically, but when it comes to the work place they have no initiative etc..
If you have no prior experience and you make interview you must be prepared for these questions: "Why have you not got any relevant internship experience? Why should we hire you over those who have?"
If they like you a lot, and you smash those questions, then you have the best chance possible.
Remember, nail all your technical stuff, the industry and the company (the information is all online)- do your homework! Then your competency/motivation questions, and finally questions about your background/CV, which covers the two above.
So Pete, what exactly can I do as a non commodity guy to prepare for the technicals the best possible way?
Read everything you can--DOE and EIA reports, terminal listings, pipeline maps, rig activity, rack prices, trading letters (schork or gartman), shale maps and anything else you can find online
Yeah, I'm also waiting... Their online platform is not really intuitive as I need to 're-apply' everytime I want to check the status of my application - is that also the case for you?
Anyway, I don't know if these guys are supposed to contact by phone if you seem interesting to them ?!
the same goes for me
I first chose operations - reason is I feel I need to understand how material assets and resources are physically moved, and who are the actors..
Did my thesis on shipping lanes around Malacca, so I guess the opportunity to get 'real' sound amazing to me..
You?
Last year, the first step was a call from Geneva
Do you usually get a call from the place you applied to? If so, I guess I'll have to wait for a number starting with +41 22...
How did the call go for you? And how long after your application did you get it?
Look at previous posts that describe the phone call. Yeah that's what the number started with... you got called from Geneva regardless of which city you applied for. I think it was a month after.
Great man, thanks for your help - hopefully I'll be awake (UTC+8) if they call me :)
Lhasa they actually woke me up with the call and asked me to quote Brent haha that was a surprise.
'Lhasa' ? Were you visiting Tibet at the time of the call ^^ ?
Hi everyone! I am curious what business area did you choose during the application process (trade finance, operations, etc) and why did you choose that particular area?
Operations sounds great. You absolutely need to understand operations side to be in this business.
However I have chosen trade finance because I would like to be somewhat in the middle of things (a lot of interaction with other departments within the company as well as external counterparties). Also this area seems kind of very important - no financing no deal, right? But of course I recognize that every area is important in its own way.
Also given that 1) you will have to rotate across 3 different areas before entering the chosen area 2) English is not my first language and there is a lot of room to improve it :-) 3) working in trade finance involves negotiating with banks I decided that I would not be a good negotiator and it would be better to rotate across some other areas first (one of them would be operations, which is a must)
Also do you guys remember that question about potential investments that Trafigura could make? How important do you think it is? Honestly I worry about this one a little bit, cause I ended up with a pretty concise paragraph suggesting a particular investment and explaining why I think that would be a good idea. No calculations or anything, just some general thoughts.
How much did you elaborate on this one?
Same - quite concise. I have a background in IR and Intl' Economics, so I elaborated on my ideas and what I know.
To be honest I don't want to elaborate on stuff that is beyond my understanding and if I copy-paste stuff from technical reports, I will definitely fail if they ask me in person what was that all about.
Could anyone give some advice for those who applied for Metals, Minerals & Bulk branch? Any specific stuff one should know about metals & minerals?
hey everyone! I'm just filling out my application right now. I hope its not too late. did you add a cover letter or just a CV? its not really clear which documents have to be added... thanks!
hey! I just applied too for the graduate programme for oil too. I attached a CV which includes my cover letter as the first page. Hope I at least get an interview since I come from a non-target uni.
does anyone know how many people apply for how many positions?
lots of people from target schools apply every time...
Has anyone been interviewed already for this year? What did they ask you? Please elaborate!
So what happened at the interview?
Did not even make it there! Better luck next time :)
Does anyone else have the same experience that when you've already applied and you try to look again at a status you have to "apply again"? Its very strange...
can anyone give more advice on the phone interview? do they also ask technicals or is it just fit/personal questions and some brain teasers.
Howdy folks, I'm going in for an interview later this month for a position in metals. If anyone would like to study together, send me a message! I haven't a background in commodities, so I'm trying to really make up for this.
Hey there, I am going to their interview on metals later this month too. Also a bit clueless on what to prepare, what have you prepared so far? I applied to the position in Shanghai, how about you?
Hey there, I am going to their interview on metals later this month too. Also a bit clueless on what to prepare, what have you prepared so far? I applied to the position in Shanghai, how about you?
Hey there, I am going to their interview on metals later this month too. Also a bit clueless on what to prepare, what have you prepared so far? I applied to the position in Shanghai, how about you?
Hey there, I am going to their interview on metals later this month too. Also a bit clueless on what to prepare, what have you prepared so far? I applied to the position in Shanghai, how about you?
Hey there, I am going to their interview on metals later this month too. Also a bit clueless on what to prepare, what have you prepared so far? I applied to the position in Shanghai, how about you?
This is ridiculous. I can't send you a private message as I haven't enough bananas. Rotten bananas!
I've really just been reading the news quite a lot, trying to think about macroeconomic events in terms of supply and demand fundamentals, and getting familiar with basic risk and hedging concepts.
What have you been doing? I personally find this very nerve-wracking.
Hi Jo how's ur app with trafigura going? I am going to my final interview at singapore office next Tuesday. could really use some tips on how to prepare. Thanks in advance!
Hi Xavier, r u on graduate program or direct entry positions? I will be in Geneva next Friday for the final. Could you share some info after urs in singapore? Im on metals, what about you?
Sorry for the late response. I've been quite overwhelmed with interviews recently..anyway, here's my interview experience. I had an interview with two guys video conferencing from geneva and another with two local senior employees. All are mixture of technicals and competencies. The guys from geneva were quite rigorous and pursued a lot of details for my answers, which is quite nerve-wracking!
Hey Xavier, Sorry for the late response. Congrats on the final round! Let me know how it goes. I am not going to the final round for Trafigura, I have a JPMorgan interview overlapping, so thought I'd focus on that one instead. My interview with Trafigura in Shanghai was all in Chinese, which I thought it a bit non-standard, and some of the interviewers were not very nice, there is one guy that just kept on playing his phone. I am not sure whether it was stress testing on purpose? Did you have the similar situation for your interview?
Thx Jo. hope everything goes well for ur interview with JPMorgan too! Mine were not that bad but some of interviewer do seem quite absent-minded. I feel like they are dragged from their jobs to conduct the interviews and are not very professional in terms of interview approach.
Shalom brudddas, Recently spotted this thread; very useful. Extended thanks to all involved for the illuminating information thus far. Any new tidbits to be shared? Looking forward to personally contributing if possible!
Jo/Xavier, Could you possibly pass on any more info relating to technical areas covered in the interview? With reference to info in this, and other WSO threads, it would appear Traf are looking for their interviewees to discuss basic hedging strategies applied to a range of scenarios. Can you expand anymore on this? Thanks in ADV.!
sure. They did ask me questions on hedging but I gathered that you just need to have some general ideas as to what's the hedging strategy like & risks. You don't have to go into the nitty gritty details.
Has anyone had any feedback from your final interview yet? I had my interview over a week ago and still haven't heard anything. Don't really understand the delay, given how quickly they responded after the first interview.
anybody get an offer for geneva?
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