What were your experiences with applying and interviewing for Global Graduate Programs with trading houses like Trafigura?
What will be the duration of the process till the final stage, and how tough will it be? Which languages should you know, apart from English?
amoghhlgr, bummer your thread hasn't had a response yet. Maybe one of these threads could point you in the right direction:
If those topics were completely useless, don't blame me, blame my programmers...
I went through the graduate program with Trafigura, did not get an offer but it was still a good experience and a challenging interview.
When applying, they will have you answer some questions, try to remember what you said for your questions because they will reference them in the interview.
I got a random call at like 10 pm on a wednesday from a HR rep in Singapore and asked like 3 easy questions about commodity trading and invited me to the next round
Then I was invited to a regional office in Stamford to skype into the interviewers in Houston. There will be people interviewing you from all different divisions, not just deals desk if you apply to deals desk. It is split into 2 45 minute skype interviews, one is very technical on commodity trading, the other is very chill, just analyzing your personality.
Then the final round interview I was flown to Houston (you might be flown to Houston twice if it is the closest office) I believe there were 8 of us in the final round, not sure on that. You are asked to prepare a presentation on a recent news event and how it affected commodity markets. Then they will ask you technical questions on your chosen commodity and market. One of my interviews I was skyped into traders in Geneva for a less technical interview.
I heard back about a week later on the phone that I did not get the offer
Thank you MC. Hmmm... you had quite an interview.
Don't go for the Trafigura Graduate program if you have other options. That's because they very rarely move graduate program hires into their trading roles.
What else can you suggest?
BP, Shell, Glencore
I wouldn't say "rarely," but I do agree that it's certainly very competitive. Of final round candidates for the (experienced) trading roles, normally a little under 25% will be internal Trafigura applicants.
The graduate application progress for Trafigura is structured as follows:
1) Online application - personal information, CV, additional questions (e.g. what trades / investments would you advise Trafigura make at this point in time)
2) Call with HR - will come out of the blue 3-5wks after you submit your application, will ask some basic technical Qs (e.g. how would you hedge a cargo)
3) First round of interviews - 2-3wks later, will be at your nearest Trafigura office, two or three 30mins interviews with two junior-to-mid-level Trafigura employees
4) Second round of interviews - 1-2wks later, same deal as previous interview round, but with senior employees (often regional heads of different departments)
Usual mixture of competency based questions (e.g. what are your biggest weaknesses, why Trafigura, etc.) as well as technical questions (e.g. walk me through how a letter of credit works, what risks would you need to considered if transporting X commodity from A to B, etc.)
The likelihood is that you won't be interviewed by a single trader from Trafigura throughout the entirety of this process. As Traf makes clear on its website, the graduate programme (unlike Glencore's) is not a programme for commercial roles. If you want to become a trader, you'll have to apply (either as an internal or external candidate) after you've amassed 2-6yrs of experience.
Great information on this thread. If I may ask, how did you best learn commodity technicals? My university doesn’t have any classes that specialize in commodities. Are there any specific books or guides you recommend that teach these techs?
Trafigura has a lot of information on their website, to study for their interview, I mostly just used stuff I could grab from there. Google "The economics of Commodity Trading Firms" its a white paper that they released.
Another classic is Merchant's Edge/The Art of Grain Merchandising. They have been publishing new copies for years, you might be able to find a pdf online of an older version. That is the nuts and bolts of the business
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