Why "fit" is so important in S&T

A couple of my friends have gone through sales and trading interviews for summer internships and they tell me that the questions they got were almost all fit... maybe a quick brainteaser or asking them what they felt about the markets but the rest was all fit.

My question is: why is fit so important? If I were a firm, i would want to hire the smartest, hardest working kids that would be able to slave away and make me a crap load of money. I understand if they don't want a buncha stiffs but focusing their criteria on almost all personality/"fit" seems a little absurd.

Or are they looking for more passion for the markets to make sure that after they spend the money and resources training these kids, they won't drop out to be a consultant?

 

I generally agree with you that fit shouldn't be that important in a meritocratic environment like trading, but just a couple of thoughts:

-As a new analyst in S&T, you will largely spend your time helping traders rather than actually trading. You don't generate revenue, thus, they get hire people they like. -Traders are packed in like sardines. The trading floor is seated more densely than your college average computer lab and you sit next to the same people every day and work with them constantly. You overhear everything about other peoples' lives. EVERYTHING.

Until you have a well-known track record and/or you are a strong grad student who has something really marketable, every job opportunity will be a bit of a popularity contest. It's ok. Perhaps this process is best because it gives you better mentors.

 

^^that, but also that fact that no matter how well you know the technicals you can never truly know the product and market.

No matter how much you know, a person doesn't know what they don't know which means that you have to be taught the same things as a persons who doesn't know the technicals. Also, banks have some of the smartest, most hard working people you will ever find, but they will be the first to tell you that they knew absolutely nothing when they first started. Technicals don't indicate intelligence, they are there to separate the guys who have an interest/actually attempt to prepare for the interview from the guys who just apply to anything hoping for a job.

"Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, for knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA."
 
Best Response

I think the "fit" section is more important in almost any interview. The technical stuff is just to make sure you did your homework. If I get a resume, I can pretty much tell whether someone has the intelligence to do the job... you aren't going to prove that to me with your 30-second stock pitch, or telling me where the market closed yesterday, or how to do a DCF. Granted, if you screw those up you are in trouble because it shows you were too lazy to pick up a guide and figure out what questions you were likely to be asked.

I need to find someone I enjoy working with all day every day. No matter what you did in college, you will never have spent as much time nonstop with someone, as you will spend with your coworkers on the job. If you hire someone, and they end up not being a personality fit, you will want to kill yourself. If they aren't quite as naturally brilliant as the monkey with the 4.0 from Harvard, they can learn.

I would much rather a cool person with a 3.5 than a total toolbag with a 4.0. Both people can be taught.

 

what surprises me is that if recruiters think almost ANYONE can learn everything on the job, despite what's on their resume, then it actually makes no sense going through the trouble of doing on campus recruiting...make everyone's lives easier, and just refer your friends/family who you know/like for the job, instead of giving hundreds of college kids the illusion that they have the chance of getting a job, when they don't simply because they like the wrong sport, or were in the wrong frat, or simply because they have different interests

 
jim_beam:
what surprises me is that if recruiters think almost ANYONE can learn everything on the job, despite what's on their resume, then it actually makes no sense going through the trouble of doing on campus recruiting...make everyone's lives easier, and just refer your friends/family who you know/like for the job, instead of giving hundreds of college kids the illusion that they have the chance of getting a job, when they don't simply because they like the wrong sport, or were in the wrong frat, or simply because they have different interests

You realize that most of the friends/family that are hired are already well qualified? It's not like some fucking retard who got a 900/1600 on the SAT is getting a job. Even the 'lesser' qualified people with connections are generally more than intellectually capable. The 'fit' stuff is usually used as a filter after all of the other prereqs are fulfilled, at which point nothing else on paper is really going to give you a great idea of how well someone is going to do or even what their potential may be.

 
Jerome Marrow:
jim_beam:
what surprises me is that if recruiters think almost ANYONE can learn everything on the job, despite what's on their resume, then it actually makes no sense going through the trouble of doing on campus recruiting...make everyone's lives easier, and just refer your friends/family who you know/like for the job, instead of giving hundreds of college kids the illusion that they have the chance of getting a job, when they don't simply because they like the wrong sport, or were in the wrong frat, or simply because they have different interests

You realize that most of the friends/family that are hired are already well qualified? It's not like some fucking retard who got a 900/1600 on the SAT is getting a job. Even the 'lesser' qualified people with connections are generally more than intellectually capable. The 'fit' stuff is usually used as a filter after all of the other prereqs are fulfilled, at which point nothing else on paper is really going to give you a great idea of how well someone is going to do or even what their potential may be.

right, so what I'm saying is there is no need to expend resources on doing on campus recruiting...people already working at BBs can simply refer their family/friends who are qualified to fill in roles, instead of going to campuses and giving kids who're actually doing well in school the illusion that they have a good chance of getting a job

 
chewingum:
Is there a way of learning a product without being a trader's bitch for 2 years? Or is this pretty much it?

You learn by doing, so no. You can gain a lot of knowledge by trading on your own account, but that still doesn't teach you how to manage a book, get customers the best prices,ect.

"Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, for knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA."
 

Personality is important because during your first years you are being mentored. If the senior traders don't like you, why would they teach you? You won't know the nuances of a product, or clients to go to, or people to help you without being in the industry and being mentored by experienced people.

Trading is one area where the old apprentice system lives on to a big extent. If technicals were all that matters, banks would hire some PhDs in finance and give them a book. Technicals are a hurdle to cross over, not the end game.

 

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"Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, for knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA."

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