Quote from Cre8UrF8:
A lot of people on this site seem to be angry at firms for only hiring Ivy league graduates for trader positions. These firms get 1,000s if not 10,000s of resumes a year. They can't waist their time interviewing everyone of them.
Trading firms look at everyone with a strong resume, whether from Ivy League or from a second tier state school or from the school of hard knocks, so your first assumption just isn't true. Some firms have hired people with no college whatsoever, but a very strong resume. But the hiring isn't complete until the training is over, as you know. The training programs are there for a reason -- to see who sinks and who swims -- and the waterline is designed to be very high and very choppy. Also, firms will filter resumes with a number of criteria, none of which state "only Ivy Leaguers need apply." I've personally met some real rocks from Ivy League schools that couldn't think their way out of a paper sack -- this academic inbreeding is what the interview and the training program are designed to catch.
Quote from Cre8UrF8:
So if you don't like their criteria, what criteria would you use to narrow down the amount of applicants to interview? You need to narrow it down from 1,000s of resumes down to 100. Realistically what do you think would be the best way to narrow down the field, not a criteria that you personally would meet and would get you an interview. If you were in charge how would you determine someone has what it takes to make a good trader? [/B]
I would be looking at a resume with demonstrated accomplishments and skills, with a quantitative measure of performance or with a well-defined potential for performance that related directly to the firm's own goals. I would also look for the ability to think decisively and artfully, for the ability to take measured risks, for the ability to plan and act, and for personal traits such as integrity, discipline, the ability to work in teams, etc....the list would go on. If I were hiring for quant positions, I would look for math/bus background and perhaps this would require educational criteria or experience criteria beyond what I would look for in a trader. But I would first and foremost look for someone who could be taught and molded into a person the firm believes will serve its bottom line and its customers in a manner consistent with the firm's culture -- someone I could trust. I would be looking for someone well-rounded (again, perhaps a different criterion from that of a quant position) who could successfully fulfill a variety of roles within the firm -- but at the same time, I'm not looking for a cookie. I'm looking for unique aspects of a candidate that make him or her stand out as well. This is often the criterion that separates the perceived wheat from the chaffe when the field is so well-qualified.
The interview would be the next step, when I would look at aspects such as confidence and genuiness, the ability to articulate well and think creatively under stress, the ability to listen and establish rapport, the ability to persuade, etc.
Of course, I would also look at their desire, their knowledge of the firm and of the trading profession, their knowledge of financial instruments and their near and long term professional interests.
And don't even think about sitting down with me if you're not presenting yourself smartly. If you have food between your teeth, stink or have stains on your slacks, turn around, get back on the train and reassess.
An interesting candidate might have a BA in English, Art or International Relations. He or she might have spent four years working in Africa as a humanitarian relief coordinator, or eight successful years in the military as either a tech or an officer in any specialty. He or she might speak another language, whether Spanish, French, Arabic, or Tagolog. He or she might also have an unusual hobby or talent that they have stayed faithful to.
Things I cannot make a judgement on are whether the person is married, if they have kids, how old they are, whether they are religious, and the rest of the usual blah-blah-blah. That is something that could get the firm in very big trouble. I don't care whether they are white, black, Asian or from another planet. I don't care whether they were raised in a poor family and overcame tremendous adversity. (They are a dime a dozen these days.) I don't care if they had an Aston Martin at 15 -- unless they paid for it with their own money. Then I would be interested in how they earned that money and whether they shouldn't hire me instead.
Would it matter if they had blown trading accounts before? Not a bit. But it would matter tremendously and to their benefit if it came up and they were honest about it.
This all sounds a little fruity, but it gets stinky soon enough.
