I have an assessment centre coming up with an I-Bank. I have to do a group exercise/case study with a presentation, some standard numerical/verbal tests, and a panel interview. Interestingly they have given us 15-20 mins at the start of the interview to 'sell ourselves' and do a small presentation (without visual aids). The job is a position on a fixed income trading desk.Does anyone have any tips for this? I particulary interested in your views on the group exercise and the 'sell yourself' bit...Thanks in advance.

For the group interview, I would recommend being distinctive but co-operative. If there are other big voices, let them have their say, and make sure that when you do get your turn that you don't waste it. Don't be the first "mover" at the start of the exercise unless nobody else speaks. I haven't done one of these exercises since reality TV got popular, but it is said that the way to win a series such as Big Brother is to start so that nobody notices you, and let your character grow over time. If possible, try to use the exrcise to demonstrate some of the skills with which you sold yourself - can you really work with a group of people, are you decisive, are you willing to take a lead / give a presentation / shut up when necessary? Regarding the selling yourself - I wouldn't recommend the deal that offers seven wishes in return for your soul (Bedazzled was on HBO last night and I'm currently in a NY hotel). Describe yourself honestly, focussing on your good points. A little self deprecation wouldn't go amiss, but don't try to do anything smart along the lines of "My weaknesses are that I am a perfectionist." It sounds cute and clever and positive, but assessors actually know that nobody is perfect, and that all of these "flaws" that people think can be seen as positive attributes are just flaws. Be yourself. If you're good enough, you'll get the job. If you're not, then there are probably reasons that would have come to light later anyway, and it might have been more painful to find out later rather than sooner. Good luck, and let us know how it goes.

Thanks for the advice!I'd never ever think about saying "I'm a perfectionist" or anything of that kind. I think the main reason I got through the first round was because I was honest - we ended up talking about College Football! I think you're right with the honesty is the best policy bit. I have heard the "don't be the first mover" in the group exercise from a couple of other people too, so I'll definetly shut up at the start.

Additionally.......Beware of boobietraps in questions/exercises. certain problems may not have a single answer. In such a case you had better present both answers and justify the reason why/when you would implement each one fo them. Certain questions may be presented in such a way that you might see the tree and cant see the forest, or the other way around. Stay cool, and never panic for anything even if an earthquake takes place.Dont permit any one to stress you either he is yoru assessor or just a rival job seeker.Some sense of humour doesnt harmFurthermore regarding your strengths and weaknesses, be realistic and dont exaggerate. They have assessed thousands of people before you and they have to assess some thousands after you. A trick would be to know that they are looking for and present your weaknesses in a way that might look positive in their eyes. Be sure that they dont expect to listen something like "i have no weakness, i am terminator"

Good points. If I judged the first round interview correctly, I don't they will be looking for terminator - that interview was with a VP who will be present for the panel interview. Question, in the panel interviews is each person assigned a role? i.e. will one be there to see if I have a personality, one to test my technical knowledge/market knowledge and another to just psyche me out. Does this usually happen? That is the only reason I can see for having an interview with 3 people.On the subject weaknesses, would it be wise to point to my lack foreign language skills? I thought that it would look like a proper weakness without it affecting my chances of getting the job (after all, they already know I don't possess anything more than basic german from my CV). Are there any other "proper" weaknesses that won't lead to an automatic ding? How about "too competitive"? Given that I'm applying for a entry-level trading position, would this be ok?

One might be tempted to use your lack of language skills to your benefit.Be up front with it. Admitting to a weakness makes your positive claims sound more honest. The best "weakness" is of course one that doesn't matter. Hard to see weak German as a failing in a Quant.

Ok, had the AC yesterday.Numerical/Verbal reasoning - standard tests I should have done well.Interview (including "sell yourself") - After my little speech, one of the interviewers said "I think there's one thing we know - you want to be a trader, you BADLY want to be a trader!". I think my enthuthiasm came through, they liked the fact I had a contingency plan (MS course). They caught me by surprise on one of the questions though, I was discussing the quantitative skills I've picked up e.g. modules in Advanced Financial Econometrics, Mathematical Finance, Derivatives, etc etc, they asked me what 19 squared was! I managed to answer it but I fail to see how that is relevant to the kind of quant skills I was talking about, I didn't exactly say "I'm great with mental arithmetic!" especially since my basic numerical reasoning skills were being tested in another part of the AC. Asked me if I would "rather be the best player in a mediocre team, or a mediocre player in the best team" - I answered the latter.Group exercise - 20 mins on how we think the UK housing market will perform in 2003, it was difficult for me to get a word in edgeways - 1 guy just kept talking (I think he was nervous), the first point I made was the overall conclusion for our group i.e. I answered the question whilst they were talking about "expansionary fiscal policy"... I have to say that I did more listening than talking but the points I did make were good ones. I was disgusted with a couple of members of the group though - another guy was making a point and these two started having their own little discussion, I just hope the assessors picked up on it (they must have done!). The Group Ex was followed by a presentation by our group - the 2 guys that had their own little discussion volunteered straight away and I figured that there's no point putting my head on the block - do traders really need to be good at presentations!?Anyway, overall I think I did pretty well. I had a good chat with the head of trader training about "natural born traders". Oh, and I had a disagreement with one of my interviewers. I said that it is not acceptable for a trader to blow his own trumpet, but it is acceptable to do it as part of a desk i.e. say we're making the most money. She said you're not competing with other people in the bank but the market. I said if you competition between desks (not for products, just in a friendly kind of way) then it would make the bank as a whole more profitable - what do you guys think of that? I thought that desks in banks do generally have a friendly rivalry, and the biggest producers are looked up to etc. In fact, I had a second disagreement with her - she said "you described trading as being seen as macho, and yet say there is no room for egos" I responded with the fact I used to play rugby league and even though that is seen as macho, ego's in the team were not tolerated and people who did go that way were quickly put back in their place by teammates.

Which firm did you interview with?

You have a PM.