Is experience important to get a trader's position in ibanks

sloan · March 1st, 2005, 4:20 am

I am admitted by Princeton's MFin program and looking forward becoming a structured products trader after that. Currently I am taking internship in the derivative risk management field. Is it more possible to get trading jobs if I work for one year first in risk management field? (I do not have full time work experience before) Thanks!

Pasargad · March 1st, 2005, 9:44 pm

If you are very lucky and smart (both required) you may end up as a junior on a structured product desk straight out of school.Otherwise, you will have to do just like (lots of) other people : work for 1-2 years in a quant team, in risk management, model validation...etc and just wait for a position to become available on the desk you work for.

sloan · March 2nd, 2005, 12:57 am

Thanks, Pasargad. I think I need to get more experience first then. What about proprietary or fixed income / currency trading, do they have such a high requirement as structured desk?

Pasargad · March 3rd, 2005, 11:05 pm

Prop trading positions at investment banks are tough to obtain (maybe even more than structured products) and they require prior work experience. It will probably be easier to get an assistant trader position on a vanilla desk.