Hello everyone. I've been reading for a long time these pages and finally I logged in to trouble you with my problems as well. Later on I hope I will be able to assist someone as well.As I have a Maths Bsc and a Derivatives Msc my dream is to become a Quant in London. I have my first interview this week but I guess my trading experience and research and the knowledge from the course are not enough. I ll do my best to convince them but some of the topics I am going to be asked are Martingale pricing (Can you derive the pricing equation of a vanilla call using martingale methods?), Correlation Risk and Forward Volatility Risk on which I am not really strong. Do you think I should have a go and do the interview and if yes, would you have any idea what is the best place to look for some details on these subjects so that I study them before going? (I know the time is short but I ll do my best)Thanx for your help. I hope next time I ll join the pros forum.

ThodorakiOne important thing to have in mind is that you must convince em why they should hire you and not a local If you can activate your private messaging i can tell you some more.Anthis

Thodoris, If you don't mind me asking, where are you interviewing, and where did you do your MSc Derivatives?

Bar Cap in London and the Msc is from London Guildhall.

I too have an interview here at BarCap - tomorrow.

screeger,What job are you applying for?_Thodoris,I have some very good friends at Guildhall.Nick Leeson went there. That's pretty cool!I stayed at Claredale whenI worked in Canary Wharf._I interned at Barcap for two summers.I don't know much about the hiringprocess for higher level positions,but feel free to ask me anyquestions you might have.Best of luck to both of you!

Really? Ididnt know about Nick Leeson!!Anyway I am applying for a quantitative analyst but not for a senior position.I have three years trading experience but only one working with an investment bank in Greece. I guess they will mosly be interested in the theoretical part of my knowledge. I ll have to convince them because I have to get on board , join the other forums as well!! Most probably I ll have another interview next week with Barra as well.Fingers crossed because after that I guess hiring stops for the Christmas period with all the balls etc....

Thodoris:May I ask that how did you get interviewed?I will complete my quantitative finance master program in the coming May. Before that, I got a MS in math from a top Eastern European school and then worked for 4 years with fixed income securities and derivatives.Since you have been interviewed, I just wonder if you could provide me any precious suggestion about any tricks to get the interview opportunity. Your help is greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot!

I will answer on Thursday because that's when I m getting interviewed.Wish me luck !

You should definitely check Risk magazine out. It's got articles on the topics you mentioned.What is position? Group? Did you get the interview from university recruiting?Remember, personality counts a lot so try your best to be a nice guy at the interview.

Thank you.Good Luck.

A:Thank you so much for your prompt response. I will try to find this article. I used to manage a portfolio of bonds and derivatives in one of the leading russian banks.There was no on campus recruiting for quant people this year, so I was not interviewed.

Actually, I was replying to Thodoris' postings.

Thank you all for your response.It's funny, but now that I ve learned some things about matingale techniques, its use in pricing corellated products (which is not great because of the volatility explosions), all the corelated products ( cliquets, diff swaps, rainbow options,quanto swaps/options, binary options, geometric means options,basket options), how to price them(the steps that we have to make through martingale probabilities), weiner process, the wide tail problem, the volatility clustering and the smile problems(for Brownian methods), how jump diffusions help and why combining techniques turn out better...................I turn out in the interview and get asked how I hedge my gamma in an options portfolio!! Ha, Ha!Anyway thanks guys. I ll tell you if I got it when I know...I guess I did my best.

so what did you get asked ?