What are the typical interview questions for novice traders? What are the special qualities that are looked for by the employers? How important is a PhD when applying for a trader's position?

What desk are you applying for??There is a big difference between a EUR/USD spot trader and a convertible arbitrageur......

Ideally the equity desk, but I'm not sure how they are usually structured. For example, do they have separate traders for stocks and stock options do they also separate trading styles, eg. stat arb, trend-following, etc. Second choice would probably be the commodity desk, but again I'm not sure how they are structured, i.e. do each trader trade in one commodity product only, are futures and option traders separated, etc? Would be great if anyone of you can give some examples of the differences (if any) between the different positions, such as that given by baghead, and what skills are required for each of them. Thanks in advance. D

Well, I'm not sure how much I can help since I'm only an undergrad. Anyway, I have had three interviews for trading assistant positions in the US. The companies that I interviewed with were into stock options. They all asked the following questions:1)Are you competitive? Sounds like a silly question, but I guess they wanted me to tell them about my extra-curricular activities that signaled that I had the cold-blooded competitive spirit that is needed in trading.2) What board games do you play? This is usuallly followed by a probability question that requires you to place a bet against your opponent(s), or one involving you calculating the "value" of a game. I thought the probability questions were not too difficult (but I am a math major at a top-tier university). If you are not a mathematical person, then you should take a look at some easy probability and combinatorics questions. Using a book containing brain-teasers puzzles is also a good idea.3) Do you plan to go to graduate school? What do you plan to study there? I guess these only apply for an undergrad.4)The remaining questions were all introductory-level (or intermediate-level) probability and statistics questions. Expect to having a working knowledge of Bayes theorem, conditional probability, and perhaps some game theory (not as important in interviews, I don't think).Don't take my word for it, but I think you only need a PhD for certain types of trading jobs. I know lots of traders who only have a bachelors. I guess the PhD-level traders actually build the models, while the other traders just need to understand how they work, and when to use them. But I have no experience intrading, so someone else should please clarify.

Thanks Osas.