Hi, I'm a msc student reading applied maths at Oxford and will graduate late summer next year, so I need to think about my exit options pretty soon. I'd like to get into a structuring role with an i bank somewhere, does anyone think it is worth a while at all to apply through those i banks' online recruitment forms? As far as I know most banks take large % of their graduate recruits from summer intern class, for the few left over positions they are flooded by those electronic apps. I have filled in a few forms online but didn't seem to hear anything back, granted that I've only been waiting for a few weeks but it is getting frustrating. So the question is: for those who have been through this process before, is there anything you would do to increment your chances of getting interviews? Or should I just go directly with recruitment agencies who (seem to) have good contacts in the IBs? Would this be a more effective option?

Banks electronic systems are a bit of a law unto themselves, but it is still worth trying them as well.The two sets of jobs partly overlap, but there are jobs you can only get online and others only through HHs.The most effective strategy is go for both sets of options, yes it is more work.There is a good question here, about how one works the electronic applications to advantage ?Although my work as a headhunter by definition doesn't intersect it much, there are a couple of things to try.Identify from their site which buzzwords they are looking for, and include them.Make sure it gets there. These systems are often complete shambles, some are shockingly bad. Use whatever confirmation system they provide.Also make sure all your contact details work, especially if you have to type them into the fields on the form. We see this.Don't use non UK/US version of software, these sometimes embed NLS stuff which can't be read.Delete the word "pure" and anything beginning with "bio".

I think you should try for an internship first.

I'd say just apply. While we do take some people from the intern program, we also take plenty direct from university, and, frankly. it can be good to find people who did not decide at age 12 to trade, and shape their whole lives around it.An endless parade o eager interns can get a bit much sometimes.

Agreed internship is a good way in, it's a shame that my course does not finish until september by which time it's too late for most of the internships in the UK.DCFC, would you say there is a decline in quant recruitment activities across the street given now that the banks are likely to focus more on cost cutting?

If you're motivated enough, you don't need to wait till the end of the course provided Pref Nick T doesn't discover it. I finished my dissert 3 months early so i could accept a trading role, so if you want it enough, work harder.Make sure you visit your college development office - they were able to sort their database of alumni in trading which opened some avenues. Also speak with Ben Hambly, who has decent links to industry. Make sure you read The Bridge - an Oxford careers publication which often has some entry level quant jobs in it.The market will be tough right now, so pursue everything rigorously.

The market is odd, so I'm tempted to call it softer, if it were not for the fact that the number of roles we've got have gone up since September, maybe that's our market share, maybe sampling error.But the class of employer within that has changed, smaller firms at the expense of larger ones, but again we only see what we see, not the whole picture.If we assume I know what's going on, then it's "uncertainty", rather than an overall collapse in the market.Panang is right about vigour, but of course that's my advice in the best of times since even if you're good and the market is hot then to get the best jobs you still have to sweat, or risk getting less than you could.

I'm sure commodities is looking quite good at the moment.

Thanks all of you guys for your replies, I really appreciate it!Panang: You finished your dissertation 3 months early? Your determination really deserves respect! I'm really hoping the workload will ease a little in trinity term, right now in MT the amount of work we've been given a lot of us only get to sleep 5 hours a day just to keep up with the course, I can't imagine how I'd be able to finish the thesis early if it carries on like this... Ben Hambly will teach a course in financial derivatives in HT, I'll definitely take that option. BTW, were you doing a strand R or C?

I did the Research arm, and I recommend it. Worth noting that Distinctions were generally dished to the Coursework strand.The amount of work required is very poorly distributed over the course. You will fine term 1 laughable in terms of how much you are required to do. In term 2, you can sit back and enjoy the bars, clubs, and first years, and pick it working again in term 3. If you work hard enough, you can organise your courses s.t. you only have your dissertation in term 3, so if you work hard, you can be done by June/July.My best tip is to do skeleton solutions for the example sheets, and hand very little in for MT, but ensure you understand whats going on. Prof Suli is a hero in finite differences, Prof Fowler deserves an asbo for the quality of his teaching. You can pickup wicked marks in the special topics, i took stochastics, EFD and C++. You can knock c++ off in the easter hols as, if its the same course, its put together for children. Make sure you attend the Adv Fin Derivs course, but do no work.Stay all over the course organisers. They couldn't organise a beer in a brewary in my view. Like most of academia, they insist on you getting your stuff in on time, but they return it months too late to be of constructive use.Show your family around the bod, around chirst church, then tell them about how many of the undergrads are from state school. Apply for every grant in the book, and you'll be sure to pull in something whatever your income given they don't comprehend the concept of means testing.

Thanks Panang for the tip.they were dishing out distinctions to strand C people? that'd be good news. I was told by the course organizer that last year 24 people started the course only 16 graduated, and no-one managed a distinction, that scared us right off! Maybe they just had a bad year last year...Agreed Suli is a star, he seems to be one of the few who actually cares about teaching here.

Thats BS my man. About 37 started, couple dropped out max and I believe there were 8 distinctions in total, prob 5-6 of which went to C strand. No one has failed the course for 5 years, and no one ever will.