Hi All, Not a frequent poster, but long time lurker. I have a strong interest in options, especially being inspired in the past by riskarb, sle, rallymode and segv from this site. I took the time to complete a postgraduate course in Quantitative Finance, since my previous degree simply had finance and accounting majors (I'm based in Australia, so follow UK education system). Unfortunately AU markets are quite small, and entry level roles are restricted to grad programs in S&T at IB's (we don't really have mid tiers and close to little or no hedge funds and prop firms). With the competitiveness, and I feel my age working against me (28), I have come short of the mark for these positions (didn't pass final interviews) and may now look to move to London for opportunities. I wanted to ask many of the professional traders if they experienced anything similar, or know anyone in a similar situation and what they did to secure their first role? Or am I being unknowingly foolish and have no chance of getting into this field? I have tried to supplement the studies, with learning from this forum and paper/small personal account trading in the past. What I mean by this is I didn't just complete my postgrad and believe I knew all there was to the market. The subjects taught things like Ito's Lemma, SDE's, pricing vanilla's and exotics etc but nothing like what is discussed in here on ET like Greeks, position management, positions themselves like combo to fly conversions and why to do it, no touch options and having hedges into the strike etc. In other words I am proactively trying to make that connect from theory to practicality. Thank you in advance for any feedback
How about looking at trading jobs in a corporate (non-banking) role, like at a mining or energy company? They hire traders for hedging purposes mostly. Good way to learn about end-user demand. Likely easier to get an entry-level position there than at a bank.