Recent Graduate looking for Prop Trading Opportunities in NYC area

Discussion in 'Professional Trading' started by kmgilroy89, May 18, 2012.

  1. traderchi128

    traderchi128 Guest

    I just looked at that site. Holy crap. Is like The National Enquirer of trading sites.
     
    #41     May 20, 2012
  2. Not sure if serious?
     
    #42     May 20, 2012
  3. newwurldmn

    newwurldmn

    I think the world has gotten a lot more competitive. You have about 10 years on me and this was the requirements. I think they got harder after I got in because the juniors we hired were way smarter than I.

    I agree that this isn't a precursor for success.
     
    #43     May 20, 2012
  4. Yeah...I'll call tomorrow.
     
    #44     May 20, 2012
  5. Advancements in the internet have helped my generation a lot. It's a lot easier for us to find out information, how companies interview, what we need to learn, etc. If I were 22 in 1992 I probably wouldn't even know about prop firms. I might not have even known about them in 2002.
     
    #45     May 20, 2012
  6. traderchi128

    traderchi128 Guest

    It definitely has no doubt. Back in 1992 The NY Times had pages of jobs for Wall Street. There were tons of trading firms out there hiring. While I went to a very good school (Not Ivy League), in today's environment would be 1000x tougher than back then. Hell.....I interviewed with a desk at Tudor back in 92 for a job as a trader's assistant. I passed on it because there were so many other trading jobs around where I could actually trade instead of being an assistant. Great move on my part. Tudor never became much.
     
    #46     May 20, 2012
  7. sle

    sle

    I don't think my juniors are smarter, but they are certainly more educated then an average trader 15 years ago. There is a tendency to hire more numerical/programming oriented guys from good schools.

    So it's consistent with the new trend - either you are "the shit" (i.e. people compete for your services because you are smart and got the right skills) or you are a non-entity and it's virtually impossible to get to spot where you can prove yourself.
     
    #47     May 20, 2012
  8. Wow and I always thought a 3.3 was good enough...

    But depends how you got your GPA too. I knew dozens of 3.9 ers from business school who couldn't sell a dime for a penny. So while GPA does reflect a stronger work ethic and better intelligence, it is by no means the absolute.

    Whenever my bad grades (I even have a D+) were brought up, I always told them it was because I was enjoying life too much (clubbing, etc.).

    But that's not why I got job offers.

    I worked close to 30 hours a week during school, ran a successful tutoring business, was a (not so-threatening) bouncer at bars, was president of clubs at the university, volunteered with various organizations, ran for Students' Union and have always been solid with sales.

    Basically my student life has been 10% school, 90% cool. It's a bit of a risk but that's what worked for me. I did what I wanted. I know a few other guys who've pulled that off. My extracurricular is better than my grades- far far better. But whatever I did, I did it with 100% determination. Make sure that reflects in your resume and in your interview.

    BUT, my core courses do have excellent grades. I recently took 2 PhD level courses in Mathematics and I got an A in both. So grades in the few important courses must be good.

    However, there are scores of people who do more and still score a 4.0. To them, I salute (provided you have a technical degree)

    If you don't have anything other than grades, it'll be difficult to hire you.

    The one job I always wanted (but couldn't, they went into a hiring freeze a day before they were supposed to call me) the manager was a mathematics major herself in university. She loved me so much, I interviewed 8 times- yes, 8- basically I met everyone I was gonna work with- including the receptionist. It was a small team at a very large and well known company. It's even featured in a TV show on CBS (Edit: i previously said youtube.)

    So keep at it. When you find the job you like, you'll know it.

    To keep with the theme here, I wanna work in trading too (hopefully), but I'm open minded enough that perhaps my experience won't lend itself to that kinda job. I'm applying for simple junior analyst positions. So keep it humble too. I doubt any firm will hire someone as a trader straight out of business school.

    Maybe I'm meant to work in a Harley Davidson plant? I'll never know. I'll keep trying for a while and if it doesn't work out, I'm not gonna lose sleep over it. I have many other interests- benefit of being a nerd.
     
    #48     May 20, 2012
  9. anyone that describes themselves as 10% school 90% cool, is not 'cool' whatsoever
     
    #49     May 20, 2012
  10. Since you have reading difficulties, I can't help you. I didn't describe myself as cool.

    What I felt was cool, I did. I even thought it was cool to volunteer with mentally retarded kids and teaching English to an old German immigrant with a bunch of friends but that's just me.

    I pity your boring life.
     
    #50     May 20, 2012