Sales and Trading 2025 Recruitment
Current Sophomore recruiting for S&T for summer 25. Had 2 main questions if anyone could shed some light.
1) Like IB, how relevant is networking for the S&T/global markets division in general at banks. Is networking a standard practice to be able to get a first round or not so much? I'm aware that its always good to network as much as possible regardless but I am curious purely regarding getting the first round if it is beneficial and how many ppl per firm I should be trying to speak to.
2) Interview technicals - once again like IB has the 400 questions guide, are there any popular and highly regarded S&T technical interview prep? Or generally what is the content of these interviews from a technical standpoint? Have only heard of things like current market questions and brainteasers (idk if this means just logical questions or genuine statistics/probability brainteasers).
Ideally I'll also be learning more about this as I continue to network with alums in S&T/GM but wanted to drop this here to see if anyone had some insight. Thank you
Based on the most helpful WSO content, networking is indeed a significant aspect of the recruitment process for Sales and Trading (S&T) roles, much like it is for Investment Banking (IB). Here's some insight into your questions:
1) Networking's Relevance in S&T Recruitment: - Networking can be quite beneficial for getting a first-round interview in S&T. It's not just about making connections; it's about demonstrating your interest and knowledge in the markets. - While networking might not be as emphasized as in IB, it still plays a crucial role. It can help you get noticed and potentially flagged for an interview if you make a strong impression. - The number of people to network with per firm isn't set in stone, but aiming to have meaningful conversations with several individuals at different levels (Analysts, Associates, VPs) could be advantageous.
2) S&T Interview Technicals: - While there isn't a universally recognized "400 questions guide" for S&T like there is for IB, preparation for technical questions is still essential. - Technical interview content can include understanding financial products, market trends, and possibly some mental math or probability questions. - Current market questions are common, so staying updated with financial news and being able to discuss market movements is important. - Brainteasers and logical questions are often used to assess your problem-solving abilities and thought processes.
Remember, each networking call or interaction can be a stepping stone towards an interview, so treat them seriously and be prepared to discuss your interest and knowledge in S&T. Keep networking with alumni and professionals in the field, as their insights will be invaluable for both the networking process and interview preparation.
Sources: How important is networking in the UK (London)?, https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forum/job-search/my-2-cents-on-sa-recruiting-from-a-non-target-background?customgpt=1, Getting the 1st Round Interview, How exactly does networking work?, How important is networking really?
https://salesandtrading.org/ was super helpful for me
Thank you
This guy is right. I used them when I was recruiting as a lateral from a totally different industry. Was super helpful and only cost like $50
Very good site and very much worth its price
lmao bro is prepping for st questions - shouldn't they all be common sense for you already
also networking does not matter if you're smart and STEM you're good
Completely useless comment... there are a lot of ways to prep for S&T interviews. OP I'd recommend reading Pricing Money (free pdf online), learn about the recent macro trends and be ready to talk about them, and knowing some basic bond math can't hurt. You can also prep for brain teasers since they are decently common, mental math/general math stuff as well as coding questions are very desk dependent but still possible.
ib question stuff was common sense for me. Learning how to price certain products/how a clo is structured is not common sense.
they won't ask you how a pricing model works
Also curious how important networking is to get a first-round - coming from a target and have sophomore summer internship in S&T
Yeah youll get R1s
Would recommend reading Options, Futures and Other Derivatives by Hull, at least at my BB everyone has one at home or at the desk (can only speak for the FICC side). Think the book does a good job explaining the Greeks, which I got asked about a lot. Brainteasers are very common, I got 2 in my interview. There is a decent book called Heard on Wallstreet, some Analysts/Associates at my BB use this to pick brain teasers. Your University should have access to both, at least my had. Networking was essential for me to get the SA and FT offer, but there might be differences between NY/LDN/Continental Europe. Just keep in mind that less SAs convert than in IB…
How far along are the different S&T processes these days?
wondering the same
Think pretty early. Only diversity for big BB have been give out.
1. For networking, it's almost always free to reach out with a cold email. That said, don't be annoying or persistent if someone ignores you. Your school also matters a lot in this. If you go to a target or have some alumni you know that are in the space, that's way more valuable than randomly emailing some people. Broadly, S&T is a little more meritocratic than IB, so most people are just focused on finding talent that will one day make money. IB it's a little different because they expect to lose 80% of their class before VP, and are really hiring you for your labor. S&T has better progression to VP+ levels, but your comp is going to be a lot more based on your abilities than waiting on deal flow to happen.
2. This is going to matter a lot on the specifics on the desk. I think generally, we've moved away from brainteasers and esoteric questions. The things you will need to be able to do are:
a) Know how to code - talk about projects you've done, languages you can code in etc. If you don't know how to code, have a good reason for it. Nowadays, everyone can at least do basic programming, so it's almost a minimum expectation that you can do it. On the desk, you may not need to, but it's just table stakes.
b) Follow markets and have something to say about them.
c) Use some basic logic to explain a scenario. This is essentially what trading is, and it's really inefficient to memorize and study stuff for this. A lot of this is being comfortable with logical chains, and building intuition (usually from following markets or reading about them).
For example, let's say the Fed doesn't cut next cycle, and their forward guidance is they won't for the first half of the year. What would that mean for treasury yields? The dollar? Equities? Oil? Gold?
Just work through those thought experiments, and you'll get more comfortable with questions.
What programming languages would you need to know? I know Python, but that’s it for now, and I’m taking a class where we’re learning JavaScript right now. Would that be sufficient?
Javascript is a front-end programming language, so it will not be useful at all for Trading. Only languages I've seen are Python (including data science packages), VBA, and only in one case R.
only python, specifically using libraries for data science/ml such as numpy pandas sklearn etc. You could easily do a project to show proficiency, such as downloaded a financial dataset and doing some manipulations / algorithms on it in jupyter to predict market events or something.
Bump
Anyone heard back from TD, BNP?
Got both first rounds for td. I know for bnp they have offers for their diversity summit
are you diversity? also both for TD? like FI and equities?
obviously we're talking about regular here
did you go to BNP's diversity summit? is that why the offer is earlier?
TD in the US?
Updates on deutsche/barc?
Offers just came out for discovery. Probably updates in the next weeks.
Anyone have info on GS hirevue questions for ficc and equities?
All behavioural. Only 1 "whats happening in the news" question.
What behaviorals were there?
Do you remember any of them?
Anyone doing BNP sophomore summit?
Yes. Got in for S&T
Same! :)
Hey finance enthusiasts! Just came across discussion about sales and trading recruitment in 2025. Exciting topic! Any insiders here with insights on the trends or changes in the landscape for sales and trading careers? Personally, I'm navigating this field and keen to hear diverse perspectives
Anyone have finished first round for RBC hear back? Finished Interview couple days ago with interviewer's comment "did great", but haven't received spd invitation yet...
first they say it to everyone second you go to a target school wtf are you doing rbc s&t lmao
Just feeling insecure dude I've seen numerous "over-qualified" kids from my school can't break into BB and ended up in mm. So I guess just apply to some "relatively-safe" option..
contact said they will send decisions next wednesday, and superdays are the week after. Super late...i already accepted another offer.
Thanks for the info dude, congrats for your offer
Did you hear back? Haven't hear back from rbc..
Did any nondiv who did R1 for MS FID hear back abt superday? If so how long did it take
Still waiting
When did you interview may I ask?
i heard back
When did you done the interview? Currently still waiting for R1..
i did it last Wed
they sent out rejection emails
Spds are out
i got a spd for gs s&t
when
last week
Bruh, guess my app died during the hirevue
lol bruh mine died too then
when did u finish urs
how could man GS literally just opened at 3/1, are you diverse/went to early program?
Nope. Not diversity.
WHO HEARD BACK FROM MACQUARIE MARKETS
Got the assessment this morn
when did you do your first round? also is this for NYC
can u pm me
what banks for S&T are open for apps? other than GS
everywhere except citi
del
if anyone heard back from MS IE or Macquarie Markets NYC pm me
pmed
Anyone hear back from 3/22 MS fixed income spd yet?
Anyone whos nontarget/nondiv got a spd invite for S&T or AM?
me with UBS
how long did it take to hear back
ubs sent out
Has anyone nontarget nondiv got offer call for MS fixed income s&t? If so how long did it take to hear back
^ from Tuesday’s Superday
offers went out for MS FI today, not sure if it was for that spd specifically though.
Bump
Got TD FI offer, any insights on it?
how was SD
any word on GS snt ? I know SDs went out 3/28
are they done?
Did they actually release another wave of SDs after 3/28?
would recommend asking your recruiting team...
Any banks still recruitting for Sales and Trading Summer 2025?
Also, is there any excel sheet that helps.
anyone knows the class sizes for MS and GS this year? Last year's class sizes were so small for S&t
Ive heard 40-50 total across across all of S&T for MS. Cant speak for GS but MS definitely changed their S&T hiring practices significantly over the past few years. Much smaller classes are actually a good thing IMO - return rates when they would hire anyone and everyone were stupidly low. If you look on LinkedIn mostly every MS S&T diversity candidate has similar credentials as non div which is like unheard of
Hmmm so 40-50 across three programs. 15 each? You also count for the early insight ppl. That’s so sad
What counts as low return rate? Thought S&T would normally have a much lower rate than IB and anything from 60-70% is normal. Know GS has a significantly lower rate though.
From what I've heard, GS has the lowest return rate out of GS, JPM, and MS S&T. As the other guy said, MS recently switched up policy so rates have been higher. JPM had a super rough return rate for S&T last summer (around 50%), but also decreased size of intern class starting last recruitment cycle so we'll likely see a higher return rate for future classes. I believe GS is still 30-50% realm and I don't think they've decreased S&T class size in recent years.
What was BNP Paribas first round and superday like?
Anyone else in next Markets super day for JPM? Thought they were done recruiting
Updates on UBS after superday??
did you end up hearing back and when did you have one. I am in a similar spot
Anyone been through the interview process for MS in IED? Have a 1st round coming up.
Update?
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