Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Behavioural Questions
Behavioural questions in an S&T interview are similar to that of investment banking. In this portion of the
interview, the firm is trying to gauge your personality and fit with their corporate culture. DO NOT
underestimate the importance of this portion of the interview. The links below and the questions attached
should provide you with a good understanding of how to prep and the types of questions that you will see
during this section of the interview.
http://www.mergersandinquisitions.com/sales-trading-interview-fit-questions/
http://www.mergersandinquisitions.com/sales-trading-vs-investment-banking-part-1-recruiting/ - The end
of the podcast covers S&T interviews
Market-Based Questions
Market-based questions can be a challenging portion of the interview to prepare. The potential questions
seem endless. Firms do not expect you to understand every detail of Bank of Japans most recent policy
announcement; however, they do expect you to have a general understand of what is going on in global
markets. In order to prepare, I recommend tackling this section in 3 parts:
1) Surface Level Questions To ensure that you have been following the markets, the interviewer
is likely to ask questions like what is the price of gold? Where did the S&P 500 close yesterday?
What is the 10yr US Treasury rate? Who is Stephen Poloz? Etc.
2) Historical Comprehensive Questions In addition to the surface level questions, the
interviewer is likely to ask about the performance of various assets and economies over the last
1-2 years. Assets to know include: gold, S&P 500, oil, US interest rates, Canadian interest rates,
Canadian dollar, and US dollar. Economies to know include: Canada, US, Japan, Eurozone,
UK, and emerging markets.
3) Outlook Questions For each of the aforementioned assets and economies be sure to develop
an outlook for the next 12-24 months. S&T is all about having an opinion, so do your research,
develop an opinion, and be prepared to support it in an interview.
Investment Questions
Mergers & Inquisitions does a good job of discussing the investment questions in the link below. Note that
if you mention anywhere on your resume or cover letter that you trade or manage a personal portfolio, you
are guaranteed to get questions regarding your strategy, best trade, worst trade, etc. In general, there are 3
types of questions:
1) What sectors do you like? What sectors do you dislike?
2) Pitch me a stock you are long. Pitch me a stock that you are short.
3) How would you invest $10 million? (Asset allocation: %CDN equities, % US equities, % bond,
% gold, % real estate, etc.)
http://www.mergersandinquisitions.com/sales-trading-interview-technical-questions/
Technical Questions
Technical questions seldom make up a large portion of the interview but should be prepared for
nonetheless. Technical questions include any product specific questions such as: what is the difference
between a forward and futures contract? Or explain what an interest rate swap is. See the list of interview
questions below to practice potential technical questions.
Brainteasers
Brainteasers are less common these days, however, you will be asked them from time to time. Your best
bet is to search around the internet for brainteasers to practice (Wall Street Oasis has a good selection). In
general, if you are asked a brainteaser and are unsure how to answer it, think out loud and try your best to
walk through the problem logically.