1. About yourself

Enrolled in Rotman Commerce, University of Toronto

Currently Year 4; Specialized in public accounting

2. Interview Experience

I applied at the beginning of September.

Found it on the Rotman commerce portal.

My application process is slightly different because I was completing the exchange in the fall in Milan. All interviews were delivered through Skype with video on, which includes 2 rounds of interviews. The first round is more behavioural questions, asking typical interview questions, not too technical. The second round, which is the super day, consists of 3 sets of interviews: one 30-min technical(first one) with two 30-min behavioural.

3. Have any hard questions during the technical round on Super Day?

They asked me what the current US/ CAD exchange rate was, like what it opened at. I would say I cannot give you the specific number, but I could tell you where the range varies. So I stated my assumption where I thought the exchange rate would be around with the current condition. They have asked me to have a guess, so I made a logical guess based on those assumptions, and it turned out fine. Don’t stress if they (interviewers) asked something like this, and you don’t know the exact rate something is trading at. Just state your assumption and guess based on the assumption if they ask you to, and you will be fine if you have good assumptions.

4. Are questions in S&T similar to IB?

Very different based on my experience. It was more based on current market conditions, how markets are moving and what you thought they would move. They asked me for the exact rate, and I think they want to know whether I really understand the current market condition or not. It’s not so much on calculations like in IB, where people asked you to do a DCF or whatnot. In S&T, at least based on my experience, it’s more of do you understand the current market, and are you able to articulate your opinions on them.

5. What did you do to prepare for the interview?

Read and listen to podcasts quite frequently from the month going up, making sure I understood the current market condition.

Had conversations with people I knew who were working in the business, getting used to talking about what’s happening. I want to get the experience of talking about them; just because I don’t regularly have chats with my friends about current market conditions and how they move.

I also looked online, going through what are some practice sales and trading interview questions.

Most of them(prep materials) I found were just making sure you understand the current markets.

6. What advice do you have for students that are going through recruitment right now?

Don’t be discouraged if you don’t get a response on even a couple of few jobs. I send out my fair share of applications. Just keep on looking for postings that come up. One will come, and we all send 100 applications!