I don't wanna be a quant!!

tbretagn · Post by **tbretagn** » Fri Oct 15, 2004 5:11 pm

Hi, I'm a French guy who graduated from a "grande ecole" in Engineering/Math, a DEA (kind of postgrad) in Math/CS and a French MSc in Finance. I'm looking for a job right now. The thing is, I'm not that interested in pure quant thing and I'd prefer to begin in structuring. But people I talk to see me like a pure quant and stick to that.

Any idea on how to sell myself for such a "low-quant" position.

Thx

drews · Post by **drews** » Fri Oct 15, 2004 5:44 pm

I have similar thoughts, I’m not sure whether I want to be a hardcore quant, but HHs mostly perceive me as one. So I’m thinking about getting back to school and getting a M.S. in fin math and then omitting my physics PhD from my resume completely when applying to certain roles.

Middle office quant roles if not in model validation (where you can actually learn something) are quite depressing. Thus I was interviewed once in a very big IB for a position (as they call it) in ‘risk architecture’. The whole group worked on developing a 100,000x100,000 correlation matrix between this number of products on everyday basis and then delivering it to traders and regulators. How freaking exciting…

Can somebody also tell more about structuring…

jungle · Post by **jungle** » Fri Oct 15, 2004 5:57 pm

i would seriously not miss out your PhD. seriously seriously seriously. 1) it is a selling point and 2) a gap on your resume will look very bad.

there are loads of structurers on the forum, mibbe they can help? Big Smile

tbretagn · Post by **tbretagn** » Fri Oct 15, 2004 6:02 pm

Yes. The thing is I don't have also the hardcore quant profile (did cool things in fi math but just by chance) and I don't feel like I'm God (the time is old when I was swelling in Banach spaces). But I'm no hardcore trader neither. So I think structuring would be a good intermediary position. Any comment on this?

braincat · Post by **braincat** » Fri Oct 15, 2004 7:08 pm

What is "structuring"?

Crassus · Post by **Crassus** » Fri Oct 15, 2004 8:46 pm

tbretagn what experience do you have? why don't you want to be a quant?

JabairuStork · Post by **JabairuStork** » Sun Oct 17, 2004 10:53 pm

Structuring could mean a lot of different things, depending on where you are doing it. Basically, though, it breaks down in one of two ways.

Model 1 is that structuring exists to act as a bridge between trading and analytics/modeling. Structuring puts together complex ("structured") products and figures out how to price them, how to compute sensitivities, how to deal with risk, and how to optimize the product given certain constraints on all of the above parameters. Traders then take the "fair value" price calculated by the structurer and, for example, subtract 50 basis points.

Model 2 is that structuring exists to act as a brdige between trading and sales/marketing. Structuring puts together solutions ("structures") and proceeds to lie to the potential clients and investors about the pricing, sensitivities, and risk in these products. Once the client has agreed to enter into a structured trade, the trader takes the structure and, for example, substracts 50 basis points.

Many places have structurers who combine different elements from these two alternatives.

braincat · Post by **braincat** » Sun Oct 17, 2004 11:18 pm

Thank you.

DW · Post by DW » Mon Oct 18, 2004 10:20 am

[i]What is "structuring"?[/i]

[url=/beta/User%20Files/96/Interview%20Prep%20for%20Junior%20Structurers.pdf]Attached File: Interview Prep for Junior Structurers.pdf[/url]

This may be of help?

tbretagn · Post by **tbretagn** » Mon Oct 18, 2004 10:25 am

I'm just a plain graduate (well I'm graduating from a second MSc) and I've two relevant internships in finance, one in research where I helped a PhD student finish her thesis (I proved a pricing model) and the one I'm finishing as a quant in a fund of fund. But I've also done an internship in IT.

This let people think at first glance that I'm more of an hardcore quant/developer, and so it's tough explaining 1) I'm not 2) I don't want 3) I can do more.