In which activities / organizations / hobbies were you involved in college?
In college, I was a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity and played on the club soccer team. I also studied abroad for a semester in Beijing, China.
Why did you decide to join SIG?
SIG seemed like a place where my quantitative skills and interest in strategic games would be best utilized and developed. I’d also only owned one suit in my life, so the casual dress code was appealing!
I had a great experience as an intern, and after talking to my friends about their summer jobs, I realized that SIG was one of the most interesting and challenging jobs on Wall Street.
What is your favorite SIG perk / benefit?
I love the sweepstakes giveaways for sporting events throughout the year, even though I’ve never won one. For example, every employee was randomly assigned a trifecta for the Kentucky Derby, with a lucrative cash prize for whomever’s horses came in.
Pretend you are talking directly to a highly qualified job candidate. What would you say to convince this person to work at SIG?
Listen to founder Jeff Yass speak about the philosophy of the firm. Hearing him talk to our incoming interns and full-time classes about the efficiency of markets and philosophy of the firm convinced me that I had made a good decision, and I think listening to him would do the same for any candidate considering SIG. Jeff told us that after five years of working at SIG, we would be better decision makers than any of our friends, and, after a year, I am already starting to see that he’s correct. The people who work at SIG are incredibly sharp and all have a similar mode of thinking, which makes it a great place to learn and grow.
A day in the life . . .
As an Assistant Trader intern, my primary project was consolidating data to analyze the effectiveness of various hedging strategies. Interestingly enough, when I returned as an Assistant Trader, I picked this project up in its later stages and brought it nearly to completion. From 12 p.m. – 2 p.m. each day, I went to the education area to have classroom instruction on options theory and strategy games. In addition, I was able to shadow traders on the desk several times a week to see the concepts I had learned in class put to practical use.
I am currently an Assistant Trader on an equity options block-trading desk. When I arrive in the morning, I review the previous day’s P&L and run various reports for the traders. Once the market opens, I execute trades electronically and on the floors for our customers. I sit next to a trader, so this provides a great chance to follow along with his decisions, ask any questions I have, and even discuss where I would price some of the trades. My most humorous task is to yell “one minute” at the top of my lungs to signal the trading day is about to end!