Chapter 11: Paul & Dominic’s Guide to Getting a Quant Job 401
Questions for the interviewer It is a good idea to have a
question thought out in advance — it makes you look
interested in the position. You have two objectives
when they ask if you have questions for them.
Getting the message across A question can be a good way
of bringing in things you want them to know, or to
emphasize a point you want them to remember. You
can ask the importance of your experience in MC, C++
or PDEs to the work you’d be doing. This gets the
message across, either as a reminder or to bring it to
their notice.
Find out more about the job Good questions are on the
direction for the team over the next year, and how your
work would help them get where they want to be. It
shows interest, and may give a better insight into what
you really will be doing. Although they are interviewing
you, it is also the case that they are selling the job
to you, since they want you to accept if they offer.
So it’s up to you to work out whether it’s a good job
or not.
Remember, do not ask things that you should already
know. You should discuss the job and the bank as much
as you can with your recruiting consultant ahead of the
interview and consult websites and any recruitment
brochures. You don’t want to give the interviewer the
impression that you aren’t interested enough in their
bank to find out about it before the interview. Interview-
ers often say that this is the thing that really irritates
them most at interviews. Instead, it is good to preface
a question with a statement about some achievement
that the bank is proud of (i.e., talks about at length on
their website or in recruitment materials) e.g., ‘‘I know
your office won the International Finance Press Award
for Being a Bank last year, but could you tell me...’’
