Quant Trader Intern Interview Guide for Beginners — Pt.3 HR Screens

4 min readSep 19, 2018

Candid shot of HR @ quant firm (readersdigest.com)

Congratulations on making it this far! All your preparation for the last round is now completely irrelevant. Don’t fret, this is probably the easiest round to pass through. That being said, this round is just as important as the last, so it’s important to practice accordingly.

That’s the biggest takeaway from this should be: preparation and practice are essential.

In general, you will get one of two types of second rounds: an HR phone screen or a hire view (a one way recorded video interview). Neither of these should freak you out too much and should be prepared for in the same way.

Looking for the other posts?

Pt.1: Background (Interview Prep and Organization)

Pt.2: Round 1 (Mental Math and Pattern Recognition)

Pt.4: Round 3 (Technical phone screens — Probability, EV, and Brainteasers)

Pt. 5: Final Round

Why HR Screens?

No matter how gifted a candidate may be, if they’re going to be a jerk who doesn’t fit into the company’s culture, they’re not going to be hired. Generally, this stage is less about trying to make it to the next step and instead trying to not be cut.

By the merit of the job, most candidates should be: collaborative, competitive, friendly, and scholarly. It’s OK if you’re not these things, it’s not OK if you can’t operate in an environment where most people are like this. If this doesn’t seem like a workplace that vibes with you, consider whether or not this is the proper role for you.

If you’re continuing on with the process, let’s figure out the best way for you to convey that you are an ideal candidate to HR.

1. Setup

I highly recommend making a Google Sheets as described in the first part of this series.

Now that you have a place to write everything down, let’s make one column for question and another for answer. For every question that you get, write it down. Then, in the answer column, write five key words to remind you of whatever story or topic you wish to talk about during this time.

I’ll give you a couple interview questions to get your list started:

Why trading?
Why company X?
What was a time that you received criticism, what did you do with that criticism?

2. Preparation Makes Perfect

One of my mentors gave me advice that I will never forget: for every minute of conversation you’re expecting you should have done one minute of preparation. For most HR screens, this means that you should be doing 30 minutes of preparation specifically for each company.

The main things I’m looking for are:

Name and information on my interviewer. Do we have any common ground? Do they have a technical background?
Core values and beliefs of the company. How do I fit into this company? How does myself and the company align?
Keywords used throughout the website that I can reuse during my HR screen.
The full description and title for the role I’m applying for. Show that you did your homework. It’s worth something.
Any topic in which I can ask a real and insightful question

I tend to do this right before a call, so I can roll right into talking about a topic I’m freshly studied up on.

3. During the Call

Be like every stock photo picture of a person on the phone (interviewpenguin.com)

Make sure to smile, even if there is no video. This is a big deal and they have hundreds of call, try to be warm, inviting, and happy. Also, keep notes. Take note of the HR person’s name and information that they might give you, keep track of the questions, and keep your eyes on the prize. Do your best.

I’ve been given the advice of thinking of it as talking to your significant other’s parents. Seems a little cheeky, but it would probably help for most people.