JP
Sector: Investment
Tricky interview question: How good are you?
The following took place during an interview for a graduate technology position at a global bank… What the interviewer said It was the final interview round and I had answered a lot of the technical questions quite well. I think perhaps the lead interviewer sensed that I was becoming too confident and he tried to [...]
Six ways to work well with recruiters
1) More is not better Contact a minimum of three and an absolute maximum of six recruiters – any more and you risk losing control of your job search, with different recruiters sending out your CV for the same vacancy. That’s something banks really hate. 2) Get specialist The recruiters you deal with should specialise [...]
Why “samurai bankers” pay the ultimate price in Japan
When the going gets miserable in Japanese banking, the head of the firm gets going. Case in point: Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities President Fumiyuki Akikusa, who resigned along with five executives last month. The move was to “take responsibility” for the US$1.77bn in trading losses sustained by the struggling US-Japanese joint venture reported The [...]
Foreign bankers flee Tokyo for Singapore and Hong Kong. Japanese work on
Singapore and Hong Kong are the most popular Asian destinations as foreign bankers flee Tokyo. And rather than putting jobs in jeopardy, firms are accommodating individual, temporary requests to relocate. However, the main danger for employers is that some experienced expats may decide never to return, say headhunters. “With expats being encouraged to go home [...]
Banks are open and interviewing in Tokyo but recruitment will take weeks to recover
Most banks in Tokyo are open this week and some are even carrying out job interviews, despite the devastation in coastal Japan and the nightmare surrounding the Fukushima nuclear plant. The Wall Street Journal reports that it’s business as usual for 16 major foreign banks in the city. Bloomberg says JP Morgan and Credit Suisse [...]
Questions for quants: What you can expect in an interview
Question 1: What programming languages do you know? Although exceptionally gifted candidates might be hired purely for their maths skills, firms are mainly looking for people who can demonstrate their programming abilities, says Warwick Pearmund, a finance sector consultant at Slate. Question 2: A car has to run two laps round a large circle with [...]
Who wants to join a Japanese bank? Here’s a four-step guide
Should I opt for a local or a foreign firm? It’s a dilemma facing many young Japanese bankers. Below are four factors which are helping them to make up their minds either way. 1) English English skills can be crucial, with bilingual candidates often tempted by foreign banks, says Mika Nomura, business director, Hays Banking. [...]
Just how much movement will there be in early 2011?
After the winter bonus often comes the move. But will lingering concerns over the GFC mean bankers once again will be hesitant to enter the early year job market in 2011? Or will next year see much more movement than ’09 and ’10? Bruce Lepore, country manager at T2 Tokyo, says judging by 2010, bankers [...]
Can you really trust a Japanese bank when it says it’s expanding in Europe? What disaffected ex-Japanese bankers say
Japanese banks are hiring in London. Daiwa is hiring. Mizuho is hiring. Sumitomo Mitsui is hiring. Nomura is also still hiring too. But Japanese banks’ enthusiasm for expansion is viewed with cynicism by some of those in the market who say they are notorious for getting in, then getting out, then getting in again. “It’s [...]
How to handle those surprising, annoying problem-solving questions at job interviews
The interview is ticking along nicely, then wham: your interviewer hits you with an unexpected and seemingly irrelevant problem-solving question. So what to do when the focus suddenly switches from your skills and experience to being asked how many ping-pong balls there are in China? First of all, don’t panic, says Melissa Kuwahara, practice leader [...]
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