Whether you are interviewing with an Investment Bank, Fund Manager, Consultant, IT firm or Vendor you need to have a certain level of market knowledge to differentiate yourself.

Clearly you need greater knowledge for a Deutsche Bank interview than say Bloomberg or Thomson Reuters but nonetheless knowledge and insight is key to making you stand out. It shows you’ve done your homework and have made the effort to gain this knowledge; the sort of effort and determination employers are looking for!

However even with a Deutsche Bank interview deep knowledge is not required. Its a more a case of have ‘some’ basic knowledge and awareness of a broad range of topics. Nobody is expecting you to be a M&A (Mergers & Acquistions) expert straight out of university but they are expecting you to know that this sector exists and what individuals do on a day-to-day basis especially if you are applying for a role in an institution that has an M&A department. Similarly with the Vendor Market (the 200+ institutions that service the financial sector and a big employer and focus for Opening City Doors) if you have a decent awareness of what bank salespeople and traders do you are going to stand out.

So know the basics about Fixed Income, Foreign Exchange, Equities, Buy Side versus Sell Side, the main Financial Benchmarks, what a Financial Trader actually does.

The Opening City Door Market Knowledge guides are designed to give you digestible and memorable information to demonstrate that you are a serious candidate at interview.

Good luck.

Paul McCormick

Founder of Opening City Doors