Selection

How we pick people

Most societies keep this to themselves. We would rather you knew what you were walking into.

What we are listening for

Three things, in every interview. The difference between a weak answer and a strong one is almost never knowledge. It is whether the answer is specific, and whether you can say where it stops.

Evidence over assertion

Weak

“I’m very interested in markets and I follow them closely.”

Strong

A position you took a view on, when, why, and what it did next.

A real example, owned

Weak

“We organised an event and it went really well.”

Strong

What you personally did, what went wrong, and what you changed because of it.

Reasoning out loud

Weak

A confident number with no working, or silence while you search for one.

Strong

Assumptions stated, the method walked through, and the answer caveated.

“I don’t know” is not a failed answer.

Guessing and hoping is. If you have reached the edge of what you know, say so and then say how you would work it out. That is the answer we are looking for.

The stages

The same for everyone, in this order.

  1. Written application

    The form, your CV, and one optional question: why you picked your first-choice division, in 150 words or fewer. No cover letter. Write it yourself; answers written with AI are filtered out.

  2. Review

    Every application is read. We are looking for something you have actually done, not the course you are on.

  3. Interview

    Thirty minutes, covering behavioural, competency-based and technical questions. The technical section is on the division you applied to, so you know the ground in advance.

  4. Decision

    Everyone hears back either way. Nobody is left to work it out from silence.

What we do not do

No brainteasers. Puzzles about golf balls and aeroplanes test whether you have seen the puzzle before.

No prior finance requirement. Several of the strongest people in the society arrived from degrees with no markets content at all.

No hidden criteria. Everything we assess is on this page. If you are told nothing else before your interview, you have still been told everything that matters.

Analyst applications are now open. Apply here — everything above still applies. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis and a division may close early once we have filled our places.