Insights Week Review

Every day, we had one or multiple insight-sessions. These consisted of presentations and workshops, all related to quantitative finance. Most of the down-time was filled with social activities and organised lunch/dinner to get into touch with other participants and more importantly with the organisation. Workshops took around 2 and a half hours. They were quasi organised as competitions, where participants would program or trade in teams. Social activities were organised in groups usually such that each group had at least one company employee, to whom we could ask questions.

Although the workshops were fun, they were not necessarily the most informative. Much of the knowledge presented is relatively basic, but not trivial. The presentations similarly presented little new knowledge, but it was interesting to learn from the perspectives of the company. Most importantly, I learned networking skills. I learned how to ask questions and to have small talk with recruiters and with fellow students whom I did not know. This may not have been the main goal of the event, but it was good to learn nonetheless.

I had no idea how a company like this was structured. In particular I had no idea about the incredible amount of engineers that work in the background for the relatively small amount of quantitative researchers. The structure within the quants, the divisions between tasks and specialisations, seems extremely trivial in hindsight, but I had no idea about it before this. It was good to talk to people working in those different roles and to hear about their daily activities.

The company culture seems very relaxed and extremely welcoming. The fact that we were staying at a very luxurious hotel in the riviera definitely signals the generosity of the company towards her employees. The employees all were happy to answer any questions we had and seemed eager to talk to us. Other participants were similarly relaxed, creating a great atmosphere. Although I did not know anybody there before arriving, I felt very much at home.

It is hard not to enjoy such an insight week. Everything was taken care off for us. We were entertained well, both by the workshops and by the social activities organised in the other times. In particular the evenings, when we were could socialise during dinners and after dinner parties were greatly enjoyable, and I met a lot of great people during those times. Extra compliments for the food, which was always widely available in great quantity and quality.

Yes

Prepare a good CV and make sure that you seem confident and interested. Apparently, there were around 3000 applicants for the insights week, and only 80 were chosen. Although that is a great cut-off, I did not experience this during the application process. This process consisted of sending a CV and then a short online conversations with a recruiter. It seems that if you have a good CV and seem relaxed during the call, your chances are great.