Recruiting Journeys | Asset Management: Christine Zhou ’25, HSBC

How does recruiting work in your industry?

I arrived at SOM in August and took two months to get used to the program, get to know my peers, and start attending networking events. I also found a lot of alumni to talk to on SOM Connect, our database of the school’s graduates, and I started to talk to them about what the job search would be like and how I could stand out in a challenging market.

Once I was ready to apply, I focused on my target companies and the types of roles that interested me. At first, I thought I wanted to work in risk management, but through conversations with professionals in the industry, I discovered other paths and ultimately landed in a role focused on investment trading. That experience taught me the importance of staying open-minded during recruiting. It’s easy to narrow yourself to one field, but exploring different options and speaking with people across roles can introduce you to opportunities you may not have heard of before.

For most positions I applied to, I reached out to people at the company to learn more about their teams and recruiting processes. At the peak of recruiting season, I was sending messages to as many as 10 to 15 people per day.

Once a company is interested in your application, you go through a series of interviews that include case studies, coding or math assessments, and presentations. I applied for my current role at HSBC shortly before graduation. In my first interview, I met with my manager and another associate on my team. The manager asked me a lot of technical questions about how I understand the market, and the associate told me what my job responsibilities and day-to-day work would be like. About a week later, I had a second-round panel interview with three people. The interviewers posed a brainteaser and a series of math problems that I had to solve without using a calculator. Then they asked some more open-ended questions about markets.

In the final round, I spoke with my manager again. He asked me a ton of questions regarding the specific fixed-income trading work my team does; I also solved some more mental math problems. That interview was the hardest, because my manager challenged me to explain and defend my thinking on each market question. I interviewed in the morning, and got a call just after lunch with a job offer.

Over the course of my year in the Asset Management program, I interviewed with 10 other companies, and I ended up with three job offers. To make a decision, I talked with a mentor at Citi I’d connected with through an SOM program. I walked her through the options and she helped me choose my current role, which involves exposure to many aspects of the market and will give me more career options down the line.

Which SOM classes best prepared you for the work you’re doing now?

Fixed Income Strategies was definitely the most valuable. Before, my experience was mostly limited to equities. This class really taught me to use quantitative tools to understand fixed-income trading. Each week we worked on group projects analyzing rate-path scenarios, monetary policy, and different fixed-income products. The class helped me understand how macroeconomic conditions translate into trading decisions.

Which SOM resources helped you the most during the recruiting process?

The SOM alumni network was incredibly helpful. Some of my cold emails went unanswered, but SOM alumni were much more likely to respond and offer advice. With one job posting, I heard nothing about my application until I got in touch with the company’s chief executive, who is an SOM alum. She passed my résumé directly to the head of HR, and they scheduled an interview with me shortly after.

I also developed my skills through the Practical Experience component of the Asset Management program. In my spring semester at SOM, I found a part-time job with the Yale parking department. I helped them automate their reporting, improve the querying process, and build dashboards using SQL, Power BI, and Python. That experience prepared me well for my current role, where I build Excel tools and automation solutions to make processes easier for colleagues who may not be as familiar with programming.

What advice would you give to current students recruiting in finance?

Don’t underestimate the importance of behavioral interviews. Practice speaking confidently without filler words and giving a polished and brief introduction to your résumé. If you’re in the Asset Management program, you already have strong technical training and will likely do well in technical interviews. But firms also want to see that you’re collaborative, communicate clearly, and work well with others.