Meet a Business Co-op

Alma Mater: Drexel University

Hometown: Washington Township, NJ

What did you like best about working here as a co-op?

SIG offers exposure that you cannot find at other companies. As a co-op, I had the ability to work with people in a variety of different roles. I would routinely collaborate with traders and technologists to complete my daily tasks and projects.

What was a typical day like for you as a co-op?

I would start the day by generating reports that detailed all of the activity from the previous day and how it impacted the risk for the traders I worked with. During market hours, I would work with the traders to keep their positions up-to-date by accounting for trades done on the exchange floors or over the phone with brokers. I would also generate reports on the performance of different types of trading activity. After the market closed, I would reconcile the trades from the day to check for errors or manual mistakes. Once I was finished, I would book all of the trades to our clearing firm so they would settle the following day.

What projects and experiences were the most rewarding for you as a co-op?

I had the opportunity to take on a project to build an Excel-based system that would generate live PnL estimates for a few of the major trading desks. During this project, I was able to refine my VBA and SQL skills, as well as learn about the technology SIG uses to track risk in real time. The more I was able to develop my technical skills, the more opportunities I had to contribute to interesting projects. The most rewarding aspect of this project was seeing the information my system produced being used to track firm performance throughout the day.

What did you enjoy the most about the co-op program?

I found the co-op education classes to be extremely valuable. SIG’s ‘History of the Markets’ class was especially interesting. Being surrounded by so much technology, I enjoyed learning about the way the markets functioned before technology was such a dominate force in finance. Other classes, like ‘A Day in the Life of a Trader,’ helped me to better understand what was important to the traders and how my role directly impacts their work.

Describe your journey through SIG in terms of roles and responsibilities.

My first role at SIG was as a co-op on the Energy and Commodities desk doing PnL and trade reconciliation. I was invited back for a second co-op to work on the Equity and Index Options desk in a PnL/trade support role. After two co-ops, I continued to work part-time automating various processes that were either time consuming or susceptible to manual errors. After I graduated, I went through the Operations Analyst Program and was finally placed on the Index Desk as an Operations Analyst.