Skills you’ll need to work in interdealer broking

Successful interdealer brokers need to be experts in the markets and experts at building relationships with traders. A junior broker can quite easily spend three or four nights a week entertaining clients - and will need to be at his or her desk ready to work the following morning.

A junior broker can quite easily spend three or four nights a week entertaining clients

This might be why interdealer broking firm ICAP says it wants candidates who are, 'quick-thinking' and have 'exceptional interpersonal and networking skills,' and why Tullett Prebon says it looks for graduate hires who are numerical, interested in finance, ambitious, and have 'excellent communication skills'. Notably. both firms also say they want candidates who are 'resilient' - in interdealer broking, you need to have the stamina to work and play and work again.

As if to emphasise the point, Karen Aflalo, human resource director, Americas at GFI Group, told us previously that they look for "an outgoing personality and the ability to build and maintain relationships and be a team player". A recruiter who works in this area said that brokers tend to look for people who have "played team sports at college".

In interdealer broking you need to have the stamina to work and play and work again

Interdealer brokerage firms are also team environments - you won't thrive there if you're a loner.

Olutobi Osibodu, a trainee broker, at Tullett Prebon says people who succeed in interdealer broking are, "sharp, confident, self-motivated and well-organized".