Commodity Trading Entry Odds
Hi,
I’ve just graduated from a t20 uni with double bachelors in finance and maths and wanted to know my odds of securing a spot in one of the major commodity firms like vitol, trafigura and glencore. I’ve had a few internships in some top tier companies including a BBIB in equity research, big 4 consulting and a FAANG company as a technical product manager. I’m aware that this work experience as very little to do with commodity trading however.
I’ve been lucky enough to get offered and accept a graduate role at a big oil company, however not BP or Shell for their graduate trader rotation program. This involves 4 6-month rotations in scheduling and chartering, commercial, pricing and trading followed by a year of being a trading assistant for a year in Singapore. I’m very interested in this and see myself doing this at least for the next 5 years but I would like to have an opportunity to exit at the big commodity houses.
Is there any chance I can pivot to the big commodity houses considering I didn’t go through their grad program or Shell or BP TDP?
Do you genuinely enjoy commodities that much you would take a paycut rather than work in a role similar to your FAANG technical PM internship?
My FAANG PM role unfortunately didn’t result in a return offer. This was during the tech layoffs and I wasn’t able to convert to a full-time. I enjoy the challenging nature of trading and the fact that it isn’t as dull as other types of finance. The compensation for the trading grad role that I’ve gotten is also pretty good, it’s not Jane Street but it’s significant enough to merit considering over BB Equity.
You're already in a commercial graduate program with an oil company, stick to it and continue applying + networking. I personally think Trafigura out of all other trading houses is the easiest to break into given their high employee turnover.
Odds are useless in this context, and frankly I have better things to do than price those odds. You are in a good spot and at this point is it's up to you to control breaking in. Sure, there's luck in everything but that's not anything unique to commodity trading.
Just keep at it, try at the top firms, if not try for the smaller firms and make your way to a commercial role (if that's what you like).
Cheers mate.
Just stay where you are. The rotation program sounds like a sweet gig. Depending on which desk you end up being in you can then decide on whether you want to stay at a producer or jump to a trading house.
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