Describe a time when you took a great risk. What was the outcome?

This is my Alma Mater, Universidad de la Sabana, located just outside Bogotá. I took my first class there when I was eighteen years old. That was in 2007 exactly. I spent there almost six years of my life. I decided to minor in finance and economics because after the first couple of years and a trip to New York I figured out that finance was my thing. I enjoyed taking capital markets, corporate finance and investment banking classes.

I was 24 years old when I received my degree in business administration. I worked for one year at a Canadian bank in the portfolio risk area that was a middle office job and I was looking more for a front office job. I had been always curious and interested in trading. Since my trips to New York and the period of time I spent there in 2010, I saw myself working in finance and capital markets and hopefully having a successful career at it. I was determined to find a job in this particular field within the next months after graduation.

I was just right out of school. It was August 2013. I sent my résumé to several potential employers and I got a call from a bank, they wanted to meet me and get to know me to check if I could fit in their organization and become an employee at the bank eventually. My first interview was with the head of the trading room. She had my résumé and she decided she wanted to interview me even though there were no positions available at the moment.

After the interview I felt good but I knew that after knowing that there were no positions available I should keep looking for a job and trying to get more interviews. Against all odds, one week after I received a call. It was HH.RR from the bank, they wanted to offer me an analyst position at the trading desk. I had to be there on Monday. I interviewed two times more, one of them with the head of HH.RR. We talk about the salary and the position, next was all the paperwork and on September 2nd I was an investment analyst at the bank.

It was an entry-level job and everything was new for me. I had work experience already, I was a risk analyst at another bank but I didn’t have much experience in investments before. In the medium term my goal was to become a trader there and I had to take at least three regulation exams to achieve this. In my spare time, I studied for the tests and asked the traders about doubts and questions I had. I took the first test in October and I did great. By November I had presented two exams.

I was given the opportunity to sit at the money market desk and fixed income desk because a few traders were on vacation. I helped supporting these two areas with any kind of work they need to do. I did a really good job and they were satisfied with my professionalism and responsibility. I gain their trust and exceeded their expectations. I got more involve with trading and obtained experience in different products.

I had been working for three months at the bank when an opportunity came up. A junior money market trader was leaving and the head of the trading room thought of me as an excellent candidate for the position. There were some conditions in order to get the job. I should pass the fixed income and derivatives exams to trade at that desk. I had already passed the fixed income exam but derivatives was the toughest one and I was only beginning to study for it.

The junior money market trader left in December, I learnt as many as I could before his goodbye. I was already able to trade fixed income products but not the derivatives ones like interest rate swaps. The Head of the money market desk was leaving on vacation in the middle of January so they asked me if I felt confident enough to trade alone at the desk and kind of in charge of the area while he was away. This sounded a bit too much but I guess they knew my work and trusted me with the job so I took the risk and accepted the responsibility.

There was one thing still holding me back. The derivatives exam. If I didn’t pass the exam I was not going to be able to trade all of the products and the head of the money market could not go on vacation and he had already planned a trip to the United States with his family. The outcome was satisfying, I passed the exam and while I was alone for almost three weeks I had no major problems. I did well and I was confident enough to deliver. They were impressed and I think I validated their decision when they offered me the trading position.