FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
Q: What happens when onboarding ends and how does team placement work? Do I have a say which Desk I'm placed on?
A: We designed our team placement process to ensure we set our new joiners on a path to a successful career at IMC. Throughout the onboarding process, you will meet all of our development teams and work on projects that span the company. Near the end of onboarding, we will look at your expressed interests and skillsets, along with how many openings we have on each desk, to determine your placement. Part of the desk assignment includes finding a mentor who can give you 1:1 support when you join the desk, so you can continue to build your development chops even after onboarding. You will get to work on development teams ranging from 5 to over 15 people once on the desk, and you will get to work on desk priorities from day one on the desk.
Q: What is the benefit of getting matched with a desk AFTER the traineeship/onboarding vs. getting pre-assigned right when you start?
A: There are a few key benefits to delaying team assignment until after the traineeship and onboarding. It gives you a chance to explore all of the different areas of our codebase, giving you a broader context with which to understand our systems. You also have the opportunity to find where your passion lies, whether that is low-level optimization or perhaps more mathematical coding using numerical methods. By having this broad exposure and exploring your interests, we can better inform our decision regarding where you might be most successful.
Q: How is IMC’s onboarding process unique?
A: Three facets of our onboarding program that make it awesome are the people you meet, the projects you work on, and the activities! During onboarding, you work closely with your fellow joiners on all the assigned tickets. This camaraderie, which carries over from our global traineeship, sets you up with a network of colleagues that will help you throughout your IMC career. You will also meet trading and development leaders from all Chicago desks and have the chance to ask them questions about IMC or their careers. While in onboarding, you get to work on projects from across our desks, giving you a broader exposure to everything we do at IMC. We select all the onboarding tasks from desk backlogs, making transitioning to a team after onboarding a breeze. Finally, the whole onboarding team loves to have fun outside of work! From team dinners to cocktail hours, you get the full IMC event experience. When you are ready to join a desk, we send you off in style with exciting team reveal days and custom IMC gear. IMC's onboarding is a fantastic program!