Informational Interview

By: Reece Johnson

Career: Stock trading

Background

Why I picked stock trading…•Formally introduced to stocks last year in Intro To Finance.•Interested me•Opened a broker account •Actively trade

Steve Tullar •Managing director of JonesTrading•Joined 22 years ago•Lives in Aspen •Economics major

JonesTrading – An agency only broker/dealer. Focuses on large block trades for its clients.

The interview •Indirectly Introduced through my dad•Contacted him through email•Hour long talk over phone

Dear Steve Tullar, Hi, my name is Reece Johnson and my dad has talked with you this fall and suggested I contact you.  I

am a junior at Aspen High School.  I am taking a class called Discovery, in it, we are learning how to network and researching various careers we are interested in.  Over the last four or so months I have identified investments and securities as a field I might want to study in college.  I'd like a few minutes of your time to ask you some questions about your career.  My goal is to learn about your experiences trading and investing, as well as to find out more about what this field entails.  I would also like to learn more about trading/investing and the skills, strengths, mind set and rules needed to be successful.  Along with that I would like to hear your perspective on the education recommended to make it in this field. I would greatly appreciate the opportunity to talk to you and would like to call within the next couple of days to check your availability if that is ok with you.  Feel free to reply to this email or contact me through my cell phone at (970) 456-9673.Thank you so much for your time and consideration.  If you are unable to meet with me, could you suggest another person I could contact?

Sincerely, Reece Johnson

Questions I planned on asking•What got you started in this field? – [didn’t know anything about it, connections brought him to Packy Jones.]•If you could start over again, would you change your career path in any way?•How would you describe the pace of a normal workday? •How would you describe the corporate culture?•What parts of your job do you find the most challenging? – [constantly staying on the edge.] •What parts of your job do you find most enjoyable? – [The people.]•What educational preparation would you recommend for someone who wants to advance in this field?•What qualifications or skills do you seek in a new hire?•In your line of work, what personal attributes or characteristics are essential for success? – [Hard work, the willing to go the extra mile.]•What experiences, paid or unpaid, would you encourage for anybody pursuing a career in this field? •How exactly are services provided at JonesTrading? Ex. Full service, client does trading. – [JonesTrading is basically the middle man, we make big trades possible for hedge funds and institutions by finding liquidity for them.] •The JonesTrading Model on your webpage talks about its focus being to access and create liquidity for your clients, how do you do that? •I noticed that JonesTrading has one of the lowest turnover rates in the industry, why do you suspect that is? •How do you see jobs in this field changing in the future?

Results

•Didn’t go as planned

Takeaways…•Everyone needs a starting point and a mentor•Read all you can•Need to know both sides of the coin (everything is information coming in)•Questions QuestionsMust know how to teach yourself how to do anything

- have a process of teaching yourself- apply sport mentalities

•After finding our everything I can about what I am interested in, call back if lost.