FAQs

Applying

What level of education do I need to work at Jane Street?

We would love to interview everyone who applies, but we’re not a huge firm, so we can’t do that. We try to interview as many people as we can. We don’t have a GPA or degree requirement, and we hire students of all tenures from many different universities and concentrations. We had over 70 universities represented in last year’s global internship programme.

Do I need a cover letter?

Nope! If there’s something you think we should know about that doesn’t fit nicely onto your resume/CV, feel free to include it in the text box at the bottom of our application. If not, feel free to leave this blank.

Do I need a background in finance?

Nope! But those with previous finance experience are of course welcome to apply.

Can I schedule a phone call or coffee to get more info?

We get a lot of requests like this. If we said yes to all of them, we wouldn’t have time to do our actual work. So unfortunately, no. Plus, most of us are already appropriately caffeinated.

What kind of hours will I be working?

Depending on your role and which office you’re in, this might vary a bit, but we work hard to provide a reasonable work-life balance. Most nights, things are pretty empty by about 6:30pm.

Jane Street is also a place that respects people’s time outside of the office. People here work incredibly hard during the day, but when they go home, they have the freedom to disconnect from work and focus on the rest of their lives.

Will you consider international candidates, and do you sponsor visas if needed?

This changes from office to office, and depending on the role.

Can I apply for multiple roles/offices?

When we receive an application, we consider it for all open roles globally. From there, we’ll try to eliminate roles that don’t seem like a great fit, and help you find the right home. It’s not uncommon for candidates to be considered for more than one team over the course of their interview process. Our goal is to help you figure out which role could be right for you.

When is the deadline to apply?

We don’t typically have one; our applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. We do recommend applying as soon as possible, though.

What do I do if I already have offers or exploding deadlines?

Tell us! We can often work with you to expedite your interview process so that you know what all your options are and can make an informed decision.

Interview

Whom will I meet with? How long is the interview? How many rounds are there? What kind of questions will I get?

For any interview processes not outlined above, it can be a bit more bespoke; in those cases, your recruiter can give you more information about what to expect.

Do I need to be able to code in OCaml?

Nope! You can interview in whichever language you know best, and in fact, we strongly encourage you not to try OCaml for the first time during the interview. Most of the software engineers we hire come in without any OCaml or even functional programming experience.

What are your interview hours? Do you interview on weekends?

We don’t interview on the weekends (see the earlier point about work-life balance), but we are happy to talk to you during local business hours from Monday to Friday.

Will my flights/accommodations be covered?

Yep! We’ll book everything for you and take care of your travel and hotel costs.

What should I wear?

We’re a casual office, so many of us wear jeans and a t-shirt most days. If you’re coming from your current job, we understand you might be dressed a bit more formally. Either way, we won’t judge.

For phone interviews, will someone call me? Can we use Skype/Zoom/WhatsApp/FaceTime instead?

If we’re speaking to you on the phone, you should wait for our call. If you know you’ll have a poor connection or won’t have access to a phone, please let us know ahead of time, and we’ll coordinate your interview via WebEx or Skype.

What do I do if I show up early?

If it’s 10-15 minutes ahead of your scheduled interview time, feel free to come to the office and get settled in. If you’re way ahead of schedule, you might want to consider grabbing a coffee nearby.

Post Interview

When can I expect to hear back from you after my interviews?

You should hear back from us within a week. We will follow up with you whether or not we’re moving forward with the process (no one likes to be left hanging), so if you haven’t heard by then, please follow up with your recruiter.

Can I reinterview if I was rejected? How long do I have to wait before I can reapply?

You can absolutely reinterview if it didn’t work out the first time. Plenty of people who currently work at Jane Street didn’t make it through our interview process their first time around. We usually recommend waiting to reapply for at least a year (in the case of current students), or until your experience or circumstances have significantly changed (in the case of experienced hires). This is not a hard and fast rule, but we think it’s a reasonable guideline.

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