FROM APRIL 2014's RECRUITER MAGAZINE

The aptitude test, called the Bloomberg Aptitude Test (BAT), was devised by Bloomberg through the Bloomberg Institute, which was established in 2010, and headed up by New York-based Rob Langrick.

Langrick told Recruiter that students who take the BAT are tested for aptitudes that are typically valued by employers in financial services, such as mathematical ability, analytical reasoning, and the ability to interpret financial news and charts. Following the test, each student is given a Bloomberg Score, which places them in a certain percentile of all those who have taken the test. 

Employers are able to “slice and dice” the database, said Langrick, allowing them to select students and download student resumes based on criteria of their choosing, such as degree type, university and Bloomberg Score. Employers can also pre-qualify those students that they wish to take to the next stage of the recruitment process.

The database is automatically provided to users of the Bloomberg terminal that is widely used as a trading platform in financial services. However, employers can also pay for a web-based tool that gives them access to the database. 

Students can take the test free of charge. Langrick said that 80,000 students took the test in 2013, with more than 100,000 expected to do so this year. He said that 771 employers have signed up for the web tool. 

Langrick said he believed that the Institute had created “a virtuous circle”. “The more students take the test, the more employers want to search the database, and the more employers search and download the database, the more students want to take the test,” he said.

He added that while the test was not mandatory for students wanting to enter financial services, “we would like it to become a passport for students anywhere round the world to show employers and to get great jobs in great financial institutions”.

Colin Cottell