I reckon they are well worth a look into, the basic is a bit higher that you'd find at most arcades/prop firms and I'd guess there is a higher chance of success as you spend about a year and a half in a trade support type role. I got to the final interview at one of the firms mentioned in the first post. Passed the various maths tests, mental arithmetic test, IQ type test etc... then I made a complete **** up at interview - I've always been into technical analysis and have tended to use this and price action in order to trade. My economic knowledge is pretty much limited to the effects the major economic figures have on the markets - I'd never anticipate a figure, just trade the reaction to it. I started explaining how I used to trade, mentioning using market profile to work out support/resistance levels etc.. the guy interviewing me then said something along the lines of 'is that some sort of charting thing' and then started asking what were probably fairly basic economics questions about the state of the US economy etc.. I'm sure this would have been fine for any economics grad type who wants a career in 'the city' and reads the FT every day. Unfortunately I've not got much interest in economics (aside from major figures or central bankers making vague statements that may or may not include the words 'strong' and 'vigilance'). I have only ever traded in an environment where I'm holding positions for a few minutes and though I'm passionate about trading it is very much from a technical perspective. The guy interviewing me was a bit baffled and probably even a bit pissed off that I didn't attempt to answer his, presumably fairly simple, economics questions. On the other hand I had a bit of a gut feeling from the start when he said 'wots that? some sort of charting method?' that it wouldn't be a great interview.
I was slightly gutted that I'd got through the completely objective selection process to the final interview stage only to be rejected on the rather subjective grounds - still they seem to be a very successful company so I'm guessing they know what they are looking for in a trainee trader. With hindsight it was stupid of me to have not prepared a bit more for the interview as they are clearly trading from a bit of a different perspective than the average arcade/prop firm.
