The Trading Game

Gary Stevenson took an unusual path to the Citibank trading desk.

Gary Stevenson grew up poor in East London, and his desultory youth included being kicked out of school for selling drugs and working low-paying jobs such as delivering newspapers and working retail. Naturally gifted at math, he enrolled in the London School of Economics (LSE). There, he found himself resentful of his classmates, a mélange of affluent students from around the world who were obsessed with landing jobs at investment banks. Stevenson wasn’t sure what was happening around him, but he decided to prove to his classmates that poor people could be smart. So he stationed himself in the front seats of each classroom and made sure to ask questions. The trust-fund kids in tailored suits looked down on Stevenson’s tracksuit.

Despite his strong scores at LSE, Stevenson realized he wasn’t on anyone’s shortlist for a high-paying job. He had no family or personal connections in London, and he had no interest in applying for dozens of internships. But he found a workaround. Citibank hosted a contest known as The Trading Game, and the winner landed a short internship at the bank. Stevenson...