been looking for an associate for a while now: smart, eager, ability to really dig into something, don’t care if you came from a lesser shop if you can prove you got the drive. etc etc
So, I interviewed a dozen people and everyone has been pretty bad for the dumbest reasons. getting really tired of this. problems I’ve seen:
-anything on your resume is fair game for me to ask. if you’re going to use fancy terms on your work experience, you better be ready to explain it. I asked for a bit more clarity on 1 guy’s first bullet, and he crumbled. nice guy, but I can see through your BS resume in a flash.
-1 guy comes in, leans back in his chair all big-shot like, rocks back and forth in the chair, and talks as I owe him for the privelege of him coming to see me. (he’s currently at a shop that’s pretty sh***y) I threw him out fast.
-another guy during Q&A literally asks, “what’s work/life balance like, I highly value that.” why would you even say that? do you have any sense at all?
-The 1 girl that did well showed up 20 min late to her 1st and 2nd round without any real excuse. Leave yourself extra time jeez. maybe 1st time you got lost ok, but 2x? am I here to wait for you?
-1 guy is 30 minutes late, finally get an email from him: “sorry, my manager is out, I need to reschedule”. really? I’m going to buy that? you couldn’t have told me that 20-30 min BEFORE the scheduled interview he was out?
quality really downhill these days… I don’t remember the pool ever being this bad.
The whole process has to be revamped. Candidates might not be stellar, but interviewers have to be better at the craft too. A lot of managers have no idea how to find talent. The shy, humble, quiet types are usually overlooked. When I’m invited to the interview process, I usually favour the quiet, soft spoken type. They tend to do their jobs with no drama, are more loyal and don’t negotiate hard for pay increases.
depends on the role. You wouldn’t want a shy humble and quiet for a sales role. Research depends, buyside may be more ok, but sellside research shouldn’t be. And you can’t really tell from a piece of paper until they come in.
I agree with you on the less drama/loyal and negotaite pay aspects though.
I am at a top shop. everyone coming in looks indeed stellar on paper or they wouldn’t have made it into my office. maybe thats the problem, need to go down more and grab someone who just wants a shot. maybe they’ll be more hungry for it.
I’ve heard from my buddies at other firms that either candidate pools have been getting progressively worse or that they don’t get any good candidates (all solid places).
When I was previously interviewing candidates we sometimes decided to just not hire during a cycle since all the interviewees weren’t good enough.
I think there are very few truely hungry people. My experience comes from my cfa level i/ii prep classes. People say they are, but most are not (either lazy or incompetent and don’t want to improve). I met people who asked for help to understand capitalizing vs expensing, people who say they are going to only read 70% of the cfa books because they didn’t want to overstudy. It makes it hard to stand out if you actually are hungry since so many are all talk.
I have the drive to succeed in anything I do but I never get any replies from any big companies.
I don’t come from a well off family so I have to work to put myself through college, but when I apply for the big firms, I always get rejected because I don’t have any experience.
I don’t need a high paying job, I just need a chance for a face to face interview to show what I can’t show on a piece of paper. I just need a chance to work and be noticed, but without experience, it’s very difficult for me to even secure an interview.
P.S. Sorry if I came across as being too entitled.
I agree about the candidate pool getting worse. When we go outside of using an internal referral, the people that walk in the door are most of the time completely unhireable. They may look good on paper, but they tell you what they want to hear, give cookie cutter “interview answers”, or have a feeling of entitlement and just generally don’t show the drive and hunger I’m looking for.
Give me an “interview answer”… goodbye.
Beat around the bush for two minutes instead of just answering “I don’t know”… goodbye.
“Advanced Excel” and you can’t tell me the differece between ISNA and IFERROR (or some other basic function question)… goodbye.
Actually, if you accept my offer for water or coffee when I walk into the conference room, it’s basically over from there. You are here to interview…not refresh yourself with a tasty beverage, not to blow up the toilet. You should have done that at the starbucks around the corner 10 minutes before you got here. Although it IS understood if you need a break after 3 or 4 hours meeting with people… I will BRING you a water and offer to show you to the restroom.)
One candidate, when asked if they wanted a water or coffee, actually had the moxie to say “I would love a cappucino, thanks”. I’m pretty sure they knew it was downhill from there when half the guys on the floor blurted out in unison some derivative of “ARE YOU FU$%ING KIDDING ME??”
Itera, considering you take a yellow cab driven by a smelly smollian, I really doubt you’re M’n’A’in on the buyside at KKR.
Furthermore, you sound like an asshat to interview with. So some guy asks about work/life balance, what are you some plantation slave driver making your associates sleep with their phone on? I’d say fk you too and walk out. Another guy is confident and you throw him out. Then, you brought the girl back for a second interview after being late the first time, that’s your fail buddy! Interviewing is a two way street, I want to be sure that the guys I’m working with are legit and people whom I can stand hanging with 40+ hours a week. It’s not 2008 anymore, employees do have bargaining power and selection.
Arn’t you the one always preaching that no one, nobody, unless you have a Top 2 MBA and 12inch cock can do ER. This is living proof that ER jobs ain’t all that hard to come by. It’s also potential proof that the cat is out of the bag that ER(aka cost center) ain’t all that, and you really just fellate public companies that you want to earn investment bankign dollars from (aka the revenue center). Yes, there are 1000 resumes per job posted, but 990 of them should not have been sent in the first place. In the age of the internet where you click apply, it is reasonable to think more people will apply to more jobs.
That’s unreasonable. If you act hospitable and you judge them for taking something you offered (and it’s just a bottle of water, not like a line of coke), the problem is with you, not them.
Something as basic as water or coffee doesn’t seem bad at all…
Maybe I’m behind times.
But yes most of the time people seem to prop up their resume… a lot or are just very good on paper. I find a lot of the international kids have much better resumes/experiences on average but are unable to communicate fluidly at all.
I always reject an offer for something to drink but not because I think they will think “eff, this guy should have refreshed himself before the interview” but because I tend to think most interviewers are prepared (like I am when I interview people) and know basic tell tale signs of lying. Dry mouth for example is an indication that lying could be present and if you have a bottle of water and are drinking it the whole time, I’m gonna think you’re lying to me. Thus, when I interview I reject the bottle of water in case the interviewer is as knowledgable as I am about lie detection. Besides, I don’t need it…I’ll have drank my water and coffee that morning and won’t be lying…that just catches up with you during the background check and reference calls.