My former college roommate/teammate recently recommended me for a position within his leveraged finance department at a leading global bank. He may have offered to recommend me while out late drinking one night, but impaired judgment or not, he kept his word.
Although my work experience was within marketing and retail, I did major in Economics at Dartmouth College and consider myself to be hard working and a quick learning. Being that the open position was an Analyst role, one in which experience is not expected, I felt I had a chance.
I went into my first round of interviews prepared. I spent many hours studying the intimate details of leveraged finance. I made sure I knew how the department works, who they work with, what my job responsibilities would be, etc. I was up to date with the market and came to the interview prepared with great questions and notes about current deals their team had been working on. I even studied up on the little things (how many countries did the bank operate in?, who is on the management team?, what were their earnings last year?). I wanted to make sure I did not embarrass myself or my friend for recommending me. And I wanted to come off as a viable candidate.
When the interview came, I met with the Director and one of the two Managing Directors of the department. After two 45-minute interviews (they were expected to last 30 minutes each) I left feeling pessimistically-confident. I asked good questions, came off personable and made it clear I was excited by this opportunity. It was also evident I understood the job function and could handle the work.
The next morning I received a call from the bank's HR department saying they were impressed with me and would like me to come back and interview with the other Managing Director and a VP within HR. They had met with many candidates and had only asked 5 back for another round. Elated, I immediately confirmed the next interview and went back to preparing. I brought my suit to the dry cleaners and made sure I had a good sleep and a shaven face the day of the interview. I didn't want a sloppy suit or droopy eyes to be my downfall.
I again had a strong interview with the Managing Director and the Assistant VP of HR (the VP of HR ended up taking a personal day). The interview was rather simple and seemed more like a personality-fit-type interview. The only technical comments made were by me. I wanted to make it clear why I was interested in refocusing my career within finance and that I was familiar with position and industry in general. I explained how this was a fantastic opportunity to learn the lifecycle of a deal through a centralized department. I reinforced my interest in finance by mentioning the part-time MBA program I just started at NYU Stern (one of the stronger financially focused MBA programs around).
All-in-all, the interviews felt easy and I felt that I had a chance. Unfortunately, I did not. I had no chance from the beginning. It has been weeks since my last interview and I have still not heard from the bank since. Not even a response to the 4 individually written and gracious "thank you" letters I sent to each of my interviewers.
I received a call a day after my interview from my former roommate, the one that had recommended me for the position. He told me that he had spoken with the Managing Director of the department (the one I interviewed with the day before) and that she said they were not interested in hiring me. It was a complimentary rejection if that matters any. She told him that I was very nice and very intelligent. She continued to say I would be a great candidate for their training program. Unfortunately, for the Analyst position, they wanted someone with real experience who can hit the ground running on day one.
Experience? If they wanted someone with experience, why did they interview my at all, let alone four times? Why couldn't they communicate this to me themselves? Why am I still waiting for a response or why are they not offering me a position within their training program?
This experience made me realize my job search is going to be harder than I even first imagined. The job market is in high demand, low supply. Employers can be very picky in this environment; they have all the power. A couple of years ago an employer may have been willing to give a person a chance. In today's market it seems employers are not only not willing to give a person out of their industry field a chance, and even within their field they are holding out for candidates that fit their job posting perfectly. For most of us, this dramatically limits our options.
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