How to be awesome: story of someone who missed the recruiting boat.

Hi Monkeys,

I'm posting this after I got alot of PMs after my post in the thread titled "No interviews and Losing self-esteem"
So I decided to take the initiative to make this forum so that all you fellow monkeys can see what it takes to get back onto the recruiting boat after you missed it.

So let me tell you a little bit about myself...

I graduated in the summer of 2012 with offers, but got into a pretty big car accident. It was severe enough for me to go home, away from the whole "Get a job" shit, because health comes first right?

But things got better. So I got my shennanigans together, and started to look for a job around October. Different people miss the recruiting boat for different reasons. I felt bad about mine, because I had let my opportunity go (albeit for a reasonably valid point). Life seemed unfair to me, but then I decided I was up for the challenge.

I'm sure that all you monkeys are very aware of how getting your name signed on a employee contract is extremely difficult nowadays. So, on top of a bad market, you've also missed the boat. Shit. You have to realize the distance between you and the recruiting boat you've missed is pretty far by now, right?

There are figuratively three solutions. You either 1) Swim for your life to catch up with that boat, 2) Build a better boat, 3) Wait for the next boat (getting a spot isn't all that easy)

For me, even though I had networked alot and knew a few people (at least MD level) that could help me, but none of them could offer the support I needed. I simply didn't have enough fire power.

So I decided to go for option 2. Building my own boat.

I decided to think outside the box. I needed to stay ahead of the curve. People like to cold-call, apply online, and send emails to people of high positions that they think can help them. But really, thats not enough. You have to stay one step ahead of your competition. Obviously you would need to find out who your competition is, so I found out mine. I found out about who was applying to the same places as I was (I'm not going to share how I did because I worked very hard for this, and not about to spoon feed you guys).

Then, I used all my human resources (friends, friends of friends, mentors, friends of mentors) in the industry to ravage for any positions available. Even if there wasn't a head-count available, I would still approach any leads I got (whether they had an official job posting or not). You may agree/disagree with me. But I thought I needed to go for everything and anything I could get at. Find as many leads as I can, and follow up as much as I can.
So my leads came from Job Boards, Headhunters, friends (word of mouth), and I would apply via email at first.
But then, I reckoned every other guy would do the same thing I did.

So I decided to look for positions that were not open to the public (word of mouth). Obviously this is much harder,
and requires larger guts, because you need to successfully cold call, and persuade your counter-party you deserve an interview.

For me the the strange part was, I would always get to the final round of interviews...and not deliver at the end.
So I tried the number game (more tries I get, the higher the chance I succeed right?)
Then I found a database for my city which has a registry for all personnel with a license to practice finance,
and sort of worked out if a particular company might need a new hire.

For example, lets say Fideilty (one of the biggest managers out there) only had 10 ppl...
Given that they manage almost too much money, seems illogical that they have 10 ppl only right?
So I would visit them...yes, just walk to the front door, and politely pitch myself to the ppl there (this deserves a whole new post).
Surprisingly, the return-on-visits was almost 100%.

I played the numbers game. Get as many interviews as I can, both those that I truly deserve, and some that I may not qualify for due to lack of experience. Basically, I had around 150 interviews with all public and non-public positions. And then I finally clicked through on the firm I'm currently working at (BB equity research).

It's not I didn't have finance, knowledge, but I guess the reason I failed at the final stage was either because they were concerned with my health (which is not a problem as of now or the foreseeable future), I was competing for positions that were looking for experienced hires. (fun story - I 'cold-visited' a top PE (Blackstone/Carlyle/KKR), the MD decided to give me a 7 hour modelling interview, which I flunked....)

CONCLUSION:

1. REALIZE THAT YOU DON'T DESERVE ANYTHING - YOU MUST EARN EVERYTHING BY WORKING HARD.
2. YOU MISSED THE RECRUITING BOAT, SO WORK HARDER
3. KNOW YOUR COMPETITION
4. STAY AHEAD OF YOUR COMPETITION
5. MAKE SURE YOU ARE PREPARED - I.E. DON'T FUCK UP BASIC FINANCE QUESTIONS IN INTERVIEWS
6. BE HUMBLE
7. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER LOSE CONFIDENCE IN YOURSELF. YOU'RE PITCHING YOURSELF TO YOUR COUNTER PARTS IN INTERVIEWS, AT LEAST YOU NEED TO BE ABLE TO HAVE CONFIDENCE IN YOURSELF.
8. YOU DON'T NEED TO KISS ASS TO THE MD, YOU JUST NEED TO BE ON GOOD TERMS WITH THE PERSON WHO YOU'LL BE WORKING WITH

So any of you monkeys, who want to ask me how I passed building security (all done legally) to do walk-ins, how I found out who my competitors were, what my database is...I'm not going to spoon feed you. But I am willing to help direct those monkeys that work hard.

 

Make sure you have a mutual friend with the counter party. This makes the other person more likely to give you a chance to pitch. When given this chance, know what the person needs in their company. Ensure that you know that you are that solution. Convince the other person that you are THE GUY. Always remember to be polite, and genuine. People around me I see are too opportunistic, and this terribly ruins their chances.

 

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