How are you spending your unemployment time?

I am just curious hw is everyone spending their time without a job.

For me: 1. do some cardio in the morning 2. read the news and check my portfolio 3. apply to jobs (goal is 20 postings per day) 4. cold call/email recuiters on linkedin 5. go partying if it is the weekend.

So what is everyone else doing?

107 Comments
 

My aim was IB but..... a month passed so I expanded to Capital Markets... another month passed so I expanded to Corporate Finance.... and another month has passed so I have expanded my search to McDonalds...but I still can't get my Do-You-Want-Fries-With-That line right :)

All kidding aside, I think the job market in Canada is showing some recovery since I received some call backs lately.

 
KanonHey iyados, I'm cdn too. Just curious - where are you looking up posts to be able to apply up to 20 a day?

lots of places, Doostang, linkedin, vlaadco.com, simplyhired.ca, mbajobs.ca, craiglist.....etc

i feel so terrible today. My bro got an offer on London for one of the BB but they revoked it because he didnt pass the security check and they dont want to say why... i feel pretty bad

//www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/feel-like-i-wanna-die-0#comment-158529

 

Thanks for asking, and for the record I spend most of my time thinking about the best mechanical engineer Calgary has to offer, and whether or not they are developing better ways to help the environment. Maybe thinking about energy modeling isn't the best way to relax, but it's what happens nonetheless.

 

have you been getting interviews? what positions are you looking for?

for me, sometime its slow and other times its busy. wanted to see how it was for you.

 

I have been interviewing a little. One week I had three interviews and now I have been cold for the past two. The last two weeks in August are the worst because everyone is on vacation. I was a third year who got laid-off right before promotion to associate. I am looking for PE and hedge funds junior positions...banking jobs are out there but at boutiques which I am also looking into. Never seen a job market like this before. How about you?

 
Ovechkinwaking up at 3pm, browsing the intrabutts in my boxers and eating taco bell 4 days a week. beat that.

..the only way to live

 

Personally, I think anyone would be nuts to leave their current position without another one in hand. The market is extremely tight right now and it is a dog eat dog world for associate spots in PE. In addition, the flood of resumes into my bank has been at an all time high.

CompBanker’s Career Guidance Services: https://www.rossettiadvisors.com/
 

you have 3-4 years of experience but are only 2 years out of school? you mean b-school right? otherwise how, what, where?

"After you work on Wall Street it’s a choice, would you rather work at McDonalds or on the sell-side? I would choose McDonalds over the sell-side.” - David Tepper
 

With 3-4 yrs experience in banking/research while some firms have/had started to hiring, I would think you'd at least get a decent number of interviews. Did you try reaching out to your contacts at banks? Or asking them to keep a lookout for you?

There was a girl on this forum who had her offer rescinded because it was bear/lehman, and was out of school a year with no FT exp (but some decent banking internships). After she posted her story on WSO, she managed to land something (either via her own contacts from her old bosses now at other banks, or through WSOers who got her resume). Maybe you can reach out in the same way.

 
IBnutzyeah she does.... and its funny because all of her stupid posts get pushed up to the front page on here and they rarely generate any discussion except for people making fun of her for being an idiot

lol you need to relax

KICKIN ASS AND TAKING NAMES
 

hey, sorry to hear about your situation. but if you've been out of work since august, don't you think it's probably time to start focusing on a new exit strategy other than PE/buyside? the longer you are out of work, unless you were a very senior employee, the less options you are going to have. competition for PE is going to be cutthroat, especially now that hiring's down and lots of bankers have been downsized and are looking for work.

best of luck though.

 

I've also been applying to business school as a backup. PE is my first choice, so wanted to see if anyone is having much luck in this market.

 

Sorry to hear about the situation. I was able to land an offer at a solid PE firm after four months of unemployment--I was laid off last November. Opportunities are limited, but still out there. I was at Goldman and used the alumni network. Definitely a helpful resource if you were with GS--especially since the majority of open PE positions are not being given to the recruiters given the massive amount of candidates in the market. Best of luck in the search!

 

You're fine. Resume gaps mid-career are a big red flag for MBA admissions, but they won't really care about gaps before your career started...You'll just need to wait an extra year to apply. As long as you show career progressions and such, this won't impact you much at all. Just write some malarkey in 4-5 years how after you graduated event X showed you that you wanted career Y, and you worked for a year towards successfully obtaining that goal - turn it into a strength.

 
monkeyman2010i have to say, i wasn't planning on filling out the census but when the guy came to my door soaking wet in the rain, i felt really bad knowing he's probably jobless and i answered his questions.

So it wasn't the multi-million dollar advertising campaign that compelled you? Shocking!

Jack: They’re all former investment bankers who were laid off from that economic crisis that Nancy Pelosi caused. They have zero real world skills, but God they work hard. -30 Rock
 
aceonNot that bad in my opinion, everyone is already aware of the census jobs.... You realize the spill might actually CREATE jobs? There are a ton of temporary workers now working the coastline on the cleanup efforts.

lol now i did bc of you :(

 

I think it's going to be worse than expected once the numbers are actually reviewed. While you will see a rise in temporary work created because of the gulf, you also need to consider the actual job loss and temporary stoppage of work created by the oil spill, the shift from people that would be in the U3 group (Official Unemployed by the ILO) to those that fall into a U4/U5/U6 Designation, those who are now no longer getting Unemployment Benefits and are possibly on EUC benefits and the actual ability to create permanent jobs. I have a feeling that the next jobs report will be possibly on par, if not a bit better, from a temporary perspective but when you break down the actual permanent job creation, I have a feeling that the results will be abysmal. I will be shocked if we have more permanent jobs created on a comparative percentage basis (IE 41K permanent Jobs was ~9.1% of total jobs created last month) than on a numeric basis. I would rather see 100K new jobs created with 50K being permanent instead of 450K created with only 41K being permanent.

But that's my two cents. What do I know.

 

Unemployment report is BS. They revise it ridiculously each month and then again at year end. Not to mention past revisions can be off so much that BLS doesn't even get the direction right.

looking for that pick-me-up to power through an all-nighter?
 

Buy a ticket for Energy Rodeo in the next 8 hours if you want to stay in Houston and have any interest in energy. At the very least you'll expand your network.

MM IB -> Corporate Development -> Strategic Finance
 
SECfinanceBuy a ticket for Energy Rodeo in the next 8 hours if you want to stay in Houston and have any interest in energy. At the very least you'll expand your network.
Better yet, PM monty09 and see if he'll hook you up given your circumstances.
I am permanently behind on PMs, it's not personal.
 

I am going to the Rodeo. I went last year as well. Thanks for the advice guys.

Hopefully we can keep this going and some people will get some use out of it.

 

Sorry to hear about the pink slip. Hold your head high and start applying soon. I have a friend who never would have caught his lucky break had he not been laid off. Ended up getting a much better job while still receiving severance (essentially getting double paid).

CompBanker’s Career Guidance Services: https://www.rossettiadvisors.com/
 

REach out to your school's alums Find job fairs in your area Brush up on accounting and see if you can get something there, it's never a bad experience. Work on getting a job every single day as if it was your full time job and you will find something. Then work from there.

Do what you want not what you can!
 

Not in a position to offer advice with this but that's rough man. Good luck...

Under my tutelage, you will grow from boys to men. From men into gladiators. And from gladiators into SWANSONS.
 

I told the cofounder that I was interested in the VC space. Her pitch to me is help her with capital raising, operations, biz dev and she can facilitate a move to VC down the road. The truth is though that her business model isn't particularly strong and I am a little worried that it is a fool's errand to try and raise capital in this environment with her business. (though I am surprised they have generated so much cash on ad sales). Have folks successfully raised VC money before? I'd love to chat at some point. Her company is not well known--meaning it won't be like working for a foursquare, twitter, groupon where there is name recognition.

Other than that as a next step, what other roles could I explore in the internet space? CFO? CEO of my own thing?

What are your thoughts on leaving finance and going into internet space? Is there a niche I could go into easily? How can I best pitch it if I want to go back to banking?

So I am still moving forward with the internet company interviews and have a breakfast meeting with the cofounder and then a more formal interview with her partner again. What are your thoughts?

 
BTbankerYou should probably lower your standards.

Funny you mention. Casting a wider net was my effort to lower my standards. But I took it one step further just to test the waters. I applied to general FP&A roles, comping at a fraction of my previous comp to see if they valued my prior experience. Turns out they didn't quite understand what I've done previously and weren't interested.

This puts me in a funny spot. I'm overqualified for non-corporate finance jobs, but the jobs I'm qualified for don't seem to be hiring...(me anyway).

 

Also, maybe I should be more clear. Explaining away the unemployment is easy. My problem is getting interviews when the employer first glances at my resume and sees all my time off.

 

The problem is how you explain it to yourself that matters. Of course to yourself it was just time you spent looking for work. But it could also be time you were self-employed. Even if you worked 5% of your time, make that 90%, invent some things you never did, but close to what you did, but in a way that no one will ask you for proof. Then get someone to give you a "character recommendation" which is what I got for some time when I had no idea what to do, basically a gap year that I stayed at home figuring things out. So I got someone to say for me that I was really some kind of self-employed personal tutor which sounded great. Whatever you can get away with, but if you make it sound like you were earning enough money to support yourself and working full-time, it will always be better than saying "I just stayed at home and looked for jobs online". That just sounds too lazy, and it's obvious why that would disadvantage you in applications. Good luck!

 

If you can't get interviews, the person reviewing your resume probably sees you've been out of work and looks upon it negatively. You might want to consider creating a relevant experience section on your resume to, at least, list what you've been doing the past 18 months. This will show you haven't been just sitting on your ass.

 

hopefully collecting unemployment checks, first and foremost

​* http://www.linkedin.com/in/numicareerconsulting
 

I'm still looking. I'm about to give up and figure something else out.

Last two months were rough as majority of my final rounds got put on hold. Last week I got a rejection because it wasn't a good fit.

I really don't understand the fit portion anymore. I went in to their offices twice, first round was technical with their analysts and associates asking me about my deals and all the other bullshit. Second round I had to build models for them and answer questions regarding it.

Finally, I got called in to meet their rainmakers and the founder of the firm. All that was asked was tell me about your resume, why our firm, why banking and where do you see urself in the next 3-5 years.

How the fuck is that fit? I loved the rejection call too. We were all impressed by your experience and you very well during ur case study but some people felt that it might not be a good fit for the firm, so we are unable to make u an offer.

Really..cut me a fucking break. Shouldn't u find out first if its a good fit and then get to the part about actually being able to do a good. This bullshit fucking boutiques keep my wasting my goddamn time and money.

Fuck them.

 

I'm still looking. I'm about to give up and figure something else out.

Last two months were rough as majority of my final rounds got put on hold. Last week I got a rejection because it wasn't a good fit.

I really don't understand the fit portion anymore. I went in to their offices twice, first round was technical with their analysts and associates asking me about my deals and all the other bullshit. Second round I had to build models for them and answer questions regarding it.

Finally, I got called in to meet their rainmakers and the founder of the firm. All that was asked was tell me about your resume, why our firm, why banking and where do you see urself in the next 3-5 years.

How the fuck is that fit? I loved the rejection call too. We were all impressed by your experience and you very well during ur case study but some people felt that it might not be a good fit for the firm, so we are unable to make u an offer.

Really..cut me a fucking break. Shouldn't u find out first if its a good fit and then get to the part about actually being able to do a good job. This bullshit fucking boutiques keep my wasting my goddamn time and money.

Fuck them.

 

Don't despair, j.krizk. As we all know, IB is all a smokescreen for a lot of insecure people to make themselves feel better. Most of the time, the MDs got to their positions through a rather serendipitous route, and never had to go through the backbreaking interviews applicants are put through these days.

Moreover, the extent that you were brought in is evidence that you are qualified. So you nail the technical questions, explain your dealwork (impressive for an entry level applicant) and somehow you are rejected...

If you haven't seen it already, ib interviews are the biggest amount of BS out there--insecure individuals seeing what oddball questions will make you flinch. Face it, if there was a GENUINE interest in your credentials, they would have hired you. So because some pouty and disgruntled analyst got a bad vibe from you they reject you. Welcome to the overrated, over-hyped and shallow world of IB.

I'll be the first to tell you that when you interview for other firms and other industries (even consulting) there is a GENUINE interest in you and your credentials. MUCH less to NONE of this ib interview hogwash. Face it, the glamorous days of IB are over. It's time for everyone to face the real world.

 

been collecting unemployment but will be starting work soon at a new firm. this is on the s&t side though. i can tell you first hand its awful out there right now

 

holy hell it is tough. i got cut in june, have been looking since. came close several times with hedge funds, but no cigar. one of them made me do two cases, nailed both only to reject me. and another fund made me go through 6 rounds before telling me they went with someone else.

still looking, still collecting unemployment. sigh, when will the pain end.

 

So I can be a little less vague in the options. So currently I'm in a role working with equity investments. If I were to work for my father for a bit it would probably be working on more general finance type things (reviewing company cash flows, working in random projects, etc.). Of course obviously I could spin this but that's besides the point.

So I guess one of the questions I have now, does it make a difference working for my dad vs working for a company that's a slightly better fit if I plan on hopefully switching a few months after starting if what I really want comes around?

I feel like overall my "ideal" company would understand the downsizing part, but wouldn't they also think it was a good idea for me to switch to another company as soon as possible so that I can continue to learn new skills? Any other thoughts on the matter would be greatly appreciated. Side note I'm also taking level 2 of the CFA but I doubt I can use that as an excuse for unemployment for a few months. Any other thoughts would be very helpful.

Also the way I see it, isn't it a win-win if I apply for other jobs if I get accepted at a semi-relatable firm. Worst case, I get turned down. Best case, I get accepted. Right?

 

A combination of #1 and #4. Job hopping isnt ideal but you're not mid-career either, I think most recruiters would appreciate that it takes a bit of time to find your niche. I'm sure most recruiters will understand being laid off (I wouldnt lie if that was your thinking) and I think it doesnt matter whether you work in a different company or your fathers (ideally in your situation, you'd want to take the job knowing its a temporary thing) as long as you're actually exposed to and using the right skills to transition into your ideal role.

 
SRRubio123#4 in a heartbeat

Take a few months off to travel then go work for your dad

Within a year of undergrad, he needs to travel? Don't do this. Generally, I'm all for taking a few months to travel but with your situation, it would be lunacy.

 

Have you considered taking some time to really get out there and pound the pavement? I think in most states, if you're laid off, you qualify for unemployment. This could give you the free time you need to really get out there and network. I would imagine that most everyone understands that if you're laid off, that resume gaps will occur. Have you considered taking a month to really try to get out there and meet with others in your chosen industry? Looks like you have a great backup plan with #4, so I think this is an avenue worth pursuing.

"My caddie's chauffeur informs me that a bank is a place where people put money that isn't properly invested."
 

So it seems that #4 is the favorite, but why is it so much better than #3? Is it because I would have more flexibility in the job search, or is it more because of the repercussions of leaving the first firm after a few months? Or would my "ideal" firm be turned off that I screwed this other company?

 

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