If you take a look at job boards on a college career center website, I guarantee that most of the postings will describe their ideal candidate as “a driven, goal-oriented, team player who will seamlessly fit into the office culture”. Whether the position is front office, back office, or human resources, each firm has their own unique culture and maintaining that culture is crucial to the firm’s success. It is paramount that during interviews you establish that you would be a good fit at the organization. If you cannot foster a connection with your interviewer the rest of your resume, no matter how strong, will not be looked at as seriously.
I majored in Political Science and although I am a relatively recent graduate, I have a hard time recalling specifics from any of the assigned readings or classroom discussions I participated in. In my business school classes I learned the basics of finance and economics but again, specifics from those classes escape me. I would venture to guess that the same is true for most of the people on this site. However I’d argue that what you learn outside the classroom through your interactions with your friends, classmates, (and in my case) teammates, is more important than any formula or theorem you learn in class.
When I interviewed for my current position in real estate finance, I did not have any relevant real estate experience. In the spirit of full disclosure I brought this up to my interviewer and he responded that fit and personality was more important than the technical skills I brought to the table day one. He said that given a certain level of intelligence, anyone can learn how to run a model or do research but not everyone can fit in and be a team player, especially at a small, growing firm. Culture, he said, was more important than what I had learned in school.
I think that a lot of people get caught up in trying to put together the best resume, achieve the best grades, and land the best internships. Without a doubt those things are important but we cannot forget to manage and cultivate our emotional IQ. Each year target schools mint thousands of new graduates, many of whom have perfect grades, impeccable internships, and glowing extracurricular activities. What are the odds that you are going to be able to compete with them on paper? I certainly was not. An important way to stand out is by being affable and having a personality. We cultivate these skills not in the classroom but in the dorm at 2 am debating the merits of Rachel or Donna on Suits (Donna, not even close) or on the intramural basketball court striving to beat your opponent.
I’m not advocating skipping class and playing basketball in the rec center for four years but you do have to make time in school for actual human interaction. Join a club, pledge a fraternity or sorority, or be active in student government: do something where you have to put yourself out there and interact with other people in a real way. When you sit across the table from a Wall Street interviewer, you will be glad you did.
I agree on personality helping out for a lot, and I was hardly high up on the attendance sheet, but I do think what you mentioned is far more prevalent in real estate than it is in IBD or Consulting.
I agree that personal connection is way more important than resume, and I agree that skipping class has had very little detrimental effect on me, but I don't really see how the two are related. Not like those things are mutually exclusive, which seems to be your conclusion anyway.
Your post is well thought out but this is the whole reason that IBD recruiters are looking for strong EC's and leadership experiences on your resume. They do this so that they are more likely to get a well rounded person for the job who is fun to be around and can hold a conversation rather than an anti social bookworm who spent all 4 years of their undergrad in the library.
Social skills is fine, but you still need to know how to do your shit. The dumbest kids in my SA class (from my target school) are the frat bros and 1/4 got return offer. The "nerdy" kids were able to do the same work in half the time with 2x the quality, and they secured a FT offer. A lot of the people who say "grades don't matter" are those who do shitty in school and are using it as a psychological defense mechanism to brush their weakness under the carpet.
So true. They are basically brushing it aside. The psychological term for the "defensive mechanism" you're taking about is "rationalization" e.g. I want good grades, didn't get them, so I make up stuff about how good grades don't matter anyways. I've seen this way too many times.
Having social skills/Emotional IQ isn't mutually exclusive with going to class, getting good grades, and landing top internships. High finance (IBD, PE, HF, etc...) is competitive enough that hiring managers will be able to get the personable/socially savvy kids that also have good grades from targets (or non-targets).
What you learn in college doesn't matter. Your GPA does matter. The biggest reason I didn't get a 4.0 was missing class, first and foremost.
Agree with the above posters. Socials skills and going to class are not mutually exclusive. It's entirely possible to develop your EQ and still maintain a good GPA, both are important for getting interviews. Quite frankly if you can't do both you're probably not up to par with the rest of the candidates.
Both are important. And the people who land FT offers largely possess intellect, worth ethic and a high degree of EQ.
Both grades (along with the underlying knowledge) and good social skills are critical. Social skills and likeability might get you in the door; I certainly see people around the office who know how to use their gift of gab to their advantage. But when it comes down to it, performance matters. You need talent to be picked up on teams and to be kept around. So acquire both skillsets in school.
And ultimately, IMO, poor social skills are more easily remedied than a lack of talent.
i say this in every thread on this topic but i really think "social skills" are BS unless you are in sales. I never worked in banking or with a class of many other young kids, but i have always found that the way to impress people who are actual producers at a firm is to make it clear that you are very serious about helping them make money by working very hard. As someone now whose job it is to make money, I can tell you 100% that i could care less about whether a junior person has "social skills"...i have my own friends and for the 5-10 times a year i have to get drinks with work people I would rather suffer with someone socially awkward then sacrifice in any way on the business side of the relationship.
Maybe it's different when interviewing with some 24 year old analyst, but when dealing with people who actually bring the money in the door i would always heir on the side of conveying seriousness over trying to project some form of social skill.
Class participation is 25% of the grade for me, so I think I actually need to go.
Yes, going to class is completely useless. I would much rather not go to class, and study the material later, without the assistance and guidance of my professor. I forgot how easy it was to get a good GPA purely through self-studying .
Completely agree. I have a friend who does absolutely shitty in school and rationalizes his failure by claiming to "be building character" or "having a life". Its definitely not hard at all to get good grades while having a social life
it sounds like the reason none of your classes translated into practical knowledge is because you went into real estate... as CRE stated, social skills pertain far more the good ole boys club that is commercial real estate... as someone who landed a gig at a top CRE buyside shop without any prior RE experience, yeah, you're right classes don't really transfer and I probably could have done this shit at 18... in fact, I have a few friends who did... but dont even dream about stepping into some private equity, ibanking or asset management/hedge fund role after not going to class or paying attention in your finance/econ/accounting classes... and shit, if you really want a shot at breaking into high finance you're going to have to do a whole lot more than that...
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