alum asks me "You're not writing a story" are you?

So back in the fall I contacted an MD alum at a BB who apparently was working on a famous deal at the time relating to the crisis (I didn't even know). I was trying to ask him questions about the market and what he was seeing at the BB, etc. Next thing you know he says "You're not writing a news story on this are you?" Caught me by surprised and at that point I knew that all the questions I was asking him wasn't going to help me get a job. It was very awkward throughout the whole conversation, felt like I was interviewing him.

4 Comments
 

should have laughed and said "yep, don't be surprised if you see your face on the wall street journal tomorrow" and then recalibrate your approach and ask less interview-like questions for the rest of the call

its only awkward if you make it awkward.

 
jimmiejohnsonThis guy was briefly mentioned in the Journal only a few days before I called so he was a BSD MD that made a lot of money for the BB. I doubt he would like my joke. I think it was questions like "What do you see about this situation? Why did your bank do this..." etc that made it too stiff lol.

Why would you ever ask a question like that? Do you think you're going to get hired or build a personal network because you're better at finance? Do you think you get to be a BSD by being able to understand finance very well? The point of networking is to get people to like you; if you want to learn finance, read a fucking book. If he wanted to be a teacher he'd have become one.

 

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