Can badmouthing influence hiring decisions?

Hi everyone,

I'm a sophomore going through the SA recruiting process. I realize not everyone can vibe with you, and as the interviews start to kick in, I was wondering about these two hypothetical cases and wanted to hear from you all if these cases were any realistic.

1) I do well on the interviews, but an analyst in the firm hates me and badmouths me to the interviewers and influences the hiring decision.
2) I do well on the interviews for a certain group, but an incoming FT analyst for the same group doesn't like me and contacts his/her future group members to express disliking towards me, which influences the hiring decision.

I apologize if any of these sound ridiculous - recruiting cycle is just super stressful, and the mental roadblocks sometimes get the best of me. I know concerns like these are out of my control but still would like to know if these are any realistic cases or have seen anything like this before.

Thank you all!

 

I’m not in banking and didn’t recruit for it, but something to remember is there is a large gap between active hate and not ‘vibing’ or meshing. If this is a real concern then and in a call with an analyst and it’s not going great than I would say aim for neutral and you’ll at worst be forgotten. Also, you are a sophomore, people do know that. Lastly, it would take some balls to reach out to a place you don’t actually work at and badmouth someone who also will be working there.

 
Most Helpful

Re scenario 1) it’s possible something like this could happen but it’s very unlikely that someone would risk their own rep at the analyst level so the chances are minuscule. Re 2) have never seen this happen. There isn’t enough detail to assess your situation but I wouldn’t worry as multiple people are involved in the hiring decision. Hope this was helpful and would appreciate SBs. Lmk if you have other questions. Good luck!

 

Whenever we interview someone we ask the team if someone already talked to them and what was their impression. If they had a bad impression then it’s obvious that it’ll greatly influence the candidates we select.

Not clicking is fine, but if an analyst has a legitimate reason to dislike you it is very tough to comeback from that.

 

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