Getting Unlucky with Recruiting
Curious if my experience is normal, unlucky, or I'm washed. In 7 processes right now. 1 EB where I had four 1hr + chats but an analyst forgot to refer so I didn't get the first round. 1 BB where I had superday which felt really good and since have been ghosted from everyone including an analyst who used to respond 5 mins after every email I sent. 1 BB where I was told I am a top candidate then lied to about "HR making the process slow" (I saw they're giving out offers, theyre just messing with me). 2 MM where I had a first round then radio silence since then from both recruiting and analysts.
Unless my airpod mic is translating my behaviorals into satanic speak, am I just washed, unlucky, or is this normal in recruiting?
People who are winners will say that it's because you weren't good enough and losers will say it's luck. As someone who has been both a winner and a loser (ignore my title), generally people who grind out long enough to succeed at something to an extent that 99% of the people who are aiming for the same goal give up during the process, will eventually see some sort of light. Yes, maybe not Evercore > KKR > Silver Point, but there's always an alternative route. Even people who took the very ideal route will at one point of their careers lose and fail. Think of it as a marathon and try to find ways to improve and learn throughout.
Appriciate the advice, and the title was meant to get some attention and words of wisdom. I am very much of the mindset that I should not care for things out of my control, and I maintain that with recruiting. Intersting to hear another perspective on my situation still.
I mean all the above stated assumptions may be due to the fact that you are at this time quite unlucky, and it happens. It isn't that rare, and I did have some similar experience while recruiting. I'll share my experience hoping to make you feel a bit better.
At the end of the day, the process isn't really meritocratic or objective. Even if you asked great questions during the interviews or during networking calls (assume you did good networking considering how you spoke for an hour with 4 people at an EB), they just might go with someone who they simply like more, which can be due to similar hobbies, hometown, or even just the how the bankers just felt good one day and decided to refer the other kid and forgot about you.
If you dont mind could you check my post out? Seems like you really know what your talking about and Id apreciate the help
I do appriciate hearing that as outside of the ocasional rant on WSO (myself included), many people speak not of the experiences like I've mentioned which also may make them look dumb/weird so its nice to hear I'm not alone in these types of experiences. If anything it almost sounds like you were more "unlucky" than me. I've heard prior and during recruiting that this is how things usually go with some processes but to hear an actual example is much more reassuring. appreciate the help.
Luck is also a part of it, Someone can get way easier technical questions than you. shit happens
Not sure if it’s showing but ignore title. Recruiting is far more luck based than people like to admit. Put in as much effort as you can, which it sounds like you are, and you will end up where you’re meant to end up. The biggest thing I see is that people are blind to their weak spots, especially when it comes to interviews. Mock as much as you can with senior students who have placed and they’ll be able to identify your minor but potentially impactful weak spots. It is certainly possible that your background is impacting the opportunities available to you, but people don’t understand how much general vibe and even small slip-ups in behaviourals can dock you. It’s much more about how you connect with your interviewer and come across as genuine, humble and researched (aside from the standard technical bar, of course)
I appriciate the advice and see what you're saying regarding luck. I've definitely seen how people "not knowing what they don't know" has caused them to be unintentionally blind to important aspects in recruiting. Will definitely do more mocks with seniors as I still have some interviews lined up
Do you have any examples of what some of those small things might look like?
Think about the role of a Summer Analyst (and by association an Analyst), and consider what the main character traits are that they want out of someone in that seat and how that relates to your interview performance. For example, coachability - when you get pushed on something in the interview, do you seem open to feedback or closed-off? More broadly with behaviourals, they're also testing how genuine and thoughtful you are - are you answers for Why IB / Why Our Bank / Why Our Coverage tied to your personal experiences and thus justifiable vs. general points you read online? Intellectual rigor - when asked about things on your resume, do your responses sound canned and rehearsed or does it seem like you actually learned something from your past pitches / internships / whatever and internalized it? Do you pass the airport test? Do the anecdotes you use for your behaviourals reveal any traits that could be considered red flags for a summer/FT analyst?etc. Try not to let your nerves get to you, actually smile and make eye contact in interviews (but not too much), and treat behaviourals more like conversations vs. a Q&A and that will all help you relax more.
This looks pretty normal, unfortunately processes break for dumb reasons and people ghost once they’ve basically filled the seat. Keep pushing the other processes and treat silence as a no so you don’t burn time waiting on HR. If you want to sanity-check, do a couple blunt mocks and see if a small habit is coming through.
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