Had a horrible interview with the Director of Research. Here's what Happened.

I had an interview today with an equity research firm. I'm not going to name the firm and interviewer for obvious reasons.

I got the interview through referral from an associate who I spoke with over the phone. The conversation I had with the associate went extremely well, we spoke for over an hour (supposed to be for 30 mins.) After the conversation he sent my CV and stock pitch over to the director, who then scheduled a zoom interview with me for Saturday (today). 

He opens the Zoom interview with a bombardment of questions - built no rapport, didn't ask any finance related questions and essentially rushed through the interview. He started grilling my school (a non-target) and said stuff like "It's a really bad school for business, who in their right mind would end up going there?" Bruh, I graduate in 2 months, what do you want me to do? Transfer to a different school? 

He then insisted that I go and do my master's or go to a graduate school so I'm more "marketable" and it'll be very difficult for me to get a job.

(For what it's worth, the school I go to is ranked Top 5 in New York. I did double major in Finance and Accounting and I have 1yr of M&A experience from one of the following firms (Mckinsey, EY, Deloitte, KPMG.) This interviewer went to Harvard Business School and Yale (for undergrad).

I then asked him about his opinion on the market and what sector he's been focusing on. I told him that I've been focusing on Tech companies, because they've been beaten down so much, it's hard for a tech company that's already down 95% to go even lower. It's a quite compelling opportunity, tech hasn't been this cheap since the popping of the dotcom bubble. 

He then interrupted me and completely shat on my thesis, basically saying energy is the way to go and told me my thesis is "foolish."

He then told me: "We're looking for the best analysts and you haven't demonstrated that you're one of the best." HE DIDN'T LET ME SPEAK FOR THE ENTIRE INTERVIEW. He rambled for the entire thing and interrupted me every time I spoke. 

He then ended the interview by saying: "Keep checking our website for any other available opportunities." 

I should of seen the writing on the wall. Everywhere on WSO, people complain about their interview process with this firm and this firm has a history of having an absolutely toxic work culture. 

Anyways, I have interviews with Oppenheimer, UBS, Evercore, Piper Sandler and Houlihan Lokey coming up, I'll keep my head up and keep pushing forward.

Rant over. If you got this far, kudos to you. 

What do you guys think? For what it's worth, this is like the 4th interview I've had, but by far the worst.