How much do looks matter in sellside?
Rising college junior here, most of the kids at my school (hypertarget, think WYD/Oxbridge/LSE) who landed offers in the past couple years were (very) conventionally attractive, with >90% of the kids being caucasian and the females noticeably slender and on the tall side (>5'9) and oftentimes blonde, with the men disproportionately gym/frat bros who are over 6'. Kids of both gender who landed offers were also mostly athletes (around 2/3).
Considering that I am an African-American (half Rhodesian, half Welsh) male who is 5'6 and have horrible acne and a lazy eye, would this make breaking in significantly harder, or am I overthinking things?
We're doing Rhodesia references now? Jesus Christ.
My father's side of the family always referred to themselves as Rhodesian and modern-day Zimbabwe (in addition to some regions of South Africa) as Rhodesia.
great - whatever helps you work through this phase
I can almost guarantee you're overthinking things. Only one way to find out.
Troll post
Honestly before somebody calls this a stupid question I truly believe being conventionally attractive is a MASSIVE benefit to men (and especially women) in all facets of life. Something tells me if you were able to rank people on attractiveness objectively, those that score highly are way more likely to be considered a good "fit" or more "polished" even if the personalities were all the same.
My armchair social psychologist theory on this is that at early ages those who are athletic and good looking tend to lump together and become the cool kids on the playground. This leads to the development of superior leadership traits and confidence and follows them throughout life, even into their late careers. Just my $0.02.
To clarify, I am not trolling or joking.
But, I know some companies (both in finance and outside of finance) purposely don't hire very attractive females, especially if they are young. The people I spoke to tend to share a similar rationale along the lines of females that are too attractive may cause problems (distraction) in the workplace. They are more likely to get a better offer from another company, as they generally have more opportunities. Also, they will likely eventually get married and have children. And, the truth is, not all women/mom's want to be both a career woman and a mother. So, they may not stay on if that happens. An attractive female is more likely going to get hitched than someone not attractive.
When I asked about this thinking, someone explained that someone unattractive has probably had less opportunities in the past, and so their job is more likely to mean more to them, than to someone attractive (who has always had life easier), so they are more likely to cherish the opportunity and work hard. They should also be less likely to leave, which helps with employee retention.
But, also, to caveat this is that none of people that I spoke to, whom employ this kind of thinking, were hiring for sales roles. They were all hiring for analytical, ops, finance type roles.
I don't know if I agree with this thinking, but some people approach their female hires with this approach. No joke.
Finance type roles, meaning IB?
Rhodesian? This ain’t 1970
My father's side of the family always referred to themselves as Rhodesian and modern-day Zimbabwe (in addition to some regions of South Africa) as Rhodesia.
So you go to WYD? Where yis dat?
It's an acronym for what my classmates refer to as the "high three" schools: Wharton, Yale & Dartmouth.
Congrats on Dartmouth
We don’t hire anyone below an 8/10 at my firm
Name?
You’re wild bro
Might be the case in the US but defo not in the UK. Seen some complete munters landing offers from some of the schools you have mentioned. That being said, I have never come across anyone fat in banking. A lot of ugly ducklings tho.
Not to be an asshole but if you're too lazy and undisciplined to keep your weight within the normal range you're not exactly cut out for an 80 hour a week gig.
How is BBH still on this website?
It’s called a beauty contest for a reason
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