I Trained the Rookie Who Ended Up Beating Me
Wanted to hear peoples thoughts on this situation. I’ve never cracked a BB AC in my life. MMIB? Sure. AM? Yes But the BBs? Apparently not my destiny.
Anyway, my cousin — who is a girl, semi-target ( think Notts/UOB), history anthropology degree, no relevant Internships (beyond an insight day for women) — wakes up one morning and decides, You know what, I might try banking and calls me as she knows i've had moderate success and also studied finance
She asks me for help. I fix her CV. I literally hand her my HireVue answers that have personally achieved nothing except spiritual character development. She tells me she uses them word for word.
to my shock She lands three BB ACs.
The funniest bit? She gets a HireVue for BB ER. One of the questions is something to the effect of “What industry are you into and why?” She panics, calls me with like two minutes on the timer. I pick up, give her something off the top of my head because I actually follow markets like a normal deranged person who wants this career. She feeds my answer back to them. She gets the AC. And we’re talking GS/JPM/MS level to put into context
I’m not trying to sound like sour grapes, but imagine giving someone your cheat sheet and then they speed-run the game.
I’ve been tunnel visioned on IB/ER since I was 16. Chose my degree around it. Semi-target. Finance course. 2:1. Internships in AM and private credit. I network like it’s a second job. I apply to everything within minutes of them coming out, I keep up with markets
And somehow… nothing.
Meanwhile my catapults ahead with none of the scars or stripes.
This cycle has gone unbelievably badly for me, and the whole cousin situation was salt in the wound
I just feel like this situation is exactly why the churn rate is so high for analysts, I know my cousin quite well and I personally do not think at all they are cut out for BB hours and culture. She has a 30-40% chance of landing something assuming she doesn't mess up all 3 ACs.
Will this ever actually change in our industry?
Needless to say I'm not looking forward to the next family Christmas Dinner
if she's only a second cousin, insert your dominance
LMFAO
Well she’s a girl so obviously her recruitment standards were far lower. Don’t take it personally, this happens all the time lol
True it just stings
and people who don't want it that badly will excel at their summers / off-cycles right? lol
job is not heart surgery.
she will learn the finance quick - you won't learn the EQ stuff required for the job
Honestly, one thing I've learned in life is that success is not a zero-sum game. I enjoyed hearing updates from my mentees who place in consulting, finance, accounting, or marketing, law, tech ops.
Sometimes, there are external factors that influence odds more than necessary - for consulting, year of graduation and school matter quite significantly. As others have mentioned, it was likely a combiantion of her year of graduation and the lower bar set for diversity hires that gave her an opportunity to recruit.
I would say this only helps you. If you haven't had an opportunity at a BB just yet, perhaps a warm introduction from your cousin to others within her group or network upon entering may open doors. If there are other factors not publicly disclosed (such as quotas), then it'd help to know in advanced and not invest more time into the BB route.
On a final note, regardless of how people place in these firms, the work is bitter and cruel. If she really received the offer half-heartedly, she wouldn't be willing to sacrifice the hours and personal life to continue in the field. The industry has a unique way of leveling ego that way.
Serious note: This is a perfect A/B controlled experiment. If you gather more of such data, perhaps n = 50, we can prove these banks intentionally discriminate against men and sue them.
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