Lunch with my future boss. What is ok, what is not ?

I have an FT offer for an associate at a BB S&T. I will be doing lunch with my future boss (who I did not meet during the hiring process). I am planning to :

  • Read up on business/political news so it keeps the conversation going
  • chat up a bit on the NYC move (from mid-west)
  • ask the recruiter about the dress code

What other topics are kosher/taboo ? How else should I prepare ? I am new to finance/wall street

  • Thanks
8 Comments
 
Best Response
  1. Try to get them to like you, be honest, be sincere, be interested
  2. Try to get them to talk about themselves, and feed this: you want them to work you into their way of thinking, which includes employment
  3. Build on any commmon ground
  4. Be casual and natural, but remember at all times that you are dealing with someone farther up the food chain than you, and show the due deference
  5. Do NOT kiss their ass. It gets joked about all the time, but if you act like a fool they will walk away.
  6. DO NOT TRY TO IMPRESS THEM with your knowledge. Even if you know more, they see you as a noob.
  7. Do your best to give the general impression that you are smart and hardworking and would be able to do the job
  8. Repeat of #1 - get them to like you. This is the most important thing at this point.
  9. Do your homework. If you're lucky, the conversation will just flow naturally: this is a good sign. If it doesn't, stick to formalities and stick to the questions you've prepared. You have two objectives. A) Build a relationship - it's on you. They have what you want, and you have to earn it. B) Guide the conversation so that they are coaching you on employment and making suggestions. Giving them the impression that you would be able to do these things may cause them to take an interest in you.

WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T LIE

Good luck

Get busy living
 

Thanks. That was super stuff.

Actually its with 2 people - my boss and his boss ( more like my on-paper boss and the de facto boss ) - that complicates things a bit in terms of who I let talk about himself I guess.

 

Ah, I misread - "future boss' as in you already got the job. This was for 'prospective boss' so, never mind. Just show up and be cool, you'll be fine.

Get busy living
 

whoa whoa recruiting is done.. please chill out

just keep it casual and get the guy to talk about himself, how he got there, which other product he was in before this if you spend the entire meal trying to impress him you'll come across as nervous ... but again, you already know your boss (so i'm guess you dont need to kiss ass for a group placement in the near future)... there's no need to treat it like an interview.

i especially disagree with the following:

5. Do NOT kiss their ass. It gets joked about all the time, but if you act like a fool they will walk away. 6. DO NOT TRY TO IMPRESS THEM with your knowledge. Even if you know more, they see you as a noob. 7. Do your best to give the general impression that you are smart and hardworking and would be able to do the job
5&6: they already hired you; nobody will 'walk away' here.

all new people are noobs, we already know that. at this stage -- showing you have some knowledge shouldnt hurt. it will give him some reassurance that he wont need to train you from scratch.

7: again, this isnt an interview anymore. whether you "appear" smart of hardworking in the first few encounters doesnt matter; you'll prove that in your first 3 months.
 

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