Reflections on my recent interview with a HF veteran and ADVICE please

Disclaimer: this is one of my serious posts. I don't talk crap all the time. serious advice please.

A few of you may know that I've been working on my start-up since not long ago. Recently I felt the need to get back to a more normal day life because my start-up dosn't ask for all of my time. So I started to apply for office jobs again and got some interviews.

This day I got an interview opportunity with a Manhattan company which is not involved with finance at all and the job I applied for is just some ordinary job. (I don't have the time and effort commitment for anything above that)

Before I went, I told myself not expecting anything. I was basically chilled. This mood I had to put on was mostly because of the unimpressed interviews I had with all female HRs a while ago. (Yes, I was pathetic enough to have this guy as my first male interviewer ever. Turning point?)

Five minutes after I sat down in a huge office, my interviewer came, a very young Jewish guy, I guess 25 at most. He runs the company, a family business. Then we started our business. After answering a few regular questions, he began to throw at me the first bomb: are your parents here? what do they do?
I was like, wtf, this is my first time to get such interview questions. so it went like
I: Well, I didn't know I were supposed to answer such questions
He: blah, blah, blah
I: Fine. I would not answer questions like these under most circumstances, but I can give you a special treat this time. (I went on and made up some regular jobs and titles for my parents. Hell I would ever reveal their identities)

A little later he started to notice the prestige of my school and my degrees. He began to ask me about FINANCE. I have different degrees and work experience but he was too interested in the one that I lack the competence to talk much. I was not happy at the minute. After a few explanations, he finally revealed the reason: he was an Ivy kid who quit his previous Hedge Fund job to run this family business. (WHY? WHY? WHY?)

The fun started right here. I began to give him an informational interview instead. He LIKED to talk about himself, everything. He said something like he worked particularly in DISTRESSED DEBT or so. I had nothing to do but kept nodding to show that at least I have a clue.

The vibe of the interview had been lifted since and when the last part of interview hit, I asked something on purpose that I would not normally ask: are you a Jewish? (of course I knew he is). He admitted with confusion before I told him about how heavily I was involved with the Jewish community back in school (free shabbat dinners or so), he became exhilarated. (guess the time I spent at Hillel and Chabad in school was paid off at least for this interview)

ATTENTION: at the end of the interview, he said something like this that I viewed as a signal, a strong signal: "We will keep interviewing other people and please wait for my call. BUT REMEMBER, IF I DON't CALL YOU, PLEASE CALL ME INSTEAD TO REMIND ME."

??? Monkeys, advice here please. Even though I don't have a strong crave for this job, this HF veteran guy sure has something valuable for me to learn from (his background, personal style and so). I wouldn't mind to work for him. But let's assume there will be a hold period for him not contacting me (maybe on purpose), should I put my PRIDE aside to LEAD HIM ON? I may know how to do that but is it worth the whole seducing effort?
Thank you.

19 Comments
 

Given the amount of time/effort you put into this post, I'll assume that this is real.

That said, you do realize that there's a good possibility that the interviewer could be reading your post. This isn't a generic interview question but is rather quite specific and detailed. Just food for thought.

To answer your question, how bad do you want it? If you want it badly enough, your "pride" should not be an issue.

 
Best Response
TheBlackSheepGiven the amount of time/effort you put into this post, I'll assume that this is real.

That said, you do realize that there's a good possibility that the interviewer could be reading your post. This isn't a generic interview question but is rather quite specific and detailed. Just food for thought.

To answer your question, how bad do you want it? If you want it badly enough, your "pride" should not be an issue.

Thanks for the helpful input. I appreciate it. I'm glad you approved the authenticity of my post. Yes, judging from the time/effort and the aftermath of being noticed by PATRICK himself with my fancy avatar taken down.

How bad do I want it? I figure this guy is something I can use to make myself a better business person. I have the feeling that he may be smarter than I am in general. So I want to maintain a workable relationship with him to learn the **** out of him.

I'm feeling like a star, you can't stop my shine---Ridin' Solo
 
SirTradesaLotA 25 year old is not a 'veteran' of anything.

Sup, trades! I was just guessing. maybe older. But if he is, you mean this guy has been washed out of that world to join a much less prestigious one? A puzzle to me.

I'm feeling like a star, you can't stop my shine---Ridin' Solo
 
SirTradesaLotA 25 year old is not a 'veteran' of anything.

how about a veteran altar boy?

 
BlackHat
SirTradesaLotA 25 year old is not a 'veteran' of anything.

how about a veteran altar boy?

Fair point, I guess you could be a veteran 2nd grader as well. Although, you probably still wouldn't be a good 2nd grader or you might have moved on to at least 3rd grade by your 25th birthday.
 
SolidarityI swear this chick doesn't speak English.

this chick moved to Great America around 20 and officially learnt English from then. This chick is also multilingual now. Got it?

I'm feeling like a star, you can't stop my shine---Ridin' Solo
 
i.short.you.you.short.meSweet! Only a few more short years until I'm a veteran.

Yeah, it was painful to read. She at least used punctuation, despite the horrible sentence structure.

Frank Sinatra - "Alcohol may be man's worst enemy, but the bible says love your enemy."
 
job.resumegoogle the guy, if he's an anybody something should come up. What do you even want to learn from him? I thought you were fine getting out of finance.

good idea. I did that before I went to the interview. It came out nothing beside a small introduction of him and his current business. Also there was some random high finance guy who has the same full name. I will dig further later.

I were fine getting out of finance, but friend, do you know 1. smart business/finance guys are always intriguing to me, for my self development purpose, 2. I have set a personal goal to become a hedge fund wife (not any HF) since right before I moved to nyc. I need to learn everything about this breed. Plus, he is sophisticated at his age (not a geek/nerd kind), that's something I want to learn too.

I'm feeling like a star, you can't stop my shine---Ridin' Solo
 
midtowngal2. I have set a personal goal to become a hedge fund wife (not any HF) since right before I moved to nyc. I need to learn everything about this breed. Plus, he is sophisticated at his age (not a geek/nerd kind), that's something I want to learn too.

I don't think this works in real life.

 
NewGuySaw author. Didn't read. Threw MS.

Sup, HF dude? Did you enjoy your 5 minute fame here? I bet you were sleepless that night. I will keep reading your "precious" posts, not like you

I'm feeling like a star, you can't stop my shine---Ridin' Solo
 

since when everybody has become my English teacher? But according to you, I kinda figured out the reason for my Harvard rejection. Given my slightly poorer English, I wrote my WHOLE application essay on my own without using any extra help. Now here's the "thank you" letter I sent for you to criticize one more time. I think I did a good job, right? Dear XXX, Thank you very much for your time and interview. I was glad to have an informational interview from your side too. The interview process was more than worth it. I hope you can take strong considerations into my candidacy. Also, I will try to be as "pushy" as possible until I officially get hired, like you said. lol Have a great day and hope to hear from you soon! Sincerely, XXX

I'm feeling like a star, you can't stop my shine---Ridin' Solo
 

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