Salutations Primates,
This isn't a job search advice thread, this is a free life makeover offer for one person (can include getting a job), but on that condition that it is in public viewing of everyone else.
What I'm looking for:
One person who is trying to get a better life (actively trying, I will be checking on what you've done so far), but needs a helping hand.
You must be willing to take a leap with me on this one. While I won't be asking you to do crazy stuff, I will certainly push you outside of your comfort zone. This will include health, social life, personal development, and personal relationships (if you're single).
An open mind on what you want. If you're a 4.0 looking to get into TMT GS then I'm not the guy to help you. A psychiatrist is. If you know your end goal (PM of a hedge fund in 6 years time), then we can make some progress on that.
Don't be broke, you dont need to be rolling in it for this, but you will need some money to be able to invest in yourself. A few hundred dollars (or equivalent, will suffice). You wont be sending any money my way, don't worry, but you might need to get a haircut etc. This stuff costs money.
This is not a la carte, we either change everything or nothing. If you just want to be a little bit different in one area of your life it'll be an inefficient use of our time. This is to change nearly everything about you.
So, if you're willing to go through with the above, and have your life story in full public viewing (anything that makes you identifiable will be redacted, I'm not cruel), post replies in this thread listing the below.
The benefit I get to this is I'm thinking of putting my ideas into a guide for this site, and while my methods have worked well for people in my social circle, I need to see if it works for a relatively random person who I don't know at all. If it does, then I'll be seeing if I can get WSO to add it to their list of guides, if it doesn't, well I tried.
So, if you're interested.
Please post:
City/Country where you are now.
Age/Gender./education (resume is fine).
Where you want to be in 5 years time. (not just career).
What you've tried so far.
Confirm that you can skype and have disposable funds to invest in yourself.
Confirm you're not in some depressive slump thinking that nothing ever works out for you.
Will not be replying to any PM's related to this thread. Public or bust.
T
What compensation is offered if your life gets worse? :P
Will you also keep the fixing process public?
yes the fixing part will be public as well. I will bullet point skype convos, and keep other chat logs as a work in progress, and document the goals set and progress towards them. Work related goals will be edited to remove sensitive data, but otherwise its your life in public.
WOW I am totally going to keep up with this. I vote we get Brady to do this, just have to smuggle him out of the psych ward.
How long are you planning to work with the person?
Are you Mystery from VH1's the Pick-up Artist? I bet you are.
I really hope this thread will be troll-free.
I'm seeing as likely a summer project, penciled in as a summer project, but as long as it takes, as long as they are trying.
You see yourself as a Ryan Gosling don't you.
Boston, MA
29, Male, BS in Economics from a small public school (unknown)
In 5 years? Out of MBA, I want to go into MBB and then transition to a C-level grooming position in either my home country (better opportunities for me to get into MBB there as I'm from a highly protected country (employment-wise) which is a major market. I want to leverage my 20+ years in the U.S. and dual citizenship. With little effort I can also be granted a EU passport (ability to work there).
3 years ago I was jobless and needed to decide what I wanted to do with my life. Got on the internet, decided on consulting, I-banking, or asset management. At the time I was developing a start-up with my brother that has been relatively successful (PM for details, I can't give you all the info). I'm a prestige whore - I'll fully admit it. I want top-flight MBA (M7, but I have the best opportunity to get into INSEAD, which I'll take considering the MBB feed).
Since then? The goal was to position myself to get into M7-type & eventually MBB through experience and building a profile; if not? leverage my background to get into banking back in my home country post-MBA. The market is hot.
Got into a shit, bottom-level operations management consulting firm where I got hazed and turnover is insanely high. I couldn't get into much better. I was a C level student in college, from a shit school.
Got a few certifications to prove my worth to said consulting firm; got plucked out to a mid-grade operations management consulting firm & got a well-respected industry certification. Experience includes the implementation of the highest-billing project in the company, alone with a team of 3+ back in my home country; that's one of the few - I can provide a resume privately if you'd like.
During downtime, volunteered to build my profile (also did it because I enjoyed it - this is during a 2 year stop-gap in NYC). Also tried starting a second business, and discovered it was not worth it.
At the direction of someone who got into a top-15 MBA program taking the same route, I took two high-level courses at a well-respected program to show in my MBA application that I'm not fucking around and can handle the coursework. Aced both.
The business my brother and I started grew exponentially - I'm still involved in that and it is successful enough to grant him 2 BMW's (high ends, not shit 3-series, a Ducati, and a Harley). I include this for douch-ey indication of well-being of said company. It's all title-in-hand. The company has 0 debt, and we pay all cash. Before I get asked, money isn't enough. I want prestige - I'm a prestige whore and I was bored.
Currently on-task to take the GMAT in a few months (Manhattan GMAT assisted) and NEED to pull 720+ (for screening at McKinsey, MBA options, etc.). All recommendations are lined up and will apply soon thereafter.
If you want more details, PM me. You may be involved in banking, but I haven't ruled out the possibility of that industry. I won't knock it 'til I try it. I want I-banking or consulting, as I had mentioned.
Let's do this shit.
Hahaha nice one
Do you know how many small public schools there are in Massachusetts?
And by that I meant that nobody really knows the university.
Beyond that, I highly doubt you could pluck me out of my graduating class.
I'm a prop trader, you're certainly attractive in your dedication, whether your life is in a bad place or not, is probably open to a wider interpretation. Is the MBA your only goal, do you have any other life ones we can work towards?
You're right - I wouldn't say I'm in a bad place, so maybe I'm not the best candidate. The MBA is definitely not the only goal. The goal is MBB through the MBA which would eventually transition me to a C-level job (or again, possibly the banking route). I would also like to use the experience to grow my business, but mainly I want the Fortune 100 big-swinging-dick job.
Not to sound like I'm interviewing (this isn't bullshit). I eventually want to retire early and start a non-profit in my home country supporting social welfare programs.
Dude, I was referencing the one you put in your profile which broke the news not to long ago...
Haha ohhh... never even crossed my mind.. caught me
Serious question, what exactly are you planning to do for whom ever does this?
City/Country NYC, USA
Age/Gender/Education 23/M/Large Public School - BA Economics
5 Year Goals Trader. A tight-knit group of ambitious friends. A nice place in Manhatten. Fluent in French.
What I Have Done So Far: 2 internships - Quantitative Research Group Prop/Boutique Trading
3 Jobs out of college Boutique Group Finance/BA with international company Risk Reporting with BB
Confirm that you can skype and have disposable funds to invest in yourself. Will have skype sortly. Yes.
Confirm you're not in some depressive slump thinking that nothing ever works out for you. The world will shit on you. You just have to be ready.
I am considering a Masters in Math Finance from a Target part time.
I believe that the main pillars of a happy life are interconnected, work, play, love etc. therefore focussing on one is suboptimal in terms of maximising happiness/enjoyment from one. The principles that apply to one can be adapted to all.
I'm a creative/persistent little bastard when it comes to ideas and so will be aiming to get the lucky guy a completely new life, going in a direction he wants. It will include setting and hitting health objectives, social ones, personal ones, and work/career related ones. Ideally, it would be finding a new job they want, or getting their foot on the ladder, internal company progression is probably not where i'm best suited, but i can work around minor issues.
I have to admit, though I love your idea and initiative, I am pretty skeptical as well as it seems like are looking for a quick makeover for someone who is trying to dig themselves out of a pretty deep hole.
Myself I hit rock bottom about a couple years ago and Ive been fighting ever since to regain any sense of pride, hapiness and purpose that I once had and two years later I am only beginning to see the results and it will probably take me another 3-5 years to accomplish this.
Pardon me but I reallydont see what you have to offer that would change someones life so drastically.
I hope you prove me wrong though!
edit: off topic, does the quote function work for you guys? i click on it and nothing happens
I like what you're doing, I'm just curious what happens if the candidate makes the best effort and you fail them.
Edit: Never mind this is a little over the top.
City/Country: New York state, USA Age/Gender 20/ male Where you want to be in 5 years time- Working in finance, front office, good bank (bb or mm). Be in a healthy relationship with an eye towards starting a family.
What you've tried so far- Currently attend a lower tier ivy, have to overcome low gpa and poor networking skills. Joined relevant clubs, improved study habits and course selection.
Confirm that you can skype and have disposable funds to invest in yourself- Have a tech internship,enough for spending money
Confirm you're not in some depressive slump thinking that nothing ever works out for you- Not me.
Are you sure you're hitting the quote button and not the reply button?
i quit already
Starting to look like a dating profile thread -_-
Not quite yet. We need the one person to post a shirtless pic of themselves before its gone that far.
Looking forward to this.
haha trazer what are you doing bro? these comments are making me sad as fuck.
Are you trying to be a life coach? I could be wrong but I think they have those already...
Honest question: what makes you qualified to be trusted to completely revamp someone's life? Someone who would agree to this is probably very vulnerable so it just seems like people should know who they're about to be listening to about [presumably] serious life changes?
Yea, I'd be hesitant to be the guinea pig here. It's hard to take a 20-something life coach seriously
I'd post here... except that my life is awesome.
Sometimes you get what you pay for. Life makeover for free? Call me skeptical about the results.
I think people who have nothing to lose would give it a try. I would definitely sign up for this in a heartbeat if it was 2009. I follow his posts and find them quite informative and useful.
Agree with the skeptics in the thread, I would be too based on the information available. Will post more details and give you a little more clarity on why I think this is a good idea for me. I finally understand my edge on this planet. I am exceptionally good at 2 things: absorbing information from all areas of life and storing it for later use. and understanding how systems work. I believe these both stem from having an autistic brain. I spent the first 20 years of my life reading nothing but fact books, how things work, inside a jet engine etc. and being able to memorise a huge amount. I'm therefore pretty good at understanding why things happen, and then optimising the process based on the inputs and desired outputs.
Over the past year, I've started to get a lot of random pm's/emails asking for help in various areas. I've helped out quite a few people, online and offline, in individual aspects of their life, with a slightly unique way of going about the changes, be it in getting a job in a field they want, the girl they want (doesnt always end the way it was planned at the start, most frequently they've ended up happy with someone else) or being a lot closer to the person they want to be (i.e. they wanted a social life and to be more active, so I pick a range of sports/activities in their area that fit their target demographic and get them to try a few and pick even fewer to keep up). These changes are typically low risk high reward investments (not risking anything they don't have, e.g. asking out a random girl in the street instead of their best friend, or applying to jobs they dont want (trust me on this one), and wouldnt have considered applying to anyway. The reason I added the non depressed criteria is I want someone who isn't that vulnerable, just wanting to give alternative methods a shot. The changes are serious, but it would be a strange person that considered them as having bad consequences. I like to think of it as a life arbitrage, a little investment in the infrastructure and you can take the low risk rewards (i'm a quant prop, it's my nature).
However, this has usually been done on friends/people that have sought me out, so thats a very filtered sample already, I want to find out a few things:
The scale of demand for this. 10 people? 100? fat tail? The range of issues to be addressed. I've seen about a dozen different examples in different areas, but from a filtered sample. Is what I'm good at fixing a narrow range of the issues people have, or are have all bases been covered? Do they vary from country to country?
My end goal is to turn this into a saleable guide on this site. Consider this product testing and advertising which explains why:
Yes, in life you usually get what you pay for, but as Mr Zuckerberg once said, if you aren't paying for a product, you are the product. In this case, I would normally have to pay for product testing and advertising. Both of which your choice allows me to get for free.
I can't guarantee success, and its caveat emptor on the results. If you don't want to do something, I can't make you do it, it's more about optimising the preparation in building you up to be the person capable of getting what you want from life, whatever that is. If you're going after an exceptionally niche field in any of the areas of life mentioned above, it is possible that i could "fuck things up" for you (more likely my methods won't work, if you're doing a science related field that can only be done at 3 companies in the world, I'm no use to you), but the safety on that is that if i'm out of my area of expertise, i won't take you on. the risk here is more if you follow my advice without me knowing your situation. I'm confident that I wont fuck up the guinea pigs life, but after that, its the same with any advice, don't buy what you dont understand.
hope this clears a few things up
T
Dear T, all other candidates and readers, Firstly, I think this is a great post and something that seemed a little too good to be true, so lets see.
Below are my answers to the questions.
City/Country where you are now. Age/Gender./education (resume is fine).
I am a 22 y.o. guy from Estonia (this explains the grammatical errors:)). I went to a very good secondary school in Estonia and started my first business when in high school. I though I was THE MAN and was quite arrogant. As I am pretty smart, I got away with it, for some time at least. I applied to Oxford, got to the interview but didn’t apply myself to learn what to do when at the interview and I did not get in. That was a big blow for me. I got into Glasgow university, though, but instead of going I got a lot of pressure from my girlfriend and parents to stay in Estonia for university. I was stupid enough to meet their expectations, so I went to an Estonian university to study Politics, minored in Economics. When I got to university I was amazed by the low level of education that the school provided and of some of my peers’ educational level, so I thought I have to do something extra to stand out. I did two things: 1. I made a goal of finishing university in 2 years instead of 3. 2. I made a goal to make money and become an entrepreneur while in university. During my first year, I started working as a real estate broker (applied to 10+ places until one place finally let a student to try it out). I worked there for some time until I started my own real estate company to cater more to the needs of students (the company only let me work in real estate for sale but in that city most of the money was in real estate for rent, which I focused on with my own company). We were doing fine with the company but then I went to the US for a summer program (door-to-door sales 80h/week). I though I can manage the company from far away, which in retrospect turned out to be a really bad idea and we failed. While selling, I had half my mind back in Estonia and I wasn’t focused enough which meant I was also a very average sales person. Second year of university, I continued to try to become rich :). I imported some electronics and tried to sell them to the biggest retail electronics’ sellers in Estonia, which was hard but I managed to sell a little. Soon enough, I found that the market for niche electronics is so small that maybe it was not such a good idea. I managed to finish my undergraduate in two years but my GPA was 2.44/5 (while working all the time I could not keep it up). I went back to the States with the same summer program but was average again (the confidence wasn’t there, I guess). And then in the fall I started working in Big 4 audit in Estonia to familiarize myself with the finance sector. Soon enough I understood that all the people’s exit opportunities were in Estonia and I did not want to wake up in my 30s working as an accountant for some Estonian company, so now, this Sunday, I’m taking a leap. I’m going to London and try to find a job most likely in financial sales but could do other things as well, I’m also a late applicant to UK undergraduate programs (thinking of studying math), as I thought it is a good idea to have a solid UG gpa from a good school finally. Plan is to do 1 year in a tier 2 university and then apply to some better ones for next fall. (i’m open for suggestion to not go to uni again, as well).
Where you want to be in 5 years time. (not just career).
That is a big question as I believe that I have not made such good decisions before. What’s certain is I’ve wanted to become an entrepreneur since when I was in high school and I’ve also wanted to get a degree from a very good university to compete with the best kids in the world. Physically I want to weigh 78 kg like I did when I was in high school, man was I in great shape. I want to be sociable, to have an international scope of friends who believe I’m ambitious and smart. A girlfriend would be nice, I mean I’ve dated some very hot girls but as I’ve been unable to make my dreams come true in other fields of my life which resulted in a losing confidence that was felt also in my personal relationships, so honestly I’ve been dumped a couple of times in last 2 years, one of them was very ugly. But still, having a GF would be quite nice. I want to have some proficiency in martial arts (I want to be able to defend myself better). I would like an Aston Martin :) and drive with it in the Alps (have had this one the first time I saw a James Bond movie). I’m also interested in investment management and thinking of doing a CFA this winter. Maybe that could be my chosen field as well. I guess my dreams are pretty vague but I hope that by working with you I can get some clarity in this as well.
What you've tried so far.
I’ve actually had many positive tries in changing myself. Until I was 14 I was a little fat and lazy. Then I started playing basketball, got very good at it, was passionate. I unfortunately could not become a basketball player but I changed myself a lot and was happy for that. Until I was 18, I was lacking confidence with people and especially with girls. I had not been on any dates, could not talk to girls at all and did not have many friends. Then I stated reading a lot of books (“The Game”, etc) and started religiously practicing my social skills, dressing better, etc and soon enough I was dating the hottest girl in my grade and was one of the best in giving speeches (in university and in high school). I also had a wide network of people I knew, this change was pretty amazing.
Confirm that you can skype and have disposable funds to invest in yourself. I can skype and I have €5000 to spend on my education at the moment.
Confirm you're not in some depressive slump thinking that nothing ever works out for you.
I believe that something will work for me, I mean, I have to believe, but sometimes I feel like changing my life is not so easy this time as it has been before. (sorry, but I guess that for people to try this out – going public with their problems, they have to have had some loss of confidence in their own way of doing things, so I believe that maybe some of the people that answer this question just saying that they are not in some slump are either lying to themselves or they actually do not need any help – no offence to previous posters). I’d say I have some kind of slump but not a very depressive one, other wise why would I take on the London idea and why would I be posting all of this here?
Also, T, you said you want to try your approach with people who are different from the people you’ve socialized with. I believe I am a little different: different country, a little different story, some of the problems with me have not been problems of skill but problems of making better decisions. I know this was long but I thought you needed more information to base your choice on. Actually, I have much more to share that could benefit you in helping me out but then no one would have read this :)
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