What's the point of people giving you their business card during an interview?

When I went through the superday process for BX during summer analyst recruitment, I had my standard set of interviews. About an hour or 2 later, I was called back into the building to interview with senior members of the firm. Without fail, all ~6-7 senior members handed out their business card to me during the interview. 

This is a pretty stupid question, but is there any substance to this action or is it entirely performative? I didn't get the offer but still thought it was interesting that they all did this. All but one didn't reply to thank-you emails either. I'm not sure if their angle was to show that they cared more about their candidates or if it was purely just for show. I've been randomly thinking about this and was curious

3 Comments
 

Bunch of reasons:

  • Not all firms/recruiters give candidates a schedule --> This actually helps you remember whom you met and relevant titles/coverage
  • Similarly, candidates often don't get contact info (particularly if correspondence is all through recruiter), so a business card can indeed help you send thank you notes or follow-ups later
  • Lastly, yeah, presenting a business card is still generally viewed as polite when meeting someone new in-person
 

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