Had a "fit" interview with MD of ECM...Takeaways and Concerns

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Isn't a good thing that you would not work for a firm that would think less of you for your faith?

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If you otherwise fit in, I don't think this would be an issue or really even noticed. I would ask "Why Hebrew" too and probably think it was a cool answer. Always good to be well-rounded, would keep it on your resume

I would take it as a good sign - means something on your resume managed to pique his interest. Hebrew’s an unusual language to study so it stands out that you’re doing it.

I'm Jewish as well and its come up during some informational/ coffee interviews for the exact same reasons as yours. Pretty rare when it comes up, but it has. I would say:

1) It should not hurt your chances. This isn't 1930 anymore.

2) If it does, would you want to work with people that backwards thinking anyway?

You're definitely overthinking it. But if by some far off chance you aren't, you dodged a bullet anyway. Don't stress and keep plugging away.

enterthemonkey:

If you check my recent threads I posted how I pulled a hail mary and reached out to MDs last week and all of this week handing out a research report on an industry and a related company.

I didn't include my resume when I reached out to this one MD. Fast forward and I followed up, he replied asking to meet and to provide my resume. I agree to a day two days from the convo and attached my resume to the email.

Fast forward to today (2 days passed) and we had a solid "fit" interview. Standard questions: why IB? Why x school? Why x report? Tell me about this specific time and how you handled it, etc.

Then he asked me about one of my extracurriculars that I wrote at the bottom of my resume. I wrote "currently learning hebrew". So he asked me "Why Hebrew?"

I was rather fluid wirh my reaction so I naturally responded and I said that I wanted to connect with my heritage and my roots since I'm Jewish after all, and I also wanted the challenge of learning a new language. After this I quickly switched and mentioned how I plan on learning Mandarin afterwords as well.

Overall I thought the interview went well since he said "I'll talk to the partners and we'll see when we can get you in to talk to them" after we had a fluid conversation and back and forth with each other.

The only thing that's throwing me off is the fact that he asked the question and that all the MDs at this specific boutique are WASPs (not that there is something inherently bad about that, but usually I see at least a Jew or two listed but not in this firm). On the other hand he should have known I was Jewish prior to the meeting because I wrote of an extracurricular involvement I had volunteering for a Jewish initiative on my resume, but he could have also NOT read that part either and skipped it accidentally.

Long story short for some reason I feel like I shouldn't have mentioned that I'm Jewish and I feel I could have ruined my chances because I put "currently learning Hebrew". Am I over thinking this?

Yeah, you’re over thinking this. Not sure why.

This was a serious concern back in 1918, but I think we're good now in 2018 for Jewish backgrounds....

However, if you're really into studying hard core Islam, I could see how that might rub some people the wrong way at a WASPy institution....

Lmfao Ive gotta get my chair out, sit my arse down and wait for more comments on how much of a moron OP is.

Seriously tho OP, Jewish people are among the most beautiful people I’ve met. Stop worrying bout na-ting

Hopefully nobody who interviewed you reads WSO. That story is pretty specific.