I may have spoken too much in my 1st interview. ,,,
Hello,
I had a first interview meeting today with a hedge fund and I just cannot say if it went well or not.
Here's the setup:
Phone interview, first contact, 1 vs. 3 (HR, Associate, Director of the fund). The fund is $1.2 billion. Specialty distressed debt, from New York. I am interviewed about their energy practice. The interview was supposed to be 30min
We started with the classical questions:
Elevator pitch, explained more or less what I am doing
Some back and forth on the motivations, what I know about the company, how i see the energy sector, what's my interest in it and so on.
And then asked me if I had any questions. I then jumped right in, and asked a ton of questions, their size, their specialty, some questions about if they do any equity investments, their scope, their geography and so on and so forth. ...
More over, the associate spoke more to me than the director, he only asked 2 or 3 questions, and answered my direct questions.
I don't know what to think of it. I am concerned i spoke too much. What do you think?
Any one willing to help me with this ?
What do you need help with? If it went poorly you can't do anything about it now. Learn and move on to the next one.
Of course i'll move on if it didn't go well. It's my first interview with a HE (and my first in the Finance industry at all). I read a lot about it, but I don't know if it didn't overdo it. What I am asking somewhere, is did I in your opinion overdo it.
One thing I learned from my mistakes, don't ask too many questions about the company. That's not what gets you through door. You're there for them to interview yo. Yes, I know it goes both way but they have the upper advantage because you need them, it's not the other way around. You asking questions non-stop will only annoy them. So what you should have done was talk more about yourself and depending on the job description, keep your experience revolving around that and how it can benefit them. Then they will start asking questions because they like what the hear and if they like what they hear, then you all can start having intellectual conversation on stuff that actually matters and turn that into building rapport THEN towards the end, you can go off topic and ask question... My mistake? I talked about my stuff not relating to the job and they didn't know which direction to go to. For example, I was interviewing for Goldman Sachs for their MBS MO position a long time ago after I got laid off and I was desperate... Anyway I kept talking about trading because that is where I came from. After leaving the interview, I was told I was "too front office"... I was appalled and thought it was the dumbest thing I've ever heard. But I guess the stuff I was talking about, it confused the MBS MO managers and they didn't know how to converse with me and probably confused them with my talk.
I've had interviews that was only supposed to last an hour but went hour an half... but thats because the interview went super well and we talked about everything after having our interview. If you get cut short, typically not a good sign but it can be 50-50 because they could have been extremely busy. Ask yourself, did they look bored? Was it awkward towards the end
Never heard of anyone that went into an interview with the deliberate plan to make it last twice as long as scheduled. What makes you think anyone would want to hire a guy that doesnt shut up?
I didn't go with a "deliberate plan". It's just that usually when an interview goes well, the interviewer lets is take a little more time, and I (rightfully or not) take it a positive sign when an interview goes a little later than planned.
Sounds like it didn't go well. Nobody likes someone with verbal diarrhea.
"He who speaks does not know, he who knows does not speak" -- Lao Tzu
To echo what some of the others said here: during an interview, you want to be the one answering the questions.
Yuck - you should have known all of these answers before your interview.
Next time if you don't have any meaningful questions end with something like this -
INTERVIEWER: So do you have any other questions for us? YOU: I think we covered all of my big questions during our conversation. I appreciate your time and want to respect our allotted time-frame. What's the best method of follow up?
Anything like that. Don't ask questions for the sake of asking them. RESPEK THEY TIME FOO!!!
Exactly this. When people say do you have any questions they don't rly mean it. But you have to say something to not be rude. So the best way is just to say some gibberish like this to pass it back. No one actually cares about your questions.
OP - you may have spoken too much. You may not have. There is some good advice on this thread. Since you are new to this stuff, it may be a good idea to incorporate some things into your strategy for subsequent interviews. As you progress and speak to more people you will see what works and get better at it. Like in most things in life. The more you do, the more you learn from mistakes and what works for you.
Take it from someone a bit older, try not to fret or second guess yourself (I am someone who does this as well and am trying to get better at it). The past is the past and it can't be changed. Live, Learn and Move on.
Good Luck
The questions are so specific and so many surprised you were able to draft so many. Definitely pick 3 max next time. Then its ok to say, "I think you answered the big things on my mind. Thanks!"
.
in the future, when asked "do you have any questions for me?" i would suggest you asking for their opinion on an investment / trade....ie...i'm looking at xyz trade for abc reasons....this what i'm thinking...what do you think?
If someone asks if you have any questions, you definitely need to ask something- just don't drag it out unnecessarily. If you don't, you'll look very disinterested in the role- I've interviewed someone like this and it looks terrible. Try to ask one or two intelligent questions that you are genuinely curious about.
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