Those places are so culturally fake its unbelievable. It's great to have the name on your resume, but man, if I hear one more script read that goes along the lines of "We're great because of our people..." and how "our clients need our expertise now more than ever," I am going to shit my pants. Why can't people just act more naturally? And cut through the bullshit? If anyone finds a company that gives an info session by saying "We are looking for smart people who get shit done. The end," please send me a message and tell me who said that. I'd love to work for them...

 
Best Response

While I agree that some people at the banks and many prospective kids even more-so are quite fake, I don't think that's indicative of the general whole. First off, realize that these presentations, etc. are for marketing. If you go to Wharton and tell everyone things are in deep shit, what value are you adding? The smart ones know this already, so all that you do is make it seem as if you have no faith in your own company.

I also agree that I seem to see it much worse at the BBs. At the boutiques that come to recruit, the people know each other personally, and they joke around and seem to have a collegial professional relationship with one another. I know "collegial" gets thrown around, so let me reiterate: the senior bankers seamlessly knew the junior analyst's backgrounds and talked together. It was clear that they work closely together quite often.

I think the pawn the whole thing off as fake is naive, though. A bank is a collection of people: sometimes a large sub set, maybe smaller. Now these people do share some common characteristics, but at the end of the day, there will be some of those that are "fake". But chances are good you'll meet a lot of people who are just decent human beings doing what they enjoy or what they believe is best for them. And that's a rant you can take to the bank!

 
Alphaholic:
While I agree that some people at the banks and many prospective kids even more-so are quite fake, I don't think that's indicative of the general whole. First off, realize that these presentations, etc. are for marketing. If you go to Wharton and tell everyone things are in deep shit, what value are you adding? The smart ones know this already, so all that you do is make it seem as if you have no faith in your own company.

I also agree that I seem to see it much worse at the BBs. At the boutiques that come to recruit, the people know each other personally, and they joke around and seem to have a collegial professional relationship with one another. I know "collegial" gets thrown around, so let me reiterate: the senior bankers seamlessly knew the junior analyst's backgrounds and talked together. It was clear that they work closely together quite often.

I think the pawn the whole thing off as fake is naive, though. A bank is a collection of people: sometimes a large sub set, maybe smaller. Now these people do share some common characteristics, but at the end of the day, there will be some of those that are "fake". But chances are good you'll meet a lot of people who are just decent human beings doing what they enjoy or what they believe is best for them. And that's a rant you can take to the bank!

Yeah, I am exaggerating a bit for sure - I have had conversations with more junior people (the most useful are when they have current students that interned last summer at these events) where it doesn't seem so "fake." Still though, doesn't a question like "Why A?" just seem pointless? Both you AND the interviewer know that you are also trying to get jobs at all of the competition, as well, so even if you come up with a great answer for "Why A?" you certainly told B and C you love them as well.
 
cdw38:
Yeah, I am exaggerating a bit for sure - I have had conversations with more junior people (the most useful are when they have current students that interned last summer at these events) where it doesn't seem so "fake." Still though, doesn't a question like "Why A?" just seem pointless? Both you AND the interviewer know that you are also trying to get jobs at all of the competition, as well, so even if you come up with a great answer for "Why A?" you certainly told B and C you love them as well.

You will do yourself no favors if your answer to "Why A" sounds generic. It looks good to have a reason why that bank in particular is attractive to you.

 

^My thoughts exactly.

Honestly, where does all this bs about "it's about the people" come from? The one thing that annoys me about my BB is exactly that: the people. But that doesn't really matter because we're all there to get shit done and make money, not become best friends forever ffs. I do like that the whole "culture" and "collectivism" ideals don't get shoved down our throats as much as at other BBs.

 

One of my favorite moments was when I went to an on campus presentation at NYU with my BB.

I remember that when I was interviewing, you never brought up anything bad about the company.

My BB had taken a few hits that year in the press. And one of the MBAs came out and directly addressed the issue.

I loved seeing my MD turn bright red in front of all of those NYU grad and undergrad students.

I hated my MD and thought that the grad student had balls. That really cut through all the BS.

------------ I'm making it up as I go along.
 

The point is not that you'd rather work for A than for B. The point is just that they need to see some effort on your side in really trying to get that job. What are they supposed to ask you to write 100 times "I love company A" on a piece of paper and bring it with you to an interview? Instead they just ask you "why our company". I mean, how else are they supposed to differentiate between people who really want that job and are willing to stay in the office until 4am and "the rest" who just applied because they had nothing else to do? Not the best system, I agree, but it works to some extent... I mean honestly, what are they looking for in an ideal candidate? Good academic background (high GPA, good school), some social skills, dedication to hard work, and some knowledge about the markets/business/finance. That's about it.

 

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