Job Interviews and thank you letters.

[MC3521]

I had a job interview with a major investment bank the other day. I actually had about five interviews with a total of ten people within the company; not including initial screening interviews.

Who do I send thank you emails to? Everyone that I interviewed with gave me a business card, but I don't know if that is just common practice or they actually want to stay in touch. Usually I only have interviews with a supervisor and then a more thorough interview with a manager etc..

 

[Rhood]

Type one letter and send a blind carbon copy (BCC) to everyone's email address.

 

[RTR ATL]

Can't answer your question, but I'd like to know more about how it goes. I'm a junior studying Finance and I-Banking seems lucrative.

 

[Squirting Gun]

Send the DM of the operation a thank you letter that was mistakenly meant to be sent to the GM or CEO. That will confuse them enough to hire the shit outta you.

 

[Henry Huggins]

on a related topic, i'm in charge of hiring an intern for summer. honestly, anyone friendly can do the job but I can either hire a real hot piece of ass that is somewhat qualified or a not hot piece of ass who is qualified. what to do?

 

[MC3521]

Can't answer your question, but I'd like to know more about how it goes. I'm a junior studying Finance and I-Banking seems lucrative.

Yeah, the pay starts out shitty but gets better after training.

Intense interviews though. We never discussed banking, securities, trusts, etc...just weird behavioral questions. Total interview time including HR was about 4 hrs...factoring in phone screening etc...

"What would you do in this type of situation?"...three hours of that type of question.
My bro has been doing mutual funds and has worked as an economist for large funds ,and the money isn't in investment banking so much. The proof is what the position I applied for...low 40k with bonus. This is a huge bank.

I think the "glamour" of investment banking is gone because I walked down Wall Street not to long ago and it was dead. Even downtown where Goldman Sachs is...shit loads of bars were closing up.

 

[RTR ATL]

Yeah, the pay starts out shitty but gets better after training.

Intense interviews though. We never discussed banking, securities, trusts, etc...just weird behavioral questions. Total interview time including HR was about 4 hrs...factoring in phone screening etc...

"What would you do in this type of situation?"...three hours of that type of question.
My bro has been doing mutual funds and has worked as an economist for large funds ,and the money isn't in investment banking so much. The proof is what the position I applied for...low 40k with bonus. This is a huge bank.

I think the "glamour" of investment banking is gone because I walked down Wall Street not to long ago and it was dead. Even downtown where Goldman Sachs is...shit loads of bars were closing up.

Ouch. That sounds kind of rough. I haven't fully decided what I'd like to do. Investment banking seems hard to break into and obviously can be stressful and require a lot of hours. But, the exit opportunities are appealing. I've still got a little while. Where'd you go to school?

 

[goleta83**]

Do not send an email that's cheap and lazy. No offense. Type a letter, sign it, and hand mail it.

 

[MC3521]

Ouch. That sounds kind of rough. I haven't fully decided what I'd like to do. Investment banking seems hard to break into and obviously can be stressful and require a lot of hours. But, the exit opportunities are appealing. I've still got a little while. Where'd you go to school?

Umass

You have to know someone to break into it, so to speak. But, I got interviews at Goldman Sachs, American Express, State Street, BOA, just from the application process on their respective sites. GS is tough though, really tough. SS, was ok, and AMEX was a breeze...Tougher the interview just means that they are very interested, if not for that position, but maybe for a future opening.

 

[MC3521]

I also want to know if the fact that these people gave me their cards; is that for future networking or just being polite?

 

[RTR ATL]

Umass

You have to know someone to break into it, so to speak. But, I got interviews at Goldman Sachs, American Express, State Street, BOA, just from the application process on their respective sites. GS is tough though, really tough. SS, was ok, and AMEX was a breeze...Tougher the interview just means that they are very interested, if not for that position, but maybe for a future opening.

Seems like networking is the name of the game, no surprise there. Thanks for the information, man. Hope everything works out for you.

 

[RuDOWN4It]

Yeah, the pay starts out shitty but gets better after training.

Intense interviews though. We never discussed banking, securities, trusts, etc...just weird behavioral questions. Total interview time including HR was about 4 hrs...factoring in phone screening etc...

"What would you do in this type of situation?"...three hours of that type of question.
My bro has been doing mutual funds and has worked as an economist for large funds ,and the money isn't in investment banking so much. The proof is what the position I applied for...low 40k with bonus. This is a huge bank.

I think the "glamour" of investment banking is gone because I walked down Wall Street not to long ago and it was dead. Even downtown where Goldman Sachs is...shit loads of bars were closing up.

Umm is this actually investment banking job, or just a division within an investment bank? I'm pretty familiar with the IB and ER sides, and both test pretty heavy on technicals before going into behavioral questions. In fact technicals is used to eliminate people in one of the first stages. Since you said you interviewed with State Street, I'm guessing it's an operation role within asset/wealth management, and not really investment banking.

What round of interviews are you on? I know GS, MS, CS, UBS, and a few other BBs already had their superdays. Either way, it'll be polite to send a thank you email. And you should change it up for each person, since people do share these things. It's awkward when they realize they all got the exact same thing.

 

[MC3521]

Umm is this actually investment banking job, or just a division within an investment bank? I'm pretty familiar with the IB and ER sides, and both test pretty heavy on technicals before going into behavioral questions. In fact technicals is used to eliminate people in one of the first stages. Since you said you interviewed with State Street, I'm guessing it's an operation role within asset/wealth management, and not really investment banking.

What round of interviews are you on? I know GS, MS, CS, UBS, and a few other BBs already had their superdays. Either way, it'll be polite to send a thank you email. And you should change it up for each person, since people do share these things. It's awkward when they realize they all got the exact same thing.

Asset management for all companies I met with. I'd have my own clients and such.

For all places it was one long day of interviews. I met with HR and then the managers and then the senior managers.

Good to know to change it up. Never thought of that. Got my work cut out for me tonight.

 

[Josh]

on a related topic, i'm in charge of hiring an intern for summer. honestly, anyone friendly can do the job but I can either hire a real hot piece of ass that is somewhat qualified or a not hot piece of ass who is qualified. what to do?

What a stupid question.

 

[Henry Huggins]

What a stupid question.

yeah what was i thinking...hot piece of ass it is

 

[RuDOWN4It]

Asset management for all companies I met with. I'd have my own clients and such.

For all places it was one long day of interviews. I met with HR and then the managers and then the senior managers.

Good to know to change it up. Never thought of that. Got my work cut out for me tonight.

Gotcha, that makes sense. Is it a research based role or advisory role?

I've spent a couple years in IB and finance in general, and seen a good share of interviews. Typically thank you notes wouldn't land you a job, but not sending one would certainly hurt you.

 

[Unknown Pleasures]

I never really cared for receiving follow up letters.

If you are inclined to send one, I'd just send it to the person you'd be reporting to.

 

[JuliaB4GSP]

Thank you notes are irrelevant unless someone went out of their way to get you an interview. Don't send emails. Anyone can get an interview at goldman, morgan, Merrill if you went to Cornell, Harvard, Columbia.

 

[irc]

Giving you a business card is standard.

I don't care one bit if I get a thank you card after an interview. I know they say in professional school that you should do this yada yada, but it comes across as totally contrived to me.

 

[PolishHeadlock]

Send them all an e-mail thanking them for their time.

If you can remember something specific you talked about with each of them mention that.

I never heard of anyone sending out physical thank you letters but an e-mail is standard in my industry.

And people do notice who does and who doesn't. Think about what your competition is doing.