Most Frustrating Job Search Stories
So I'll try to be short, but I had an incredibly frustrating story that I need to vent. So before the hardos on here come at me saying "Youre just mad you didnt get the position", let me say that you are completely right and I'll explain why.
I graduated from a small but recognizable lib arts school a few years ago. After doing a brief ER stint, I moved to mid-office at a span bulge bracket solely knowing I would be able to look internally in a year. A year come and goes, with me working my ass off everyday. Staying way later than I should and making every effort I can to be value add, despite my junior level of knowledge.
I have been at the bank for a year and am officially "eligible" for internal mobility. I check the postings everyday and about a month ago notice a ANL level role in the asset finance group, which seems like a perfect fit and opportunity. So I apply and met with the lead for the role. All goes well, and after speaking to someone else on the team, says once interviews start you'll be on top of the list.
Ill pause here to add a bit of background. There is a girl (pretty attractive, similar age/ background) who works in my division who sits near me. Nice girl but lives in her own world. This girl is on her phone texting the ENTIRE DAY. No I swear, the ENTIRE DAY. Let me emphasize that every time I look at, walk past, talk to this girl she is glued to her phone.
I seriously can not fathom how she still has a job. And she is also interested in the role.
So we both at different times speak with the lead of the team. When I spoke with the lead, she made a comment how she really wants a female in the program as all the Analysts are currently dudes. I thought it was a bit out of the blue but turns out I guess gender was a qualification for the role.
Anyway long story short, I had to contact Human Resources to formally get in to interview (remember I had the backing of the team lead, so it was just a matter of getting HR to ok me) and the HR contact ignored multiple calls, emails, and IM messages. Never after 2 weeks heard from the HR lead. She blew me off completely.
The girl who applied for the role gets to bypass HR completely and gets the role.
I know life and particularly the Finance career path is unfair. But when a person who I see who is on their phone the whole day, trys to leave at 5:30, and complains about her role gets the desired position (essentially for being a female) over me, you can imagine the frustration.
Does anyone else have any similar stories? I know a bit long and anti-climatic but I just needed to vent as I was losing my mind here. I feel like everyone deserves one "break" in their life, and I really felt like this was the one, and to lose it to someone who doesnt deserve it is just tough to swallow.
That is fucking sad to hire a person based entirely on gender. I'm in for getting more women into finance because I believe wider range of opinions and different kind of thinking can only benefit the industry. But hiring should and must always be based on competence.
I try to live according to my principles and if I feel that my 100% input is not valued then maybe it's time for taking that input somewhere else. Maybe you should consider that as well.
i used to be like you and support it, except affirmative action is practically impossible to implement. My BB literally implements 50/50 gender quotas, with the female SAs being noticeably less competent than the male SAs.
Sorry to hear this OP, but I feel like the gender thing would have edged you out here.
I feel there would have been pressure on the HR team for there to be 'diversity' in the team.
Personally, I would bite the bullet and just wait until another opportunity pops up in another area - if it truly was just a technicality that ruined it for you, I am sure that the next chance will work out for you.
Alternatively, you could start identifying as a woman, or an Apache helicopter - HR would love one of those for diversity reasons.
Ran for president, but this bitch Crooked Hillary kept getting in my way. Eventually got a guy in my network to putin a good word. Got the job and realized that it wasn't what I thought it was.
*Killary
This brightened my day.
Cue BobTheBaker and @TNA" to have a debate on misogyny in BB IB.
Its really sad to read about it, thats really unfair..
i work at a BB WSO salivates over - the ongoing joke for my group is, as long as a female SA asks for a FT position, she'll automatically get it.
Invited to interview with the same group for SA, FT, and lateral. No offer. You can't feel bad about this stuff when there are so many things out of your control anyway.
Hit the gym, get out of town for a weekend, and consider moving to a new firm. By the time you get back to work on Monday if you're still upset then start the process of lateraling.
oh! felt bad to know what you experienced.
I have a buddy who works in tech sales and he told me that they once had an opening on their team and they were explicitly told by HR that they had to hire a female. To make things even worse he said HR told them that HR would handle the sourcing and that they were not to look for candidates. Whole process took 6 months and they interviewed 5 people, and he said only 2 were even close to being able to do the job. Typical HR not having any sense of urgency.
I am all for getting more women into finance but it has to be done organically. There are plenty of women with the intelligence and drive to work in finance/tech/consulting but for some reason firms can't seem to generate interest.
Well if she can't do her job she probably won't last very long in the group...
You'd be surprised how many firms are pushing for more female candidates in this world of finance. As The Analist said, things play out correctly if the quality is shit. Keep your eyes open just in case it doesn't work out for her.
I have seen this crap on two separate occasions as the little, bubbly, pretty, blond ( or brunette) got the promotion or the internship over far more qualified people. Maybe its little consolation but the end result in both case was karma bit and it bit hard. One girl after getting the promo was quickly fired when she was found napping on the job (oh and she got arrested for selling heavy drugs). The other, quickly lost that ill deserved internship after going on vacation and, being arrested for DWI and...drug possession.
Gentleman: I have to speak up in defense of my gender. You're right- there is such thing as sexism in hiring the "pretty bubbly" female ect. ect. What I'd like to point out is that once hired, many more times than not, that female needs to prove herself for much longer than most males before we move up. We aren't looked at based on "potential" as often as males, and we end up making on average 70% of males. So what happened to OP is wrong, dead wrong. But please don't start putting down 50% of the population. We are just as capable and hardworking as males. There are incompetent females just like there are some snot nosed "bros" who are entitled. It has nothing to do with gender.
At the end of the day, it should go down to whomever is most qualified for the position- think we can all agree on that. Which may or may not have been me (OP) in the end.
My problem is that its not a matter of forcing females into the workforce, its a matter of getting them more interested in it. I think I can vouch for most of the men on here, when I say my Finance classes in college were 90-95% male. And dont give me BS excuses that "well they dont feel accepted in a male dominated industry" because in my marketing and management classes it was predominantly female, or at least split.
Finance is a male dominated field not because of the "patriarchy", its a male dominated field because guys tend to be more interested in it.
Also please dont say that women make 70 cents for every dollar a man makes. There are multiple studies that disprove this. Especially a bank, if you think there is some massive conspiracy theory going on you are wrong. My bank would JUST hire women if they could legally pay them less.
... did you miss the 2016 election campaign season? Both sides were grouping and slicing up decent size portions of the population, but only one side got called out on it.
Agree with most of the rest
Do you even Math, bro? I assume you meant that on average, over 1,000's of different fields and occupations, and avg hours worked(did you know men work significantly more hours than women), that women make 77 cents on the dollar compared to a man. In the statistics this is explained by job choice, and that in specific fields, because it would be crazy to compare and aggregate how much money nurses make than investment bankers(each field respectively has more of one gender). But when you compare men and women in nursing, and then in IB, you get VERY similar pay levels.
The push for diversity is killing the Western world. The fact that most companies are now adopting this is batshit insane.
shoots anti-transphobia missile at thread
I totally understand where you're coming from. It definitely isn't fair that the harder worker isn't being considered for the position. In my experience, it feels like you're at the bottom, like there's nothing else out there, like this was your ONE chance...I assure you, those are all lies. The best is yet to come. I was turned down for my "dream job" after I nailed the interviews, gave them everything they wanted, blah blah blah...they ended up hiring a guy who stole from the company (I'll never forget it - I emailed the HR manager just a few months ago entirely mocking her decision to hire him over me). Two months later I landed a much better position at a MUCH better bank.
I hope you are right, but unfortunately it just doesnt seem like that is the case. Feels like I am spinning my wheels on this job search.
as much as i respect your search, emailing HR is just stupid and immature. Nothing to gain from gloating, and only potential downside from any whiplash
That may have been your experience but it wasn't mine. Quite the contrary actually.
Feeling sad for your bitter experience. Its quite unfair.
An MD gave me a large offer verbally for M&A associate
then retracted offer 2 weeks later as higher director promised an internal hire the position without his knowledge
pretty frustrating
Feeling like this Job Search is an endless merry-go round! (Originally Posted: 02/07/2013)
I'm sure I dont have it that bad, but landing this whole first job thing is a bit overwhelming!
A little about me: I'm in my last semester at a semi-target school in NYC and coming out with a degree in Finance. I've seen people getting offers around me but those where the ones with 3.99 GPAs and enough work experience to make some of these CEOs look a little foolish.
In my last class, which is needed to graduate, people around me (90% of the course) had offers. I always felt that I would need to start applying mid-april (graduating in May) because coming to an interview and saying give me an offer to start in June while this is lets pretend January is foolish. Guess I was very very wrong looking around.
I have my fair share of experience I would presume, I have had 3 stints with 1 BB but this looks like garbage compared to what I see even the mid-size Banks want. I've had plenty of interviews too but nothing worth it, and I'm not too hard to please (these interviews were for 25K or sometimes for a company with 3 employees and with my finance degree my main role was filing). My personal goal is a big well known company because I have always had a fear of boutique firms. I feel that they might be here today and gone tommorow. A big bank like say JP Morgan has deep roots in the ground and I dont think they are as likely to go down that road.
I am on just about every job website but see no tangible results. I would appreciate all the advice and help any one here could provide because I know I am not alone in this search. It's all appreciated.
Thanks!
Instead of thinking of you're downfalls, think of your advantages: -You presumably go to a nationally recognized school. -You have a good business degree (what most would consider Finance, Accounting, or Econ - as opposed to Marketing, Management, or Entrepreneurship) -You're in NYC! You have the ability to meet people, when a firm calls you can go into to talk face-to-face without having to fly out. -You've got a the BB brand on your resume.
Play to your strengths. Keep pounding the pavement and something will come. Best of luck.
Thank you! Much appreciated for the kind words!
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