The Way of the Wall Street Warrior. Dave Liu

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СКАЧАТЬ co-founder of Elevation Partners and former senior managing director at Blackstone. He says it gives him insight into what a person thinks is important to know about themselves and gives him an opportunity to gauge potential fit. Of course, many a fool has answered this question by going on too long, repeating their resume, being a bore, or unveiling something about themselves that should have been kept secret. If you do get this one, remember that form is more important than substance. You've already made it this far because you have the quals. Now it's time to show them you have the energy and gusto. That's how you'll win the audition.Lauren Wu, former equity analyst and CFO of venture capital at J&W Seligman and Merrill Lynch banker, says it's important to be proud of your accomplishments and make it clear you deserve the job. She adds that women tend to say “We” when talking about accomplishments, while men tend to say “I.” She suggests that women candidates say “I” more often.Alexandra Lebenthal, senior advisor at Houlihan Lokey and former CEO of Lebenthal Holdings, adds that women can be their own worst enemy. “I think in many cases, we can have a tendency to feel like we aren't qualified. People joke that if there are four qualifications for a new job, a woman will think she needs six while a man will feel like he is in good shape with two. We cannot be afraid to take on new challenges; women shouldn't back down from pursuing their passions.”

       Tell me something no one knows about you.OK, this can be really dangerous, so be prepared for variations of this question, like “Tell me something that isn't on your resume” or “If I Googled you, what would be on the back pages?” Here are some suggested answers that should keep you in the game:Volunteer something you think your interviewer and you may have in common, perhaps a hobby not on your resume or an interest that seems geeky but makes you appear multidimensional. For me, it was always about being a cartoonist—the Chinese Stan Lee!Another good option is to talk about an aspect of yourself that isn't on your resume or cover letter but will make you even better suited for the job. For me, it was my skills in COBOL, an archaic programming language designed in the 1950s. Jefferies was actually using a COBOL mainframe system for doing securitizations and I fit the bill of being a perfect grunt to take it over.

One important reminder concerning these commonly asked questions:

      DON'T BE BORING! Put yourself in the shoes of your interviewer, who has spent all day listening to people just like you drone on and on about their achievements, why they want the job, what makes them great, blah, blah, blah. After a half-dozen of these, any sane person thinks about jumping out the nearest window. So be entertaining. Use what you've learned from the zeitgeist and from collecting dirt on your interviewer's interests. Take the conversation wherever they want but be prepared to gossip about other topics. Try to be a Renaissance person, equally adept at discoursing about FDR, the FDIC, or Jay-Z.

      Over the years, I've forgotten the details of almost every interview. However, one I remember vividly had nothing to do with the job for which we were hiring. We were both from Texas, and once this candidate found out I was a Houston Rockets fan, we spent half the interview talking about how bringing Clyde “The Glide” Drexler to Houston mid-season in 1995 was the greatest trade in NBA history. Finding a Rockets fan in L.A. surrounded by Laker bandwagoners was like finding a hundred-dollar bill stuck to the bottom of my shoe. It made my day.

      Finally, when interviewing, beware of the hot-cold empathy gap, which states that we act differently when in different psychological states. Hot cognition, initially proposed in the 1960s by Yale University psychologist Robert P. Abelson, is the theory that a person's thinking is influenced by their emotional state. It contrasts with cold cognition, in which the processing of information is motivated by facts and intellectual judgment, independent of emotional involvement. Since hot cognition is led by emotion and often leads to rapid, automatic decision-making, it may cause biased and low-quality conclusions. (It's why you should never, ever make financial decisions while getting busy with your significant other. You're liable to break the bank.) So during the interview process, make sure you're cool, calm, and collected when an assignment is suddenly sprung on you.

      Overall, interview questions can be perplexing. Living in Silicon Valley has exposed me to a whole different array of crazy questions from wacko tech people trying to outdo each other:

       On a scale of 1 to 10, how weird are you?

       What do you know is true but no one else agrees?

       What is your superpower or animal spirit?

      Some questions may be more reasonable, like the one Rick Heitzmann, founder of the venture capital firm FirstMark and former Houlihan Lokey banker, uses to evaluate candidates: “What are three things you love in either your business or personal life, and three things you hate?” He feels that the answers give him a good idea of the candidate's strengths and weaknesses.

My favorite interview question comes from Harry Nelis, former Goldman Sachs banker and now partner at the venture capital firm Accel. He asks all his prospective hires, “Do you consider yourself to be an intuitive person?” Then Harry follows with his trump card: “You say you're intuitive, so what do I think about you?”

      Saturday night is the big switcheroo—the reverse selling, as you're treated to an expensive meal and some form of entertainment. This is all for show. It'll be years before you're treated like this again, so starting Sunday, get used to raiding the office fridge weekdays at midnight for eight-week-old yogurt.

      But there is a meaning behind this madness. The firm wants to see how you interact with its brass—specifically, if you're fun to hang out with. Don't have too much fun. Do I even have to say this? Don't get drunk. Many a great candidate has lost an offer by acing the day's interviews and then, at night, vomiting on a senior banker's shoes.

      Key Takeaways

       Play the broken affinity bias record: It's all about connections.

       Get ready for multiple rounds of interviews where cultural fit is key.

       Practice and rehearse your interview, especially the gotcha questions.

       Beware the hot-cold empathy gap, where we act differently when in different psychological states.

Notes

      1 1 Seriously, are you that hopeless? One good rule of thumb is to pretend the interviewer is the hottest guy or gal you've ever seen and no one else on the entire planet exists. You're Eve, they're Adam, and the future of the human race depends on you acing this interview.

      2 2 Judith Rich Harris, The Nature Assumption. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-sep-12-me-22017-story.html

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