8 ms·
I once was interviewing for an internship at a quant firm in Chicago (I was in my Sophomore year I think at UIUC) and my interview went pretty well up to the po
by nameless912 3y ago
I once was interviewing for an internship at a quant firm in Chicago (I was in my Sophomore year I think at UIUC) and my interview went pretty well up to the point of my second-last interview of the day.
Then, I sat down with the VP of engineering, and he opened the interview with "so, what do you think it is we do here?" And I naturally stuttered through a canned answer about how they use arbitrage opportunities in the market to profit off of mis-priced securities, etc. Then he asked me, "but what benefit do we provide? Why is working here good for society?"
I blanked, and didn't answer for about 15 seconds. Then, I tried to start piecing together an answer until he stopped me, told me he had found my Facebook, and wasn't appreciative of my politics (I was moderately lefty in high school, significantly more so now; maybe this conversation is part of why). He had _printouts_ of some posts I had made criticizing George W. Bush, talking about why I thought we should be raising taxes on higher earners, supporting Obamacare, etc. He told me that he didn't think I had the "cojones to stomach the job" (direct quote), and told the recruiter not to bother with the last interview and that I had failed.
I _sobbed_ on the train home; I think it was the worst I had ever felt about an interview in my entire life, and yet looking back at it, I think this was the best possible outcome. Imagine if I had worked for this asshole.
I've worked for companies I don't personally agree with in the past; it's part of living in a society(TM). I am able to hold my nose to a certain extent to make an income for my family (heck, I am currently having to cross picket lines to come to work, which makes me feel icky). But I can't fathom what hell I would have been living under had I gotten and taken that job.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- Pound5260 3y agoThis comment has a lot of support (and indeed was a shitty interview experience) but the one mentioning the interviewer asking if they voted for Trump due being born in a red state it's crickets. It's ok to be shitty, as long as you do it in a politically correct context.
- eachro 3y agoWhich firm was this?
- nameless912 3y agoI don't remember at this point to be honest, this was like...10 years ago? But this moment is seared in my mind.
- allo37 3y agoI'm curious what the answer was. I've read plenty about how the boutique finance sector is basically a parasite that only benefits a small cohort of already wealthy individuals, would like to hear what the other side has to say.
- gsuuon 3y agoI think the value add of the speculative markets is (in theory) that people make predictions of what will be valuable -- if they're right they earn and if not they lose out. In effect, it's market research expressed as bets. That information can have utility but my opinion is that our current setup probably over rewards this sort of work.
- nameless912 3y agoRight? Like, I tried really hard to prepare a very neutral answer focusing on taking advantage of arbitrage and fixing over- or under-priced securities, which I think is the closest thing to a benefit you could come up with. And that apparently wasn't good enough for this guy.
- nvm0n2 3y agoHe was checking if you understand what the actual benefits of trading firms are to the wider market participants. I've never worked in trading and even I know the answer to that: he was looking for a discussion of the value of liquidity and price discovery. Sounds like you gave an answer that didn't mention that at all, and may have presented the firm as merely taking advantage of other people's mistakes to make profit. Clearly that's not how he saw it, and the VP correctly guessed from your social media that you may not actually have understood the part of the finance industry that you were applying to work for. The question was to check whether you'd actually be enthusiastic about the work you were doing and you did indeed fail it. This would be like if you turned up at Google and an interviewer said, "What do we do here" and you said "exploit data to profit from people's ignorance" and when they gave you a second chance you couldn't answer. Frankly you can't get a job at most firms if you can't explain why you think the company should exist.
- 3y ago
- hw-guy 3y agoI have a friend in a similar business who was honest enough to admit that his impact on society was "likely negative, at best neutral," but it was a comfortable living.
- strikelaserclaw 3y agoShould have been honest and said "You contribute nothing to society"
- version_five 3y agoWhat a loser. I probably align more with him than you politically, but I don't go around berating internship candidates about it, it's no way for an adult to behave whatever your politics. Whenever I have shitty experience like that I always think of the James Bond movie Quantum of Solace, there's some part where somebody doesn't deliver and the bad guy loses out, and upon being told he lost something valuable, he says "not as valuable as knowing who to trust". Like you say, it was a bad experience but actually the best possible information you could have gotten.
- dekhn 3y agoI asked this exact question ("what is the net benefit of currency arbitrage") and nobody has been able to articulate is. Stock markets, I can see- they existed and exist to share risk and profit. But shorting and arbitrage, it's much harder for me to understand those. (and yes, that VP was a sociopath)
- jpmoral 3y agoRe: shorting. If people who believe a company is undervalued are allowed to trade based on that belief then people who believe a company is overvalued should be allowed to do the same.
- dekhn 3y agoAre shorting and longing symmetric? IE, do they influence the market in the same way? They seem much more complicated than straightforward stock purchase and fractional ownership.
- jpmoral 3y agoDon't know enough to say but I would guess so.
- hcks 3y agoIn the generic case: Longing == buying a share Shorting == selling a share
- pjacotg 3y agoI'd add to that and say shorting is typically selling a share that you don't own. Which means you need to borrow it from a broker for a fee. There's a securities lending market which revolves around borrowing and lending shares for these reasons.
- nvm0n2 3y agoYes, they're symmetric. Shorting is logistically a bit more complex than going long, but that's not an argument against it. After all, buying stocks is itself more complicated than buying land, and buying land is more complicated than renting, etc.
- gardenhedge 3y agoWow, that's a clear abuse of power and position against someone interviewing.
- wruza 3y agoI’d genuinely ask why the fuck he waited for all these rounds to complete if political cojones scan was mandatory for the job. These last Big Men in Power never fail to deliver the most irrational nonsense you’ve never even thought about.
- i_am_a_peasant 3y agoAs long as you're not some violent extremist/racist who the hell cares which way do you lean politically? o.O I never once asked a workmate who they vote for. Nor will I.
- BizarroLand 3y agoThat's like the devil telling you he won't buy your soul because there's too much light in it.
- white_dragon88 3y ago[dead]