Where do I begin...
For those of you who don't know, Selena took a job offer at RBC in New York doing investment banking (what she was doing previously in Toronto, London and New York). This was such a big decision and it was very exciting when she officially sent in her acceptance! As she was making this decision, I realized my future plans were still up in the air. All big banks hire a year in advance, so if I wanted any chance of working at one of them upon graduation, I would have to start applying ASAP. So last week I went on the U of M website and started applying for some of the job postings by banks for full-time positions next fall. I sent in an application to HSBC, RBC and TD for various positions. My first email back was from HSBC on Friday the 16th, saying I had made it to the assessment round. This was for a job in Commercial Banking, not my first choice, but an option none the less. I completed the 1 hour online assessment and within a day had been contacted to do a phone interview. I set this up for Sept. 27th.
Then I got an email from TD on Monday the 19th to do a phone interview for an investment banking position. This in itself is crazy, because I have had NO prior work experience in investment banking, and after talking to people in the industry, it is rare that they hire students who haven't had any summer or co-op terms. The downside to this great email - they wanted to interview me in a few short hours. At this point I knew nothing about the job and the interviews for this position are notorious for eating you alive. Well thankfully Selena knows all things investment banking, so we dropped everything and she tried to teach me as much as she could about investment banking in about an hour. For some reason I had a really big peace about it, I wasn't nervous, and I felt pretty confident going into it. I had also been praying a lot, knowing that if God didn't want me to get this job he would not let me get to 2nd round interviews.
Let's just say that this will go down as THE WORST interview of all time. It was like pulling teeth, a train wreck, scratching nails on a chalkboard. Everyone involved just wanted it to end (including Selena who was listening through the wall). I did pretty well with the personality and fit questions, but completely failed on the technical questions. I had no problem telling them when I didn't know something, but instead of moving on (which is what you would expect) they just kept digging deeper into the unknown! My feeling after the interview was that it was more of a tutorial instead of an interview. They just sat there teaching me and helping me get through the answers, it was like they wanted me to understand it. If I was them I would have just given up on me. Well after 45 grueling minutes, the interview ended and they said they would contact me about 2nd round as soon as they finished with in person interviews at the U of M the next day. Selena burst into the room and we were on the ground laughing. It was all we could do at that point. It was all just too hilarious.
After the interview I received an email from RBC Global Markets requesting a phone interview as well. I set one up for Tuesday evening, thinking it couldn't get any worse than TD. This interview went better. It was more based on markets and my opinion then on specific technicals. He also said he would get back to me about the next step. After I got off the phone I had an email from my interviewer at TD, who asked if I would be able to stay up for a few more hours as he was caught in a meeting. I agreed, wondering why he couldn't just put me out of my misery over email. He finally called at around 1am (remember the time difference), and gave me some feedback on the interview. He said as nicely as he could that my technicals were a bit rusty. He had somehow looked past that though and wanted me to come in for 2nd round interviews. TD would be giving me an all expenses paid trip to Toronto for the weekend. WHAT. It's not like I sucked and was from Toronto and could come in for free, or that I was even in Winnipeg, they were flying me in from across the world. This was definitely a God thing. I got off this call, went to bed (because I had a presentation in my 8:30 class the next morning, which we killed), and then Wednesday night booked my flight to Toronto.
In the midst of all of this planning, I received an email from the RBC investment banking division, who also wanted to set up a phone interview. This was getting a bit ridiculous. I told them I would be MIA for most of the next day because I would be flying to Toronto. They said that was no problem, they could wait until 8pm on Thursday evening, 10 minutes after I would be getting to my hotel. Perfect.
Thursday rolled around, I packed my bag, packed Selena's investment banking book and left for the airport. I spent the next 8 hours on the plane learning everything I could about investment banking (and every so often talked to my seat neighbour, who grew up in Winnipeg, went to U of M, moved to the states recently and is best friends with Teemu Selanne's wife).
To say the least, my week of job searching opened up way more doors than I ever would have thought. The best door that was opened however, was the one by TD. Stay tuned for my trip to Toronto...
For those of you who don't know, Selena took a job offer at RBC in New York doing investment banking (what she was doing previously in Toronto, London and New York). This was such a big decision and it was very exciting when she officially sent in her acceptance! As she was making this decision, I realized my future plans were still up in the air. All big banks hire a year in advance, so if I wanted any chance of working at one of them upon graduation, I would have to start applying ASAP. So last week I went on the U of M website and started applying for some of the job postings by banks for full-time positions next fall. I sent in an application to HSBC, RBC and TD for various positions. My first email back was from HSBC on Friday the 16th, saying I had made it to the assessment round. This was for a job in Commercial Banking, not my first choice, but an option none the less. I completed the 1 hour online assessment and within a day had been contacted to do a phone interview. I set this up for Sept. 27th.
Then I got an email from TD on Monday the 19th to do a phone interview for an investment banking position. This in itself is crazy, because I have had NO prior work experience in investment banking, and after talking to people in the industry, it is rare that they hire students who haven't had any summer or co-op terms. The downside to this great email - they wanted to interview me in a few short hours. At this point I knew nothing about the job and the interviews for this position are notorious for eating you alive. Well thankfully Selena knows all things investment banking, so we dropped everything and she tried to teach me as much as she could about investment banking in about an hour. For some reason I had a really big peace about it, I wasn't nervous, and I felt pretty confident going into it. I had also been praying a lot, knowing that if God didn't want me to get this job he would not let me get to 2nd round interviews.
Let's just say that this will go down as THE WORST interview of all time. It was like pulling teeth, a train wreck, scratching nails on a chalkboard. Everyone involved just wanted it to end (including Selena who was listening through the wall). I did pretty well with the personality and fit questions, but completely failed on the technical questions. I had no problem telling them when I didn't know something, but instead of moving on (which is what you would expect) they just kept digging deeper into the unknown! My feeling after the interview was that it was more of a tutorial instead of an interview. They just sat there teaching me and helping me get through the answers, it was like they wanted me to understand it. If I was them I would have just given up on me. Well after 45 grueling minutes, the interview ended and they said they would contact me about 2nd round as soon as they finished with in person interviews at the U of M the next day. Selena burst into the room and we were on the ground laughing. It was all we could do at that point. It was all just too hilarious.
After the interview I received an email from RBC Global Markets requesting a phone interview as well. I set one up for Tuesday evening, thinking it couldn't get any worse than TD. This interview went better. It was more based on markets and my opinion then on specific technicals. He also said he would get back to me about the next step. After I got off the phone I had an email from my interviewer at TD, who asked if I would be able to stay up for a few more hours as he was caught in a meeting. I agreed, wondering why he couldn't just put me out of my misery over email. He finally called at around 1am (remember the time difference), and gave me some feedback on the interview. He said as nicely as he could that my technicals were a bit rusty. He had somehow looked past that though and wanted me to come in for 2nd round interviews. TD would be giving me an all expenses paid trip to Toronto for the weekend. WHAT. It's not like I sucked and was from Toronto and could come in for free, or that I was even in Winnipeg, they were flying me in from across the world. This was definitely a God thing. I got off this call, went to bed (because I had a presentation in my 8:30 class the next morning, which we killed), and then Wednesday night booked my flight to Toronto.
In the midst of all of this planning, I received an email from the RBC investment banking division, who also wanted to set up a phone interview. This was getting a bit ridiculous. I told them I would be MIA for most of the next day because I would be flying to Toronto. They said that was no problem, they could wait until 8pm on Thursday evening, 10 minutes after I would be getting to my hotel. Perfect.
Thursday rolled around, I packed my bag, packed Selena's investment banking book and left for the airport. I spent the next 8 hours on the plane learning everything I could about investment banking (and every so often talked to my seat neighbour, who grew up in Winnipeg, went to U of M, moved to the states recently and is best friends with Teemu Selanne's wife).
To say the least, my week of job searching opened up way more doors than I ever would have thought. The best door that was opened however, was the one by TD. Stay tuned for my trip to Toronto...
No comments:
Post a Comment