The luxury called choice

Like the rest of my classmates, I threw in job applications and hoped of the best. I had to decide between two organizations and the decision was much tougher than I could have anticipated. After deep thoughts and due consultations, I made my decision and also made a few discoveries about myself and priorities along the way. Now we can effectively put the issue of job search to rest and move on to more in interesting things.

I am now fully settled in to the business of learning. After the rigors of last Mod, I decided to go for just four classes this mod. I’m taking Corporate Finance, Financial Statements Analysis, Corporate Strategy and Leading & Managing.
Corporate Finance so far has been about Valuation and I’ve had to ‘unlearn’ some of the things I learned in preparation for interviews to digest new materials. (E.g. Free Cashflow vs. NOPLAT in computing Terminal (continuity) Value)
I am enjoying all the classes and for the first time I actually have time to read the supplemental and optional materials that add extra value. I’ve also become more involved in extra curricula and volunteer activities.

My room mate has also received a job offer at a bulge bracket I-Bank and he’s chilling big time. We decided to invest in TiVo to catch up with English Premiership Soccer matches, pop culture and generally keep up with what’s going on in the real world. For the last few months, our idea of relaxation in front of the TV had been watching Power Lunch, Squawk Box, Closing Bell and the likes on CNBC. All that has changed now that Jack is back on 24!

Interview week in review

This has been one crazy week. It is the week that you remember to pray even if you have not been to church in a decade. I have never had so many interviews in a row. I –bankers get back to you very quickly to let you know if you made it to the next round or not. This does not make the disappointment any easier to deal with though. In my case I had an offer by Tuesday night which gave me a lot of hyper confidence to cruise through all the other interviews. I saw a lot of super strong students getting dropped by the banks. At the end of the day we all seem to forget that the spots at these banks are very limited. It was a challenge keeping my friends motivated to remain confident after getting dinged.
It was a week with a lot of highs and lows. The low for me was when a bank that I had invested a very significant amount of time in told me I did not make the second round. Even my classmates were shocked when I told them I did not make round 2. It was like getting dumped by a girlfriend. I almost asked the guy that called me if he was kidding. I was so disappointed about not making it pass the first round that I fired off emails to all my contacts at the bank to find out what happened. I was surprised because the interview was one of the best I had. I nailed all the technical and behavioral questions. They all got back to me in a friendly way as they tried to explain that I still have a shot later in the year for full time recruitment.

Whatever!

Well, at least I learned how to play golf because of this bank and had tons of free beer and dinner on them. They had invited me to play golf with them and I learned the game within 2 weeks.

Speaking about golf, I should start playing again next week. Now I can move on to other topics other than job search and begin to really enjoy school. I can also get back to being more active with my extra curricular activities.

The high was getting that call so early in the game. I screamed out so loud that the recruiter had to scream along with me too. I remain always DingProof.

Drum rolls please....

Its been interviews galore this week. This is the day I’ve been waiting for …I’m happy to report that I have received my first offer!!!!!!!

I’ve also moved on to the second round of other banks including the one I had in New York as reported in my last blog. More details to come…Woooohoooooo..