Hi gals and pals,here is another question. A few months ago I had a first round phone interview with a bulge bracket firm. I was told days later that they were passing on me. I accept that. A few days ago, a recruiter proposes me another interview with the same (big, big) firm, although in a different department. I tell him the truth and he stops the process immediately. I try to insist that the position was different but he does'nt want to proceed further. How does it work in those cases? Should I have said that I was virgin there?Otherwise, how long it takes before virginity is restored?sorry for the naivety, but I am relatively new to this world

It hardly matters...unless you've messed up your previous interviews so much that they've put you on their blacklists!Otherwise, everybody understands that skill set are different from team to team and not everyone who fits X will fit Y!

It is possible the HH fucked up.As speedball says, unless you vomit on the interviewer there is no reason not to try again if it is a different department.But sadly, your objectives and the HH diverge at this point.A lot depends upon the contract the HH has with the bank. A typical term is that the HH who put you in first "owns" your ass for 6 months after they put you in.At P&D we are not in the business of stopping people from getting jobs, and if we'd put you in to a different part of the bank, we'd be entirely happy to let you try elsewhere.(though sad at the same time).We are not unique in this, and I'd expect a decent HH to do the same.That includes, if necessary writing a note to the bank's HR saying we are not going to try and bill them for you.There may be a grey area of course. A common theme is for quant developers to be "in" IT, regardless of the actual business unit they work for. So in an extreme (but real) case going for a QD job in London Credit Derivs is the same as FX in NY.It is possible that the bank won't play along with this, not out of policy but because we observe that a couple of large IBs have atrociously bad IT systems that cannot cope with changes of HH for a candidate.There is a way round this, but not one I will put on a public message board It is also possible that the HH is just being dumb or naive, thinking that rejection from a bank is for life.The way forward is to decide which HH you want to do business with, and ask the one that you like less to let you go and use the other.If they don't cooperate then talk to HR at the bank, we can offer a little advice over PM on how exactly to phrase this, but the short version is that most HRs hate HHs who screw candidates around.

QuoteOriginally posted by: DCFCBut sadly, your objectives and the HH diverge at this point.A lot depends upon the contract the HH has with the bank. A typical term is that the HH who put you in first "owns" your ass for 6 months after they put you in.DCFC's probably correct: the HH likely stopped the process because he wouldn't get paid if you got the job

Getting paid is our problem, not yours.

QuoteOriginally posted by: tigermanA few days ago, a recruiter proposes me another interview with the same (big, big) firm, although in a different department. I tell him the truth and he stops the process immediately. I try to insist that the position was different but he does'nt want to proceed further. How does it work in those cases?There are three permutations here....1) You have an application pending with one group in a firm while an opportunity opens up with another group. Here the procedure varies widely from firm to firm. Some firms don't care. Others do. I have had the situation where I've been interviewing separately for two groups in the same firm through two different recruiters, and in this case, everyone knew what everyone else was doing, and so it was kosher.2) You get rejected by one group, and then you apply later for a job in the same group. The usual time delay here is six months.3) Your situation is that you get rejected by one group, and then apply for a job in a separate group. In this case there is no problem unless you do something really, really bad (i.e. physically assault the interviewer bad.)It's possible that the recruiter thinks that you are in situation 1 or 2, when you are in situation 3. Also if a HH refuses to put you in for a position, then there is nothing that prevents you from finding another HH and trying to see if they can put you forward for that same position.

I definitely fall in category three. I will find a better contact, although it is not easy. Today for example, when mentioning my CV, a HR referred to the Postdoc as a second PhD.The paradox is that, in order to be hired, at times you have to deal with people who don' t know at all what the hell they are talking about

at times you have to deal with people who don' t know at all what the hell they are talking aboutThat's why you ought to deal with HHs who have personally worked in banks, and have something resembling an education.But even then, an amount of ignorance is part of the process, and itself is a form of interview test.In this job you will have to deal with people with base intelligence will vary, or who may be smart but entirely ignorant of the things you do.Some quants do not deal with this at all well, and hiring managers do try to avoid hiring them.

QuoteOriginally posted by: DCFCat times you have to deal with people who don' t know at all what the hell they are talking aboutThat's why you ought to deal with HHs who have personally worked in banks, and have something resembling an education.But even then, an amount of ignorance is part of the process, and itself is a form of interview test.In this job you will have to deal with people with base intelligence will vary, or who may be smart but entirely ignorant of the things you do.Some quants do not deal with this at all well, and hiring managers do try to avoid hiring them.I know what you mean, and agree with you. Fortunately, I am not the super nerd who thinks to resolve any problem with mathematical algorithms, and I know that in a private company I will meet a broader range of personalities than in academia. In fact, I am a little tired of people wearing sandals+white socks and other amenities. At least, I am good at hiding my geekyness!Still, dealing with the wrong HH/HR can be a frustrating experience.keep your friends close, but a good head hunter closer (the godfather)