Interview Days

Monday
I had interviews with 2 banks. The first one went extremely well; I had never clicked with an interviewer so easily. The second bank I thought went well also: I answered all the finance technical questions correctly, was my usual charming self on the fit questions, but when it got to the brain teaser area, I couldn´t answer any. I´m just not good with games. Or multiplying in my head. What´s 17x16? You can´t write it down. No, you can´t finger write it on the desk. No, you can´t finger write it in the air. Now, what´s 19x23? Jeez.

That night I decided to relax and practice Spanish by watching the Spanish news. I sat on the edge of our glass table and flipped channels. And as I was concentrating on the translation, I heard a loud crack as the glass broke and I fell through the table!! I looked down. Uh oh, I´m bleeding, I thought, nonchalantly. Better head to the ER. Went to the hospital, got sutchered, went to bed at 2AM.

Tuesday
Went to the ER again that morning because the thing wouldn´t stop bleeding. Rushed to another banking interview.

I was thinking as I read the Financial Times that all my investment predictions were coming true. The equity markets will continue to underperform until there is a true catalyst like earnings growth or favorable economic indicators. Defensive industries such as healthcare & pharma were outperforming. And utilities, and consumer staples. Energy stocks like Schlumberger and Transocean were gainers. Oil prices would trend around $100. People would put their money in gold, energy and government bonds. Perhaps munis would rise as interest rates lower to support government spending on infrastructure. The US is heading towards a soft landing recession.

Wednesday
Tuesday night I could not sleep. I kept waking up in hour intervals with dreams about oil prices dropping to $87, or the yield curve steepening or the effects of the subprime crisis. I could not distinguish dreaming from reality; it all seemed so real. Then I started dreaming about balls. And balancing them on a scale. And finding the odd ball and telling whether it was heavy or light. I woke up at 3AM, got some diet coke & proceeded to look up brainteasers on the internet and practice multiplying in my head. Felix told me to go to sleep. But I couldn´t, or CDOs will invade my dreams...

Had my interview with my final bank of the session early in the morning. Had a very nice conversation with a guy in Corporate Finance, my old profession. Why I fell in love with him: he said "I'm not going to ask you what the sq. root of 2200 is. I don't give a ****. I just want to chat." I considered for a moment switching back to corporate finance.... He popped some Spanish questions on me, which was fun.

Thursday:
Loved the new classes so far, especially quantitative methods. I love regressions. I used to regress everything and their mother in Econometrics. And when the teacher begged us to ask him about economic trends, I swear my heart was his. I love analysing macroeconomic trends.

That night I completed the cases around 23:30H. Went to BOW, then followed people to Sutton. It was my first time. Hooray!