Hangovers

Damn it, it’s almost 8 pm and I’m terribly tired. After three days going out and having very little sleep, my whole body is complaining. The day has not been very productive so far. A coffee and some hummus at one of the many places around where people go to have brunch, laundry and some ironing. Cool, isn’t it? Well, let’s see if I call the girl I met yesterday night to do something a little bit more “productive”.

But today I’m also experiencing a kind of hangover after this week’s job interviews. Although, as you know, I’m targeting the media industry. However, outside of that industry I only applied to a very good program within one of the big American banks. You know, very well paid internship, possibilities of securing a full time offer after graduation, sponsorship to stay in the US…although it was not my dream job…and I got in the closed list. Great efficiency.

Last Wednesday I had the first round with two interviewers and it was pretty bad since, for some reason, from the university’s career services my resume with all my media interests was provided to the bank (interests that I had obviously hidden to the bank when I did apply). As you can imagine, I was on the spot several times to try to explain all the media stuff and to make these guys sure that banking was on the very top of my list. When I finished the interview I was pretty upset about this and, of course, I didn’t expect to make it through to the second round. Surprisingly I did.

Then, on Thursday afternoon I went to Park Avenue for the second and final round: two half an hour interviews back to back, with one interviewer each. By 3 pm I was out and pretty happy. I felt like I had nailed both interviews, on both the behavioral and technical side. I felt like I was gonna get an offer. But I didn’t in the end. I got a call on Friday and I was told that they weren’t very sure about my finance interests. That was the feedback I got. And I guess that’s just right. Taking a look at how the first and second rounds went, I can say, once again, that the MBA recruiting process is pretty (if not a lot) random.

The best thing about this is that I won’t have to make a decision, a decision that was driving me crazy. As time was going by I was feeling like I would be accepting the eventual offer. Certainty was about to beat my tastes. Talking to your friends and realizing that many of them have already secured great offers from banks and consulting firms doesn’t help to make a bet on the uncertain track. But now I will have to take such a bet, there is no alternative. Many people think that not getting a banking offer is the best thing that could have happened to me.
I have to be confident. I have been told that many openings will come along, like they did last year. I will still have to work my ass up to get an interesting (and hopefully relatively well paid) summer internship. I will have to live with (and defeat) uncertainty, which is something I can barely stand. But now, more than ever, I will be pursuing what I want to do or, at least, what I think I want to do.

Ciao