Читать книгу The Way of the Wall Street Warrior - Dave Liu - Страница 38

It never hurts to go out of your way and make your mother proud with a dose of “Please” and “Thank You.” Remember, it's all about making a connection with the person who's interviewing you and making yourself look good in the eyes of your inquisitor. So at the end of any interview, immediately send a thank-you email, and not a generic one. As Harry Nelis, former Goldman Sachs banker and now partner at the venture capital firm Accel, recommends, “Try to remember something specific from the interview so your email distinguishes you from all the others.”

Please read over your thank-you note carefully before sending it. Some email programs allow you to build in a delay, which I would highly recommend for those of you who tend to write like you speak—with reckless abandon. Otherwise, you might get some of these classics I've received:

 “Thank you so much for meeting me today. I really enjoyed speaking with you and learning more about your firm. [CUSTOMIZE INTRO AS NEEDED].” Nothing like getting a generic email to make you feel special.

 “Mr. David Liu, I really enjoyed speaking with you about career opportunities at your firm for Latina women. You are clearly a beacon for us.” And here I thought I was only a role model for Asian American men.

 “Mr. Dave Loo.” My personal favorite, especially from British candidates who showed immense self-control. I know I wouldn't be able to keep it together if Johnny Shitter interviewed me.

 “Please excuse typos. Sent from my iPhone.” You do realize that a typo is grounds for termination on Wall Street?

In general, I'm a big fan of pre-mortems, especially when it comes to interviewing. They're a tool I've used in which I imagine a best-laid plan failing and then work backward to figure out how it could have gone wrong. After I've prepared all I can, I replay in my mind all the ways I could screw up the interview and try to cover my mistakes with that last “thank-you” email before the interviewer either calls me back or sends me into the dumpster fire of dissed candidates. A good practice is to draft the email beforehand. Make sure to add something specific from your meeting which forces you to prepare to discuss something that has commonality with your interviewer; then be ready to press Send after the interview is over.

One final tip: Bribes work. The origin of to bribe is from the Old French, bribeor (beggar) and before that, the Romanic word, brimber (to beg). You should never be above groveling for a job; it greases the wheels of business, and in many cultures is even expected. So consider bribes as begging in polite company. But don't be gauche. Stick with the lowest level of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.³ Food is always welcome, and generally donuts and coffee will suffice. No cash, nothing too expensive, and definitely not sex.

This works because of reciprocity bias, or the impulse to do what Jesus said: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”—but in a positive way. Wall Street is built on this. You do my deals, and I'll do yours. If you invest in my fund, I'll invest in yours. What started out as one caveman asking the other to scratch his hairy back, quickly devolved into co-investing in each other's funds to perpetuate a Ponzi scheme. Imagine, Wall Street might not have existed if a caveman had invented the back scratcher.