Saturday, February 14, 2009

YoY o

It's been over a year since I've been here; but alas, questions from new and old friends about London Business School brought me back looking for a ready answer. I did not find one.
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"Good news! I found out today I got an interview!! I'm so excited!!!! Any advice? What was yours like?"

Dears,

Second congratulations. My interview experience:
I received an email with an alum's contact details instructing me to schedule an interview. Turns out to be a guy who recently left a senior-ish post at a large company to start his own business. I met him one afternoon at his new office/closet for what was to be a 30min interview. An hour later, when I left, I felt I had made a good impression, but was unsure of what he was filling out on his form. I have yet to take up school requests to conduct interviews, so still do not know.

We began by talking about our backgrounds, which evolved into Why an MBA, Why London, Why this London Business School. We talked about the alum's experience, which may have been the was most important part of the interview, because I was asking genuinely interested and asking lots of questions. This bit was followed by an exercises that was along the lines of: explain [x?] basic concept - given a few mins to prepare and then orally presented. Thought I did, at best, an average job; but, I guess it was sufficient in the grand matrix.

Best,
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Now a quick update. I've landed in an M&A group after my structured finance role disintegrated. The M&A role seems a great place to learn, to see a lot quickly, especially if in a general vs industry specific group. The work / life trade-off is anything but obvious. Oft menial-work (for anyone who's had any level of responsibility) lasts until 1, 3, 5a, lots of weekends, and you work mostl with those who've traded off life for decades. Seems possible to find a niche, and would be sharp as cheddar cheese in 2-3 years with regards to analysing industries and companies, but I'll wait 6-12mo's to make a binding judgement.