It has been a while since I last posted, but the Lord has truly been faithful over the last two years.
Since my last post, work has been going great, but there have been many many challenges at work and also in my personal life.
As the Lord would have it, I made a move into a new group in my firm and have now been working on deals in the financial institutions and distressed debt space and have become an expert in distressed transactions, bankruptcies, and corporate restructurings.
I also recently lined up another interview at a Wall Street firm and would let you all know how it goes. As always, regardless of the outcome my prayer is simple - "Lord may your Holy Spirit never depart from me and may your perfect will come to pass in my life, in Jesus Name - Amen!"
Take Care and God bless.
ThaDonMega
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Monday, November 23, 2009
Stepping out in Faith
It's been over two years since my last post, and all I can say is that the Lord has truly been faithful and has been with me every step along the way. I joined my firm at the peak of the LBO boom and soon after joining, our country entered the deepest recession since the last great depression.
2008 was a tough year for our nations economy, but fortunately for me I was the lead staff on two large transactions in the paper and packaging industry and also in the natural resources sectors, so looking back in hindsight the Lord shielded me completely from the 2008 financial crises.
Around December of 2008, I attended a firm-wide training on business combinations in New York, and this was just after the sub-prime credit crises on wall street. Some of the firms that declined to extend me full time offers a year earlier no longer existed including Merrill Lynch (acquired by BofA), Lehman Brothers (filed for Chapter 11), and Bear Stearns (sold for $2 per share to JPM, which was later increased to $10 per share). During my visit to New York most of the firms that turned me down were uprooted (or bailed out) following the severe credit crisis. My sympathies go out to all those who lost their jobs and my advice is for them to keep their heads up and to use this time to get to know Jesus Christ (if they don't already know him) and to make Him the foundation of their lives so that in the future, "though you may stumble, you will never fall".
Walking around times square I was full of emotion and couldn't help but thank God for leading me to my current job and for protecting me from the fall out from the credit crises that no one anticipated.
In 2009, the Lord moved again, and I am glad to say that after 1 year and 9 months, I was promoted to Senior Associate and I was given the opportunity to work on the largest restructuring of a U.S. industrial company in our country's history. I learned alot and I thank God everyday for the promotion and for the opportunity that he has given me.
Right now, I am facing a lot of persecution for my faith in Jesus Christ, and for the success the Lord has given me in my short career. I am currently praying for the Lord to show me his will for my life and to guide me every step along the way, whether that is at my current job, or else where. I am trusting God and I am believing that he has already given me a new direction. Today, I am thanking God in advance for what he has already done, and my reason for this post is to encourage all my reader's to continue trusting God in all their situations and circumstances, and to keep praising him for his love truly endures forever. Amen!
I'll keep you guys updated with my journey to wherever the Lord leads. God Bless.
ThaDonMega
2008 was a tough year for our nations economy, but fortunately for me I was the lead staff on two large transactions in the paper and packaging industry and also in the natural resources sectors, so looking back in hindsight the Lord shielded me completely from the 2008 financial crises.
Around December of 2008, I attended a firm-wide training on business combinations in New York, and this was just after the sub-prime credit crises on wall street. Some of the firms that declined to extend me full time offers a year earlier no longer existed including Merrill Lynch (acquired by BofA), Lehman Brothers (filed for Chapter 11), and Bear Stearns (sold for $2 per share to JPM, which was later increased to $10 per share). During my visit to New York most of the firms that turned me down were uprooted (or bailed out) following the severe credit crisis. My sympathies go out to all those who lost their jobs and my advice is for them to keep their heads up and to use this time to get to know Jesus Christ (if they don't already know him) and to make Him the foundation of their lives so that in the future, "though you may stumble, you will never fall".
Walking around times square I was full of emotion and couldn't help but thank God for leading me to my current job and for protecting me from the fall out from the credit crises that no one anticipated.
In 2009, the Lord moved again, and I am glad to say that after 1 year and 9 months, I was promoted to Senior Associate and I was given the opportunity to work on the largest restructuring of a U.S. industrial company in our country's history. I learned alot and I thank God everyday for the promotion and for the opportunity that he has given me.
Right now, I am facing a lot of persecution for my faith in Jesus Christ, and for the success the Lord has given me in my short career. I am currently praying for the Lord to show me his will for my life and to guide me every step along the way, whether that is at my current job, or else where. I am trusting God and I am believing that he has already given me a new direction. Today, I am thanking God in advance for what he has already done, and my reason for this post is to encourage all my reader's to continue trusting God in all their situations and circumstances, and to keep praising him for his love truly endures forever. Amen!
I'll keep you guys updated with my journey to wherever the Lord leads. God Bless.
ThaDonMega
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
YAHWEH NEVER FAILS.. H1-B APPROVED!
Even after getting the offer, I learned that my offer of employment was contingent upon my employer successfully obtaining the highly coveted h1-b U.S. work permit. It was rough. I heard that on the first day of applications, Monday April 1st, the USCIS received as much as 150,000 applications, way beyond the 65,000 permits available, just on the first day of applications.
Things got so bad that the U.S. government had to stop receiving applications on April 3rd, less than 24 hours after the application process began, and they just rejected all the applications that didn't come in between Monday April 2nd, and Tuesday the 3rd. I called the immigration reps in HR and they politely told me that at this stage they had no control over the Visa allotment process, and even the premium processing service was really of no value added because a random computer program was going to RANDOMLY select the 65,000 h1-b recipients out of the 150,000 plus applications that made it in before Tuesday evening.
Also, since I got my offer a little late in the recruiting cycle I was put at the back of a h1-b backlog of applications, so I wasn't even sure if HR sent my application in on time.
After all my experiences with a string of countless rejections, blood, sweat, and tears, for the first time, in my mind, I virtually conquered my fears, knowing that failure to receive the h1b permit would strengthen me in Christ, but that a victory would only give me a humbled opportunity to proclaim His divine majesty and supremacy that affects us all even inside lifeless computers which in this case randomly selected the recipients.
To cut a long story short, My God once again delivered me and I just heard word that I was successfully selected by the random computer system, and that I should expect my h1-b permit pretty soon. After a 4 month wait....what a relief!
Of course, I'm in awe, and I'm still perplexed writing this final post. While I pray for everyone else still waiting, and fighting for the right to work in America, the least I can say is Trust in The Lord in Good times, and Bad times, because his power is made perfect at our lowest points. Trust Him, wait on Him, and pray that His will come to pass in your life.
I'm no saint, and if anything I'm one of the biggest sinners of all. I guess I underestimated God's mercy, and His Power once again. He just keeps surprising me. To God be the Glory, His Love Endures Forever, Amen.
Things got so bad that the U.S. government had to stop receiving applications on April 3rd, less than 24 hours after the application process began, and they just rejected all the applications that didn't come in between Monday April 2nd, and Tuesday the 3rd. I called the immigration reps in HR and they politely told me that at this stage they had no control over the Visa allotment process, and even the premium processing service was really of no value added because a random computer program was going to RANDOMLY select the 65,000 h1-b recipients out of the 150,000 plus applications that made it in before Tuesday evening.
Also, since I got my offer a little late in the recruiting cycle I was put at the back of a h1-b backlog of applications, so I wasn't even sure if HR sent my application in on time.
After all my experiences with a string of countless rejections, blood, sweat, and tears, for the first time, in my mind, I virtually conquered my fears, knowing that failure to receive the h1b permit would strengthen me in Christ, but that a victory would only give me a humbled opportunity to proclaim His divine majesty and supremacy that affects us all even inside lifeless computers which in this case randomly selected the recipients.
To cut a long story short, My God once again delivered me and I just heard word that I was successfully selected by the random computer system, and that I should expect my h1-b permit pretty soon. After a 4 month wait....what a relief!
Of course, I'm in awe, and I'm still perplexed writing this final post. While I pray for everyone else still waiting, and fighting for the right to work in America, the least I can say is Trust in The Lord in Good times, and Bad times, because his power is made perfect at our lowest points. Trust Him, wait on Him, and pray that His will come to pass in your life.
I'm no saint, and if anything I'm one of the biggest sinners of all. I guess I underestimated God's mercy, and His Power once again. He just keeps surprising me. To God be the Glory, His Love Endures Forever, Amen.
Monday, March 19, 2007
MY GOD NEVER FAILS ...!
You see with the Most High, one offer from God is worth more than 10^(infinity) gazillion offers from men.
He planned it way before I was conceived in my mother's womb and his perfect Will shall come to pass for all of us if we do our best to obey him, depend on him, and JUST let the guy direct your paths.
I got into a very solid group at a Big 4 firm, and I was ranked first out of all the interview candidates, and I was the only one recruited out of my school this year, all by God's invisible actions.
Again, non-major, non-target, no professional services experience, non U.S. Citizen, but with God all things are possible. I didn't plan it, and I hardly prepared, it was simply God's offer, and for that very reason it was the very best, so I accepted it in less than 24 hours! What a miracle!
He planned it way before I was conceived in my mother's womb and his perfect Will shall come to pass for all of us if we do our best to obey him, depend on him, and JUST let the guy direct your paths.
His Power is Certainly Made Perfect ONLY at our lowest points. I'm still on cloud nine baby! This offer is way better than everything else combined, because it's directly from the hand of the Most High!
Praise God, Praise His Son, His Love Endures Forever!
Praise God, Praise His Son, His Love Endures Forever!
Amen!
Sell day I thought.... what another surprise.. My biggest blow yet.
So I flew to New York again for the final final round interview and I hoped that I was the only candidate this time doing the picking, or choosing. As soon as I got onto the plane there was my competition. A guy from my school and another guy from Emory were right in my plane sitting next to me studying hard for one more interview with one bank, and I knew it was Merrill Lynch.
I was confused, .. "but she said it was a sell day" I thought, but it was just another final round interview to keep cutting till they got the right match for the group.
Prior to this round they asked that we select the groups that we'd liked to work for, and rank them 1 through 5. I requested interviews with Sponsors (FSG), Leveraged finance, Multi-Industry, and Private Equity Directs/Private Placements as other banks would call it.
On the day of the interview they told us that most positions had already been filled, and that they would do their best to put us in a particular group... Baloney!
So I interviewed with Sponsors, Leveraged finance, and Private Placements, and I knew I did very well, but at this point my offer was dependent on some kid at Harvard or Stanford declining his offer, and me taking the crumbs off the table, and coming in as a second-tier analyst. We were all interviewing to get a piece of the action from the crumbs off the table; i.e. we were the banks insurance policy in the event that their offerees reneged their offers, we were the back up players waiting to get on board, or get dinged. It was a BIG BIG game, and that was that.
The interview was in December, and by January I still hadn't heard back. My buddies also didn't get a call back, because we were all hoping that the summer interns would eventually turn down their offers, so we could get in.
With all the miracles I had seen my God perform I prayed and hoped that I'll get in. I called the M.D.'s I interviewed with and one of them was kind enough to let me know what was really going on. He explained that we were all interviewing as backup analysts, and that I should keep following up till he heard back from his intern. I knew I was his guy, but I was on the bench, and that hurt. Nothing hurts like when you know you can do the job, but luck is simply not on your side. So I kept calling this guy every week, and I felt weird harassing the poor man. I even had a dream that someone gave me a call and offered me a job, and I just tried to stay positive. New Year's came and passed, and I still didn't hear back. So I called, and asked for an update.
That afternoon I got a call saying,
"Thadonmega.. Thank you for coming in and interviewing with our firm, but it was a very competitive process, and our class is full from our summer hires. You can try again next year."
Devastated, I tried to get feed back, to no avail, she just hung up and probably called the next guy on the list with the bad news. Out of all the 100 or so final round candidates they only picked 2 non-target candidates, it was that bad.
From my past rejections at Bain, McKinsey, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, and everyone else, at this point I had learned to give thanks and praise even when things weren't going my way. Though very difficult, I learned to trust in the Most High, His judgment, His way, and His plan. So I thanked God, but I was still very confused on my next steps. For the first time I didn't have a tangible backup plan.
Here I was at the end of January, with the major recruiting cycle completely over, and I didn't have an offer for a job, even after going up to New York more than 5 times. I took a risk interviewing with the big boys and I didn't pursue the manufacturing jobs because I just didn't like those kinds of jobs. I failed in my efforts, I cried, I was ashamed, and I didn't have anyone to blame, but myself.
I remembered two verses in the Bible, regarding my failure, and based on what I read in the Bible, I was up for a major major miracle from God's hand himself, so I was worried, but still hopeful.
Proverbs: "Man can plan his ways, but the Lord will direct his paths".
Ephesians:"For my grace sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in your weakness."
I prayed that God would move, I tried confessing all my sins, but nothing worked, I tried applying for internships, but those were exclusively reserved for juniors and sophomores from the ivy's, so again I was rejected. So I decided to trust in God, and that's what I did. I did nothing, but kept my eyes open.
I was confused, .. "but she said it was a sell day" I thought, but it was just another final round interview to keep cutting till they got the right match for the group.
Prior to this round they asked that we select the groups that we'd liked to work for, and rank them 1 through 5. I requested interviews with Sponsors (FSG), Leveraged finance, Multi-Industry, and Private Equity Directs/Private Placements as other banks would call it.
On the day of the interview they told us that most positions had already been filled, and that they would do their best to put us in a particular group... Baloney!
So I interviewed with Sponsors, Leveraged finance, and Private Placements, and I knew I did very well, but at this point my offer was dependent on some kid at Harvard or Stanford declining his offer, and me taking the crumbs off the table, and coming in as a second-tier analyst. We were all interviewing to get a piece of the action from the crumbs off the table; i.e. we were the banks insurance policy in the event that their offerees reneged their offers, we were the back up players waiting to get on board, or get dinged. It was a BIG BIG game, and that was that.
The interview was in December, and by January I still hadn't heard back. My buddies also didn't get a call back, because we were all hoping that the summer interns would eventually turn down their offers, so we could get in.
With all the miracles I had seen my God perform I prayed and hoped that I'll get in. I called the M.D.'s I interviewed with and one of them was kind enough to let me know what was really going on. He explained that we were all interviewing as backup analysts, and that I should keep following up till he heard back from his intern. I knew I was his guy, but I was on the bench, and that hurt. Nothing hurts like when you know you can do the job, but luck is simply not on your side. So I kept calling this guy every week, and I felt weird harassing the poor man. I even had a dream that someone gave me a call and offered me a job, and I just tried to stay positive. New Year's came and passed, and I still didn't hear back. So I called, and asked for an update.
That afternoon I got a call saying,
"Thadonmega.. Thank you for coming in and interviewing with our firm, but it was a very competitive process, and our class is full from our summer hires. You can try again next year."
Devastated, I tried to get feed back, to no avail, she just hung up and probably called the next guy on the list with the bad news. Out of all the 100 or so final round candidates they only picked 2 non-target candidates, it was that bad.
From my past rejections at Bain, McKinsey, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, and everyone else, at this point I had learned to give thanks and praise even when things weren't going my way. Though very difficult, I learned to trust in the Most High, His judgment, His way, and His plan. So I thanked God, but I was still very confused on my next steps. For the first time I didn't have a tangible backup plan.
Here I was at the end of January, with the major recruiting cycle completely over, and I didn't have an offer for a job, even after going up to New York more than 5 times. I took a risk interviewing with the big boys and I didn't pursue the manufacturing jobs because I just didn't like those kinds of jobs. I failed in my efforts, I cried, I was ashamed, and I didn't have anyone to blame, but myself.
I remembered two verses in the Bible, regarding my failure, and based on what I read in the Bible, I was up for a major major miracle from God's hand himself, so I was worried, but still hopeful.
Proverbs: "Man can plan his ways, but the Lord will direct his paths".
Ephesians:"For my grace sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in your weakness."
I prayed that God would move, I tried confessing all my sins, but nothing worked, I tried applying for internships, but those were exclusively reserved for juniors and sophomores from the ivy's, so again I was rejected. So I decided to trust in God, and that's what I did. I did nothing, but kept my eyes open.
My last bloody interview in New York City
The night before the interviews I was housed at Hilton Sheraton just two blocks away from the World Financial Center, and boy the view from the hotel was awesome! I had a view of the former World Trade Center, and the whole place looked like Manhattan that I had seen in the movies. I thanked God for the opportunity, studied alittle bit, and went straight to sleep.
So I made it to the Merrill Lynch Offices for the Superday, and I saw a long long line of candidates from various universities including Harvard, Yale, UT, Drexel, and other 2nd year and 3rd year analysts from competing banks. Everyone seemed to be reading that morning's WSJ and we all looked so nervous, and I could tell from the looks on the faces of the recruiters that something just wasn't right.
Anyway, my interviews lasted from 9:00 a.m. to 12: noon, and my flight was scheduled for Atlanta for 4:00 p.m. that day. I interviewed with two guys from the Financial Sponsors group, one from equity-linked securities, and another from the retail group. I did my best tried to establish quick rapport, and I knew I nailed those interviews.
On my way back home, I met one of my buddies from Emory that made the final cut, and we spoke about the interviews. We both looked puzzled and I could tell that one of us was going to get cut. We boarded the plane, I had a long dose, and when we arrived at Atlanta, my phone buzzed.. I got a phone call..
"Thadonmega.. This is xxxxx, and I just wanted to pass the good news to you! Everyone liked you and we all thought you were a great fit for the firm and we would like to have you speak with a few more bankers after thanksgiving."
The email said that the interview was the final round interview and that was it. Now this lady is inviting me back for another final round interview. It turns out that out of 100 or so candidates that day, they picked out only 10 to compete for a few spots in the 2007 analyst class.
From my Morgan Stanley interview after the final round was the "sell day" so I honestly thought that was the sell day interview where I got to choose my groups, but I guess I was in for a huge surprise.
So I made it to the Merrill Lynch Offices for the Superday, and I saw a long long line of candidates from various universities including Harvard, Yale, UT, Drexel, and other 2nd year and 3rd year analysts from competing banks. Everyone seemed to be reading that morning's WSJ and we all looked so nervous, and I could tell from the looks on the faces of the recruiters that something just wasn't right.
Anyway, my interviews lasted from 9:00 a.m. to 12: noon, and my flight was scheduled for Atlanta for 4:00 p.m. that day. I interviewed with two guys from the Financial Sponsors group, one from equity-linked securities, and another from the retail group. I did my best tried to establish quick rapport, and I knew I nailed those interviews.
On my way back home, I met one of my buddies from Emory that made the final cut, and we spoke about the interviews. We both looked puzzled and I could tell that one of us was going to get cut. We boarded the plane, I had a long dose, and when we arrived at Atlanta, my phone buzzed.. I got a phone call..
"Thadonmega.. This is xxxxx, and I just wanted to pass the good news to you! Everyone liked you and we all thought you were a great fit for the firm and we would like to have you speak with a few more bankers after thanksgiving."
The email said that the interview was the final round interview and that was it. Now this lady is inviting me back for another final round interview. It turns out that out of 100 or so candidates that day, they picked out only 10 to compete for a few spots in the 2007 analyst class.
From my Morgan Stanley interview after the final round was the "sell day" so I honestly thought that was the sell day interview where I got to choose my groups, but I guess I was in for a huge surprise.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Here I Come Merrill! ... At least that's what I thought.
In the middle of October, I attended a national Black MBA conference, and I met many Investment Banks and Investment Management Firms, and I applied to most of them. One of the firms I applied to was Merrill Lynch, the wall street juggernaut that pulled off the largest leveraged buy-out to date acting as an advisor, investor, and high-yield bond underwriter to finance the LBO of HCA, hospital chain operator. In preparing for my consulting interviews, I read the Wall Street Journal always on the look out for the latest turnaround strategies, to aid my consulting case preparation.
I also read about the capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, and I felt I could do very well in this field, but I knew I didn't study finance, but at the same time, I easily understood everything about the markets, valuations, and macro economic principles that govern the U.S. economy.
Anyway, I met the recruiter and sold my self like I always do, and he asked me to follow up in two weeks. I followed up and he told me he passed my resume on to the I-Banking folks, and if there was interest, they'd contact me. That was the last I heard from him in late September.
The First Miracle
++++++++++++++
After my string of rejections from Bain, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and others, early Monday morning I received an email inviting me to interview for the "2007 Investment Analyst Program"!
Wow! What a miracle! Although I hadn't yet received an offer from any firm, I knew this was God working behind the scenes. So I set up my flight, got to the Air Port and tried to board my flight.
That evening, there was a hurricane flying through the east coast and all of Laguardia Airport had been shut down. Here I was with a final round interview invitation for 9:00 a.m. the next morning in Manhattan, and I and 1000 other passengers were stranded in Atlanta struggling to fly out; it reminded me of the Titanic when all the passengers were fighting for the limited spots on the boat. I tried to reschedule my flight for the next morning and I couldn't even reach the customer reps, as their lines were busy.
So remembering what I had learned from all my rejections (trusting completely in the Lord as your only option), I said a 3 minute prayer, asked God to find away out of Atlanta, and thanked him for the opportunity to interview at the end of the recruiting season with a top firm that I felt was out of my reach.
It was a stormy day, and all flights to New York had been cancelled. The customer services lines were all jammed, and the queues to get on other flights (which I couldn't afford) were so long. Once I said a quick prayer, I met this guy in a red shirt at Delta Air, and told him about my Merrill Lynch interview opportunity which seemed to be slipping away right before my eyes. It turned out that he was the regional booking manager, and he virtually did the impossible:
He found one vacant seat in the very last TSA approved flight to NY-JFK, and he said "You're so lucky, I found only one seat that someone just cancelled on at the last minute.", and he even waived my fee!
I believe the Lord made him show me exceptional favor by placing me on the last flight out of Atlanta that night to JFK since all of LaGuardia had been shut down due to the Hurricane. I was the only one who made it to NY that evening and I successfully completed the first and second round interviews. I prayed, believed, acted, and my faith became sight. Hallelujah! God is Alive and is truly merciful, He gives us many chances to turn back to him!
I also read about the capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, and I felt I could do very well in this field, but I knew I didn't study finance, but at the same time, I easily understood everything about the markets, valuations, and macro economic principles that govern the U.S. economy.
Anyway, I met the recruiter and sold my self like I always do, and he asked me to follow up in two weeks. I followed up and he told me he passed my resume on to the I-Banking folks, and if there was interest, they'd contact me. That was the last I heard from him in late September.
The First Miracle
++++++++++++++
After my string of rejections from Bain, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and others, early Monday morning I received an email inviting me to interview for the "2007 Investment Analyst Program"!
Wow! What a miracle! Although I hadn't yet received an offer from any firm, I knew this was God working behind the scenes. So I set up my flight, got to the Air Port and tried to board my flight.
That evening, there was a hurricane flying through the east coast and all of Laguardia Airport had been shut down. Here I was with a final round interview invitation for 9:00 a.m. the next morning in Manhattan, and I and 1000 other passengers were stranded in Atlanta struggling to fly out; it reminded me of the Titanic when all the passengers were fighting for the limited spots on the boat. I tried to reschedule my flight for the next morning and I couldn't even reach the customer reps, as their lines were busy.
So remembering what I had learned from all my rejections (trusting completely in the Lord as your only option), I said a 3 minute prayer, asked God to find away out of Atlanta, and thanked him for the opportunity to interview at the end of the recruiting season with a top firm that I felt was out of my reach.
It was a stormy day, and all flights to New York had been cancelled. The customer services lines were all jammed, and the queues to get on other flights (which I couldn't afford) were so long. Once I said a quick prayer, I met this guy in a red shirt at Delta Air, and told him about my Merrill Lynch interview opportunity which seemed to be slipping away right before my eyes. It turned out that he was the regional booking manager, and he virtually did the impossible:
He found one vacant seat in the very last TSA approved flight to NY-JFK, and he said "You're so lucky, I found only one seat that someone just cancelled on at the last minute.", and he even waived my fee!
I believe the Lord made him show me exceptional favor by placing me on the last flight out of Atlanta that night to JFK since all of LaGuardia had been shut down due to the Hurricane. I was the only one who made it to NY that evening and I successfully completed the first and second round interviews. I prayed, believed, acted, and my faith became sight. Hallelujah! God is Alive and is truly merciful, He gives us many chances to turn back to him!
More Rejections and Trusting The Lord In The Fire
By the end of October, I had finished interviewing with a private equity firm out on the west coast, Lehman Brothers, A.T. Kearney, McKinsey, Citigroup, Deloitte Consulting, Suntrust Securities, Morgan Stanley, Raymond James, and 3 fortune 500's.
I was ashamed to tell people, but the fact is I was rejected by all of them. Coming from a non-target school, non-target major (engineering), and no summer internship in consulting or banking didn't help my cause.
But I remembered a verse in the bible which said we should trust in the Lord in all things and we should not rely on our human understanding. I also remembered the apostle Paul once wrote in Ephesians when he prayed to the Lord about a thorn in his flesh that haunted him throughout his life, and God told him:
"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in your weakness."
So I decided to believe that all these rejections were simply preparing me and teaching me not to rely on my mental strength and prowess, but to rely solely on God through Jesus Christ, in my weakness and in my strength.
After all, my hard effort resulted in getting these interviews, but none of them were able to materialize into job offers. I just kept crying out to God to work a Miracle, and to fight these forces that were working against me. I had relied on God to bring me to America, and I knew I had to once again seek his face to get the best job offer.
I also knew that somewhere down the line I had stopped relying completely on God. I had begun to put my faith in statistics, cover letters, resumes, suits, and the stuff most people care about. I stopped depending completely on God, and I knew I had to make a complete change. So I stopped calling around, and I decided to pray, watch, and believe that good things were about to happen, and so that's was what I did.
I was ashamed to tell people, but the fact is I was rejected by all of them. Coming from a non-target school, non-target major (engineering), and no summer internship in consulting or banking didn't help my cause.
But I remembered a verse in the bible which said we should trust in the Lord in all things and we should not rely on our human understanding. I also remembered the apostle Paul once wrote in Ephesians when he prayed to the Lord about a thorn in his flesh that haunted him throughout his life, and God told him:
"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in your weakness."
So I decided to believe that all these rejections were simply preparing me and teaching me not to rely on my mental strength and prowess, but to rely solely on God through Jesus Christ, in my weakness and in my strength.
After all, my hard effort resulted in getting these interviews, but none of them were able to materialize into job offers. I just kept crying out to God to work a Miracle, and to fight these forces that were working against me. I had relied on God to bring me to America, and I knew I had to once again seek his face to get the best job offer.
I also knew that somewhere down the line I had stopped relying completely on God. I had begun to put my faith in statistics, cover letters, resumes, suits, and the stuff most people care about. I stopped depending completely on God, and I knew I had to make a complete change. So I stopped calling around, and I decided to pray, watch, and believe that good things were about to happen, and so that's was what I did.
Career Fairs, Info sessions & My First Rejection, .. Ouch!
To kick off the recruiting season my school hosted an annual career fair for rising seniors and juniors. We had all the fortune 500's, but I couldn't apply to most of them because of work permit restrictions. Fortunately, the consulting firms and investment banks didn't really care where your were from and they really wanted to recruit the the best people on campus. There was only one real consulting firm (Bain) and one local Investment Bank (Raymond James), in the session that day, and I applied to both.
The folks at Raymond James were very nice, but they told me they had limited positions. I think they were only taking two people that year so I knew I was a long shot. The line formed at the bain booth was so long; a Chinese girl in front of me virtually fainted due to the exhaustion and anxiety. When I finally met the Bainies, I sold my self and gave them a folder I had prepared which contained my resume and cover letter and I also spoke about my interest in the field and in their firm. They asked me to attend the Info Session and that was that, I got a verbal invitation.
The Info Sessions
I attended the info session in about two weeks hoping that the crowd would be less, but to my surprise, there were even more people. Again, I waited till the end and sold myself. It's funny because all the people I met in previous information sessions at Deloitte, McKinsey, and SunTrust Securities were the same people I met in the Bain info sessions, and I'm sure they thought the same of me.
What really made me nervous was the calibre of students in these sessions. These were the smart of the smartest kids (3.75 -- 4.01 if possible) at Georgia Tech and we were all vying for the 4-5 positions. It was tough. Everyone dressed the same way, looked smart, spoke well, and I knew that with my "just above average" GPA I had to bring something more to the table.
The Dinner Party
Secretly, after the info session the folks at Bain selected about 20 of us for a meet and greet, and I was lucky to have been invited! These were the 20 most interesting kids on campus and I was lucky to be one of them! I knew they cut over 90% of the aspiring candidates already, and I knew I had to watch what I said because they were evaluating my every move in this event. I was also the only black guy so that made things even worse.
The Interview
I prayed really hard, and luckily I got selected for the first round interview. Only 10-12 people were selected for the interview, and I knew they were only going to pass less than 1/3 of us all, so I did my best. I was also the only non-ISYE Engineering major (most were industrial or electrical, because they do a lot of supply chain coursework which is very helpful in consulting). I nailed both cases, and I thought they were both very easy. Since they were relatively easy for the average Georgia Tech kid, I knew that my competition nailed em too. So I knew the decision boiled down to the soft skills, like delivery, presentation, and simply cultural fit, areas I knew I wasn't too strong in. I didn't lead a fraternity, visit Europe, and I didn't know anyone inside their firm. To make a long story short a week later they called me up and rejected me after our 1 month mating period. I tried to get feedback from the recruiters and interviewers, but I just couldn't reach them, and I didn't feel like harassing anyone.
I prayed even harder, and I fell into a state of semi-depression, because I was confused why I didn't even make it to the final round. This was my first rejection that I really wanted, but I learned my MOST important lesson:
"When You Ask God To Direct Your Paths, You Must Be Ready to Go through the fire and the storm and still trust in the Lord, even when things aren't going your way."
This is the ultimate test of man's submission to the Lord. I was going to receive more tests and this story has only just begun! So I decided to thank God even though things weren't going my way at all.
The folks at Raymond James were very nice, but they told me they had limited positions. I think they were only taking two people that year so I knew I was a long shot. The line formed at the bain booth was so long; a Chinese girl in front of me virtually fainted due to the exhaustion and anxiety. When I finally met the Bainies, I sold my self and gave them a folder I had prepared which contained my resume and cover letter and I also spoke about my interest in the field and in their firm. They asked me to attend the Info Session and that was that, I got a verbal invitation.
The Info Sessions
I attended the info session in about two weeks hoping that the crowd would be less, but to my surprise, there were even more people. Again, I waited till the end and sold myself. It's funny because all the people I met in previous information sessions at Deloitte, McKinsey, and SunTrust Securities were the same people I met in the Bain info sessions, and I'm sure they thought the same of me.
What really made me nervous was the calibre of students in these sessions. These were the smart of the smartest kids (3.75 -- 4.01 if possible) at Georgia Tech and we were all vying for the 4-5 positions. It was tough. Everyone dressed the same way, looked smart, spoke well, and I knew that with my "just above average" GPA I had to bring something more to the table.
The Dinner Party
Secretly, after the info session the folks at Bain selected about 20 of us for a meet and greet, and I was lucky to have been invited! These were the 20 most interesting kids on campus and I was lucky to be one of them! I knew they cut over 90% of the aspiring candidates already, and I knew I had to watch what I said because they were evaluating my every move in this event. I was also the only black guy so that made things even worse.
The Interview
I prayed really hard, and luckily I got selected for the first round interview. Only 10-12 people were selected for the interview, and I knew they were only going to pass less than 1/3 of us all, so I did my best. I was also the only non-ISYE Engineering major (most were industrial or electrical, because they do a lot of supply chain coursework which is very helpful in consulting). I nailed both cases, and I thought they were both very easy. Since they were relatively easy for the average Georgia Tech kid, I knew that my competition nailed em too. So I knew the decision boiled down to the soft skills, like delivery, presentation, and simply cultural fit, areas I knew I wasn't too strong in. I didn't lead a fraternity, visit Europe, and I didn't know anyone inside their firm. To make a long story short a week later they called me up and rejected me after our 1 month mating period. I tried to get feedback from the recruiters and interviewers, but I just couldn't reach them, and I didn't feel like harassing anyone.
I prayed even harder, and I fell into a state of semi-depression, because I was confused why I didn't even make it to the final round. This was my first rejection that I really wanted, but I learned my MOST important lesson:
"When You Ask God To Direct Your Paths, You Must Be Ready to Go through the fire and the storm and still trust in the Lord, even when things aren't going your way."
This is the ultimate test of man's submission to the Lord. I was going to receive more tests and this story has only just begun! So I decided to thank God even though things weren't going my way at all.
The Summer Before I Hit The Ruthless Job Market
Here I was in my early twenties, no connections, no frat brothers, no friends in the business world (consulting, or I-banking), and I wanted to get into the business world. I didn't take any finance or business classes in college so I knew I had to educate myself over the summer so I could at least interview with the smart kids who majored in finance and business.
The spring before the summer of 2006, I attended a Bain Internship Information session on my college campus, and I heard that to get a job in high level consulting you needed to" crack a case" flawlessly. I didn't know what a case was, and I certainly didn't know how to solve a business problem in a structured format, so I had to teach myself. I was also frightened with the number of people in these sessions. There were more than 100 people vying for only 2-3 spots so I knew I had to prepare hard.
That summer I did as much reading as I could. I felt I needed to understand more accounting and finance concepts so I picked up the Vault guides in finance and case interviews, and I crammed and memorized them all summer long. I studied all the valuation techniques, financial statements, and how to solve business problems. I learned how to look at businesses from a cost and revenue basis, and how to affect the gross margins in business. I thought I knew it all, and I was waiting for the fall so I could nail all the cases.
My girlfriend, wasn't too excited because I spent most of my weekends studying and studying, instead of spending more time with her.
I was also very scared going into the whole thing so I prayed everyday, that God would enable me get into the firm of my choice - Which was Bain.
After the Bain Info Session in the Spring I was convinced that strategy consulting was best for me. It looked so exciting, so glamorous and it looked like the perfect job. So I made management consulting my desired profession, and I decided to pursue them that Fall.
The spring before the summer of 2006, I attended a Bain Internship Information session on my college campus, and I heard that to get a job in high level consulting you needed to" crack a case" flawlessly. I didn't know what a case was, and I certainly didn't know how to solve a business problem in a structured format, so I had to teach myself. I was also frightened with the number of people in these sessions. There were more than 100 people vying for only 2-3 spots so I knew I had to prepare hard.
That summer I did as much reading as I could. I felt I needed to understand more accounting and finance concepts so I picked up the Vault guides in finance and case interviews, and I crammed and memorized them all summer long. I studied all the valuation techniques, financial statements, and how to solve business problems. I learned how to look at businesses from a cost and revenue basis, and how to affect the gross margins in business. I thought I knew it all, and I was waiting for the fall so I could nail all the cases.
My girlfriend, wasn't too excited because I spent most of my weekends studying and studying, instead of spending more time with her.
I was also very scared going into the whole thing so I prayed everyday, that God would enable me get into the firm of my choice - Which was Bain.
After the Bain Info Session in the Spring I was convinced that strategy consulting was best for me. It looked so exciting, so glamorous and it looked like the perfect job. So I made management consulting my desired profession, and I decided to pursue them that Fall.
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