Promises you should never trust during interviews

As we are approaching the time of year when people participate in financial services interviews, and as some financial services professionals may still be naïve and trusting, we would like to do you a service by pointing out that you may be told some things in interviews which are not delivered when you get the job.

You can't necessarily do anything about this, but forewarning will at least forestall disappointment.

Beware, therefore, of promises relating to:

1) Pay

Anything about pay that isn't contractually verified cannot be relied upon.

Take this extreme example, posted on an article yesterday:

A colleague of mine was verbally promised a 60k bonus if he did this or that throughout the year. With this incentive, he worked like a donkey on weekends and bank holidays. He sacrificed a lot, including two relationships and cancelled a holiday in the last minute. Come bonus time, he was given 25k.He mentally broke down and resigned a few months later.

2) Travel

Do not trust promises related to travel, especially if you are interviewing with a consulting or audit firm which promises your clients will be local. There is no guarantee that they will not switch you to clients based overseas.

Also do not trust promises related to travel if you are a senior M&A banker.

Anonymous M&A blogger The Epicurean Dealmaker says -

I knew one senior banker, wearied out from years of flying all over the world as an M&A banker, who jumped ship to another bank to specifically cover financial sponsors in Manhattan. He was looking forward to having his daily commute to and from Connecticut be the extent of his travel regimen. Naturally, his new employer's promises never panned out, and the poor man spent more time in planes than at home until he finally retired. Never, ever trust an investment bank's employment promises..

3) Personal offices

You won't get a personal office unless you're fairly senior. If you are promised a personal office, don't count on it being a permanent feature.

"I once came across a candidate who was trying to stipulate the exact size of his office on his contract," says one headhunter. "This was because he'd been promised an office in his previous position and - although he'd got it - his office had been persistently reduced in size as they tried to squeeze more people in."

4) Risk limits and credit lines (for traders)

We live in a mutable world. Just because you're told in interview that you will be able to trade certain products within certain risk limits, and will be provided a certain credit line, this does not mean it will be the case.

"Changes to risk limits and credit lines are much more of an issue than they used to be," says Russell Clarke at FigTree Search. "People can become quite aggrieved if they've joined under the premise they'd be able to trade with a counterpart or book a particular product which turns out to be off limits."

Most of the time, employers are transparent about the capabilities of their platform and don't deliberately mislead candidates, but between acceptance and the starting date things can change, says Clarke.

"Candidates must ask the hard questions and get a deep understanding for the risk appetite, product and client strategy before they accept," he advises.

5) Individual clients (for salespeople)

If traders can't trust what's said during interviews on risk limits, salespeople can't trust what's said about individual clients.

"There can be a bit of wrangling about who gets which client," says one headhunter. "You need to clarify as early as possible whether you'll be expected to give up some of your existing clients and which clients you'll be able to keep."

Individual clients are not stated in contracts. Unfortunately, you will have to try to be trusting on this.

6) Hours (especially if you're moving to a government body or a ratings agency)

Banks probably won't try to win you over with the notion that you might work pleasant hours. Government bodies will.

Sometimes this will be justified. Often it won't.

"In interview, people will say they have a laid back attitude to hours - until a project comes in and then you'll be working 60 hour weeks anyway," says one headhunter.

7) Headcount

If you are senior, never join a new employer purely on the understanding you will be given additional headcount to play with.

"I recently placed a guy who was brought into a senior role with the promise that his team would grow and he'd end up managing a larger business," says one headhunter. "Suddenly, it's all been rescinded."