Three weird types of candidate with a tendency to apply for financial services jobs
This is for anyone who's ever interviewed candidates during their careers. We are looking for anecdotes relating to the abnormality of individuals seeking jobs in financial services. Please post them below in the comments box.
In the meantime, here are a few examples to get the ball rolling.
The shady, silent type
We all know people working in technology can be strange, but we spoke to one recruiter recently who dealt with an IT professional who wore sunglasses (without explanation) throughout an interview. Worse still, he refused to answer any questions. "The bank wondered why the candidate even bothered coming for the interview. It's safe to say he didn't get the job," says the recruiter.
The Machiavellian manipulator
A back-office job seeker from a commercial bank was offered a role at another commercial bank, but used this purely as a bargaining tool to clinch a better package at an investment bank where he was also interviewing. This back fired. After moving into investment banking, he discovering that investment banking wasn't for him, he quit after just three months and has been unemployed for almost 10 months, despite having skills which are highly desirable.
His original recruiter says the candidate's life is now pretty tough. "He's sent his CV to all the banks and has worked with too many recruiters. It hasn't reflected well on him.
"When candidates manipulate offers in this way, it just shows that they don't value the firm. Banks aren't very forgiving, they have a blacklist of candidates who do this, and so do recruiters," she adds.
The greedy fantasist
Shawn Yu, consultant, financial services, Robert Walters, knows a candidate who demanded a base salary twice his current one for a strategy position in a commercial bank.
"The candidate's salary expectations were unrealistically high," says Yu. He turned down the original offer and instead took a role outside banking, only to later realise he wasn't cut out for it either.
We would like to encourage you to share your stories about strange candidates below.
