Why You Weren’t Selected for That Interview at JP Morgan

It’s a question I’ve been getting a lot lately.

“Why didn’t I get an interview at Morgan Stanley New York?”

“Why was my friend selected for JP Morgan Houston but I was not?”

“Why did I get an interview at CS Hong Kong even though my resume had a typo in it?”

Interview selection at individual banks is incredibly random, and you never know what someone’s biases will be.

Yes, if you “bankify” your resume and avoid common mistakes, you have a higher probability of getting an interview. But that doesn’t mean you’ll actually get one – and sometimes even if your resume is awful, you might still get an interview.

Example #1: A Real-Life Jack Bauer

Light-Speed Q&A: Sick Days, Marriage and Yerba Mate, Interviews, Military, Resumes, Financial Meltdown, Prestige and Public Speaking

In this week’s edition of Q&A (we’ve had Rapid-Fire, Lightning, 100-Meter Dash and now Light Speed… suggestions for new names are welcome), I once again compress as much information as possible into as few words as possible.

Surprisingly, this week we cover some questions that aren’t related to economic collapse / the end of investment banking as we know it / other end-is-nigh scenarios.

And we start with a question relevant to everyone from kindergartners to seasoned pros: the sick day. Oh, and marriage, which I suppose is less relevant to kindergartners.

Sick Days, Marriage & Yerba Mate

1. I recently had a cold and took a day off from work. Can you take sick days as an investment banker? Or do you have to come to the office even if you’re dying?