from Hacker News

Kid Sends Blunt Cover Letter and Now People are Trying to Hire Him

by fam on 1/16/13, 7:14 PM with 87 comments

  • by aresant on 1/16/13, 7:42 PM

    I am not surprised that a cover letter full of humility and honest self-appraisal has shocked Wall Street HR teams to the point of becoming a featured article on Yahoo.

  • by peterjmag on 1/16/13, 8:02 PM

    After reading the responses, I'm really glad I'm not in finance. "Hilarious but bold"? "Best cover letter I've ever received"? It's good, but it's not exactly groundbreaking.

    For tech startups, I feel like this kind of thing is almost required if you want to get anywhere. If I'm reading cover letters, I want to see some personality, and yes, I want you to be honest. Have some fun with it, even. Is that really such a novel concept? Or is my perspective just skewed by the startup world?

  • by run4yourlives on 1/16/13, 7:43 PM

    Wait a second... this guy sent a letter to a firm looking for employment and had it along with his personal details paraded around - what looks to be - the industry?

    How is that not a serious violation of privacy? I'm pretty sure this would violate even the most basic privacy statement. I highly doubt they asked the submitter if they would enjoy being emailed to the industry. In Canada or the EU you'd be violating Government legislation too.

    Hope it works out for him, but this just goes to show how little Wall Street thinks of people outside of their own circle. If I were a high up in Morgan Stanley (it's the only company name not blacked out) I'd be pissed.

  • by rm999 on 1/16/13, 7:37 PM

    >I wouldn't be surprised if this guy gets at least a call from every bank out there

    I think that's funny. My brother works in finance, and I work in engineering. We both interview candidates and we were discussing our approaches recently. What struck us is how different our approaches are. A few key differences:

    * In general, his approach is based more on intuition, whereas mine is very objective. We both spend a lot of effort determining 'fit', but my technical requirements are far more specific.

    * Education matters a lot more to my brother. He has HR throw out resumes that aren't from an ivy or aren't from a top 7 business school. I filter far less aggressively, somewhere around the top 50-100 school mark. We both filter on GPA about the same.

    * He likes it when people put their extracurricular activities on their resume, for me it can't help you but could be a negative.

    Basically, my brother wants smart, hard-working, interesting people. I want someone who does a high quality job, doesn't need hand-holding to get up to speed, and is not a jerk to other people in the company. The guy's cover letter wouldn't impress me much, but my brother would probably love it.

  • by BklynJay on 1/16/13, 7:49 PM

    One of the comments: "It's funny that all these guys loved the letter, yet didn't realize it's their fault that the letter even had to be written. If only they hadn't been falling for trumped up resumes and bogus cover letters for years."

  • by eli on 1/16/13, 7:45 PM

    This isn't a good resume because it's blunt, it's good because he describes himself as basically exactly what you would want in an intern.

    "I'm looking to pad out my resume for a few months until my dad can score me a cushy job at his firm" is also an honest, blunt thing to say in a cover letter... but I doubt it works as well.

  • by beachhouse on 1/16/13, 7:39 PM

    It's funny to think that more people don't use this strategy.

    He starts with some sort of connection to the email recipient, says how he's willing to do anything, discredits the peacocking majority (and then peacocks himself), etc.

    This is the same thought process used in sales and marketing and even pickup.

  • by mindslight on 1/16/13, 8:05 PM

    One of the responses, fourth from the bottom:

    > Not sure if either of you guys are still looking for a lackey to build models and fetch coffee, but this kid could be worth a conversation

    Does "build models" mean what I think it does - actually coming up with the mathematical method that projects risk, return, etc ? And if so, is the author being sarcastic, or do they really consider this to be unimportant work best passed off to an intern ?

  • by tsmith on 1/16/13, 11:52 PM

    "Kid"?

    What is it about people that makes them think a person about to complete a degree and enter a Masters' program, and assumedly old enough to drive, vote, serve in the military, and reproduce, is a "kid"?

    George Washington was a major in the Virginia militia at 21. Nat Palmer was the first American to discover Antarctica at 21. Bill Gates was 21 when he founded Micro Soft. Steve Jobs was 21 when he founded Apple.

    People who call fully-grown adults "kids" can go stuff themselves.

  • by betelnut on 1/16/13, 8:01 PM

    I wouldn't say it's a great cover letter - it's pretty generic and could easily be tweaked slightly for any job/industry.

    Also it's sort of sad that he has to debase his university and himself for the lords of finance to consider him.

  • by justjimmy on 1/16/13, 7:47 PM

    This is a gem, considering what's out there atm.

    I've heard interns work their way into the big 4 and then squander it - they expect to be in charge of cases, call the shots, and some even refuse to come in when called - "I'm watching a movie."

    IB isn't like fashion industry where interns are usually delegated mundane tasks like fetching coffee, but it's good to see this guy willing to doing w/e it takes.

  • by djhworld on 1/16/13, 8:03 PM

    This is cute, but in reality it highlights everything that is wrong with the system and the financial sector.

  • by lefstathiou on 1/16/13, 8:16 PM

    He wants to work for a summer in finance (sounds like a trading floor rather than the investment bank), is mastering in accounting and taking the LSAT to go to law school... Sounds focused. I can think of more direct paths into corporate law...

  • by austenallred on 1/16/13, 8:07 PM

    "People are trying to hire him" seems like a bit of a stretch based on the article. I see a lot of "Haha, I might even give him a call," but no, "I want to hire this kid!"

  • by vsbuffalo on 1/16/13, 7:46 PM

    Brace yourselves for copycats.

  • by sonabinu on 1/17/13, 4:58 AM

  • by nathell on 1/16/13, 8:13 PM

    I'm wondering if it's possible to determine the authorship of the letter as well as the identity of several people mentioned, based on the pixel widths of characters in the font used.

  • by ryguytilidie on 1/16/13, 9:10 PM

    Recruiter here. If I knew we got upvotes for posting semi-interesting cover letters I would have a lot more karma :( Read probably 100 better than this in the last year alone.

  • by n3rdy on 1/16/13, 8:34 PM

    Well I certainly misjudged the articles title, this makes a lot more sense now. I guess the Phish crowd hasn't gone all business savvy after-all.

  • by suyash on 1/16/13, 11:56 PM

    To Future CopyCats: Please don't use the same cover letter for your internship job application. This guy kept it real, you do the same!

  • by jiggy2011 on 1/16/13, 7:36 PM

    Well, he has demonstrated: Integrity , reasonably strong written skills , some balls and of course "thinking outside the box".

  • by guylhem on 1/16/13, 7:40 PM

    Honnesty pays. What else to say - this kids has more than most people.

  • by quomopete on 1/16/13, 7:58 PM

    who's this kids uncle?

  • by OGinparadise on 1/16/13, 8:00 PM

    His odds were close to zero with a "me too" resume, so he risked it all. A lot of Wall Street companies want Ivy League caliber and a GPA of 3.5+ as a starting point--or to have your case considered.

    Now I'd say, his resume will be read and he will be judged on his merits.

  • by thoughtcriminal on 1/16/13, 9:22 PM

    A frank, honest letter shocks the financial world.

    No. doubt.