I Did Fake Interviews at Investment Banks to Get out of My Comfort Zone
This approach will help you do the same and live a fearless life.
Hey all, before I get into the article, a quick announcement:
Tomorrow, I'm hosting a masterclass called: How to Create Jaw-Dropping Sentences to Share With the World
If you are writing online, but seeing zero engagement, don't miss this.
(It's free - aka, no risk for you)
Click here to register for your spot (while they are still available)
There’s nothing better than using and abusing big companies.
That’s exactly what I did in 2014 to investment banks. I took the little bastards for a ride, cowgirl style.
Let me explain why as it’ll help you live the fearless life I now live.
Proactive discomfort is the beginning of greatness
In 2014, I hated my job.
I did a secondment into a new department of my employer. I was riding high. A promotion got promised to me. It came with a fat new salary.
When the time came I didn’t get it. Hiring freezes. Budget cuts. The usual bullsh*t, you know how it is amigo.
I went home in a rage and watched Star Wars movies to numb the pain. I realized that even if I did get the promotion, I’d have massive imposter syndrome. It didn’t help that my severe anxiety still had me by the balls.
So I came up with a plan.
It became clear that if I wanted to escape my lame-ass job and have a career building cool stuff then I’d have to get creative. At the time I was obsessed with becoming a Wall Street banker.
The closest thing to Wall Street in Australia was working at an investment bank.
I scrolled LinkedIn and found a few people that worked for some of the biggest. I hit them up with emails. A couple responded.
Me: “Yo, remember me from your red and black days?”
“Yeah, mate, good to hear from ya. What’s up?”
“Can you get me an interview at your investment bank? Keen to have a crack.”
After a few days' wait I got a few interviews. This may not seem like a big deal to you, but you’ve got to remember that even that small achievement was a big deal.
To work for an investment bank you need lots of experience and a finance degree. I had neither. I was a glorified bank account salesman that could explain that a savings account earned you interest. That’s it. Useless.
Imposter syndrome hits hard
I roll up to the first interview with a spring in my step.
The office is fancy. Everyone is impeccably dressed. The barista coffee smell is glorious. The ladies are fine (I was single, hoping to meet a wife). And the city views were better than the Empire State Building.
I had a New York State of Mind.
Soon as I got into the interview room I put on my Hollywood smile.
Through some miracle, the questions they asked me I happened to have intelligent answers for. I focused on my sales experience and the revenue numbers I’d hit, given they were an investment bank that liked money.
This covered up my sketchy past running tinpot startups and my lack of finance degree. They agreed to another round of interviews.
The big boss from hell
It was like a video game. I passed the beginner levels, but to get a gig in an investment bank, I had to get past the big boss at the end of each level.
The next chat was over coffee. The cafe we went to doubled as a 5-star restaurant. It wasn’t a formal interview at all.
It was a get-to-know-ya.
I realized later that you had to be a cultural and personality fit just as much as you had to be a finance guru to get in.
Thankfully I was a master socialite when I had to be and could schmooze better than Tom Cruise at one of his religious cult cocktail parties.
The big boss was no pushover.
Every normal trick I had he could see through. He was a walking, talking human lie detector looking for imposters like me.
Luckily he didn’t smell a rat. We got on like two pigs rolling around in the mud.
The best confidence boost of my life
As I progressed through the many interview rounds, I began to feel unstoppable. I couldn’t believe I actually had a shot.
The process taught me so much:
Back yourself
Never underestimate social skills
People can’t see your flaws as much as you
Lean on your experience (especially your failures)
When I told close friends what was going on they thought I was joking. Tall, anorexic white boys like me with anxiety disorders didn’t do this kind of thing.
We were supposed to hide in our bedrooms and watch Star Wars while the cool kids made all the cash in finance and bought their M3 BMWs.
But then everything changed…
The surprise that ended everything (that I should have told you upfront)
I never intended to get a job in an investment bank. Why?
I knew there’d be a math test and it would disqualify me. I can barely do multiplication and division.
I dropped out of math forever at age 12 and got an exemption. I even transferred to a high school that didn’t require math classes so I could escape my biggest pain in life.
During the last round of interviews one investment bank was ready to make me a job offer.
“All you’ve got to do now Timbo is come in at 10 am on Saturday and do a basic math test.”
My face went red. I felt sick. The guy who got me this far in the job interview process had become a friend. He knew all the same people as me.
If he found out my dark math secret he’d tell everyone – including my current bosses at my lame banking job where I worked for an inferior company.
All I could do was end the fake interview process.
“Sorry Benny, I’ve been given a promotion internally.”
At first this was a lie. But then it became true. The promotion I’d missed, which led me to do these investment bank interviews, was now on the table.
I got saved with the best excuse ever.
I was in high demand. It had nothing to do with my lack of math skills or my fear of algebra formulas. Delivering the news felt good. I felt relieved.
Me: “You understand, right?”
“Absolutely. You’re in high demand and want to stay where you are. The door is always open.”
A bizarre happy ending
I took the new promotion.
I got to help some of the largest tech companies in the world set up in Australia. It was actually a far superior job to anything I could have got in an investment bank.
Sure, I wasn’t making sexy stock trades on the floor of a trading room, and feeling like I was a cross between Gordon Gecko and the Wolf of Wall Street.
But I got something better.
I got a job I gave a crap about that was about so much more than money. It gave me meaning. I met people I now call family. Customers became best friends. And I made a tonne of cash anyway through bonuses.
If you’re reading this Mr Recruiter, sorry not sorry pal for wasting your time doing those investment bank interviews. I was never joining.
What this all means for you
The way to live the fearless life is through doing experiments that scare the crap out of you.
Find a way to face your fears. Do your own fake job interviews to prove your fears and insecurities wrong. Feel like an imposter more to realize you’re more brilliant than you think. Dare to build badass human relationships.
The only danger in life is not taking enough risk.
When you do that you get weighed down with a tonne of regrets. The problem is these regrets often hide inside your head rent-free. You can’t see them. All you’ll feel is lifeless or like something big is missing in life and you can’t put your finger on it.
Chase proactive discomfort. It’s the secret to the good life.
This instalment of Unfiltered is free for everyone. I send this email weekly. If you would also like to receive it, join the 70,000+ other smart people who absolutely love it today.
👉 If you enjoyed reading this post, feel free to share it with friends!
That is a great story. Liked the kind of movie script you gave it.
Great advice by the way!
Thanks!
You're right, Tim. People can't see our flaws as much as we do. Most people believe they have to be fearless to achieve or succeed. But no one is fearless. There is being fearful and then there is engaging in our fears like you did. When you don't take risks, there will be a lifetime of regrets. I sent this article to my daughters. Masterfully written.