gs competition

from "Goldman Sachs: Behing the brass plate" The Economist

The bank is an unusually selective institution. To get hired at Goldman requires surviving extraordinary vetting. The 200 or so business-school students who arrive every year begin by submitting a CV. A small fraction win interviews, a tiny fraction survive the first round, and another 10 rounds may follow. To encourage the widest pool, every senior manager takes part in recruiting, paying two visits to a top university, the definition of which has broadened from the best known to places with predominantly black students and overseas colleges. Candidates from unusual backgrounds or with unusual circumstances can receive extraordinary scrutiny. Suzanne Nora Johnson, a vice-chairman, was hired from a law firm after 150 interviews, which if not a record should be.

Overachievers.

Once hired, the intensity may actually increase. Everyone at every investment bank works hard, but people at Goldman are reputed to work at least as hard, maybe harder. Intense loyalty and commitment are required. Internal voice mails are routinely sent out to vast groups of people with the expectation that all will be returned—fast. At Goldman, a request from another division asking for an insight, a contact or some other form of help is not to be ignored. To see a Goldman employee on the street is to witness someone listening to voice mails or pounding a BlackBerry, often to another Goldman employee. This is broadly true for a fair part of New York, but at Goldman the communication demands seem more extreme.

Little minion automatons.

2006 graduates profile

thinking of alternatives

now that i'm facing the inevitablity of being jobless, i think i might take up knitting. i'm going to get t to teach me.

frustrated

i am in the process of consolidating all my address books into one, the gmail account. just a moment ago, i was using messiah's groupwise account, adding addresses to my address book to send out one mass e-mail ad i'd added about 50 names into my address book but i have just found out that none of the addresses were saved. now i have to go through the entire process again, such a waste of time.

***

it seems as though i can do no wrong, academically speaking, this semester. every time i think i bombed a quiz/exam, i am pleasantly surprised to find myself getting rather high and underserved grades. not that i'm complaining. perhaps it's divine compensation for my unfortuitous job search.

the difference between book smart and street smart

in reply to your article wl, there is definitely an element of truth in the charges against singaporeans who are well-educated but are unresourceful. however, the comments by that taiwanese lawmaker gave me goosebumps. he says:

“Taiwanese are scoundrels, but lovable, Hong Kong people are craftier, (Chinese mainlanders are unfathomable) and Singaporeans are stupider,” he said, adding that it is partially due to genetics. The original migrants who came here from China were of “poor stock”.

this sounds very hitlerian to me and it stinks of nationalist pride.

perhaps it would serve them well (both singaporeans and taiwanese) to employ a liberal arts education. here's an excerpt from an article i was reading yesterday:

A liberal-arts education, as I see it, is not about acquiring wealth and opportunities to further indulge one's desires. Nor is it about cultivating in students an insular, idolatrous view of their nation, ethinc group, gender, or religion. It is also not about celebrating the so-called "great tradition" of authors, philosophers, and artists.

It is about the recognition, ultimately, of how little one really knows, or can know. A liberal-arts education, most of all, fights unmerited pride by asking students to recognize the smallness of their ambitions in the context of human history, and more.

Source: "The 7 Deadly Sins of Students" Thomas H. Benton The Chronicle of Higher Education

But I suppose the author of that forgot to add "A liberal-arts education will not be able to put food on the table and a shelter over one's head."

here we go again (aka single issue politics strikes again)

it seems as if this year's mid-term elections are going to play out eerily similar to the november 04 elections (has it really been that long?). need proof?

A Religious Push Against Gay Unions - NYT

excerpts:

"About 50 prominent religious leaders, including seven Roman Catholic cardinals and about a half dozen archbishops, have signed a petition in support of a constitutional amendment blocking same-sex marriage."

"Organizers of the petition said it was in part an effort to revive the groundswell of opposition to same-sex marriage that helped bring many conservative voters to the polls in some pivotal states in 2004. The signers include many influential evangelical Protestants, a few rabbis and an official of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."

<- Prick Santorum

" The petition drive was organized in part by Prof. Robert P. George of Princeton, a Catholic scholar with close ties to evangelical Protestant groups who helped draft the text of the proposed amendment in 2004. Three Republican senators — Bill Frist of Tennessee, the Republican leader; Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania; and Sam Brownback of Kansas — were also involved, according to their aides."

"The campaign comes as many in the Republican Party are increasingly worried that their core supporters may stay away from the polls this year because they are demoralized by the war in Iraq and other matters. Senate Republican leaders have scheduled a vote on the proposed amendment in June, partly as a means of rallying conservatives."

"No one expects the measure to pass this year. But drives to amend state constitutions to ban same sex-marriage proved powerful incentives to turning out conservative voters in Ohio and elsewhere in 2004."

"Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, a gay advocacy group, said supporters of the amendment were out of touch. "We have a war raging in Iraq, we have a Gulf Coast that needs to be rebuilt, we have an economy barely hanging on," he said. "The last thing America wants is this Republican-controlled Congress spending time writing discrimination into the Constitution.""

outrage

singapore calls snap elections for may 6 - financial times

"The polls are expected to be dominated by a debate over the widening gap between rich and poor in the wealthy city-state, with a recent government survey disclosing that 250,000 of its 3.6m citizens were earning less than S$1,000 a month."

"The government, which normally places tight limits on social spending, recently decided to distribute S$2.6bn in one-off payments to mainly low-income workers and the elderly.

The opposition said the timing of the move, shortly before the election was expected to occur, amounted to an attempt to buy votes - an allegation that the government denied."

"The government has warned that estate upgrades in districts that elect an opposition member of parliament would be delayed - an important consideration for many voters because upgrades increase the resale value of homes."

"The government has succeeded in marginalising opposition parties through what critics claim are intimidation tactics and by denying them full access to the state-guided media."

atlantic city

sipping cocktails, paid for by nickel slot winnings, at the bar underneath the casino.

pretty things

watch the cherry blossoms blossom.

meaning

what it all boils down to is the question: to nap or not to nap?



definitely nap.

jumping trains

while i'm starting to look for jobs in other unrelated sectors, i might as well apply for a summer internship with bob casey's senate campaign, right? let's see, reasons i want to work for casey:
1) santorum's a douche;
2) battle for this PA seat is one of the most widely watched one in the coming elections. possible casey win will be fantastic for me in terms of political exposure and making connections; and
3) really, anyone but santorum.

easter weekend

i had a great weekend and i hope you did too.

flashbacks

i absent mindedly scrolled through my phonebook, pausing on certain names trying to remember individuals from their cryptic names (who is "Nick S" and how is he different from just "Nick") and then I'd come across a name which seemed unfamiliar at first but then a flood of memories come rushing back, as if i were the pied piper beckoning the rats of my shameful past back into the present, those names and corresponding numbers which i should have deleted immediately but cannot bear to do so.

plans for tomorrow:

good friday at holy trinity
andrew wyeth exhibit at the art museum
rainy weather

i am blessed.

dada

when i was in london, i learned about the dada movement, dada referring either to a child's wooden rocking horse or nonsense, and i loved everything about it. from its nonsensical performance pieces to readymade urinals, this genre of art was best conceptualized as anti-art. for once, artists were ready to take themselves less seriously allowing them to become playful and even radical individuals.
i learnt today that the national gallery is hosting an exhibit of dadaists' works. this same exhibit will then be travelling to the MoMA in the summer, which is probably when i will be able to have a look see.
my first planned summer outing. i am looking forward to many more.

also, i've just sent an e-mail indicating my interest in a room in south philly. this room is particularly cheap, $400 a month, utilities and internet included. i told my ex-roommate joel last night that all this while i had been holding out at room hunting for the months after graduation because it would be indicative of my failure to launch my career; this was all purely psychological, i told him. hence, this move on my part to press that send button on the e-mail client was a hurdle on my part, one that i have finally overcome. or maybe surrendered.

pondering

lsat, gmat or gre?

another interview

i received an e-mail from this company last week asking me what times would be convenient to schedule a phone interview. i responsded by stating the times on each day that i did not have class/work and i added, 'would it be possible for you to tell me ahead of time when you will be calling?'
this morning, i checked my e-mail and the person still had not replied so i thought, maybe they've lost interest. better luck next time. i had some errands to run in center city so i thought i'd take the temple shuttle and as i was waiting for the bus, my phone rings and a new york number shows up on the caller id. i knew right away that it was my interviewer and i panicked a little, wondering if i should start walking back so i could conduct part of the interview in relative quiet, or just continue the conversation to the backdrop of passing cars.
i decided on the former. this interview caught me off guard ... i didn't have the chance to write questions beforehand or prepare answers because i thought i would know the exact time and day of the interview.
it's so easy for me to write this company off because it definitely didn't fit into my career objectives but at this point, i'm so ddsperate for a job. i did quite miserably at the interview but i should know by the end of the week if they want to talk to me again.

pennsylvania ballet

i do want to go see this. wl, don't you wish you were here and we'd go together?

inequality

income disparity in corporate america

gospel of judas

there's been some exciting news in christianity this week, making a rethink of historical accuracy necessary. the national geographic society has announced that they have discovered and translated a codex that is believed to be a copy of the gospel of judas, the first one to be discovered. the recently discovered gospel is important because it adds to a growing number of gnostic gospels that differ from the original four gospels in historical accounts and teaching. in the gospel of judas, for example, jesus is supposed to have encouraged judas to betray him. in the biblical gospels, judas betrays jesus either because of greed or because satan tricks him into doing so. with so many strands of theology already existent in the centuries after christ, one wonders if dan brown is right after all.

happy palm sunday all.

jubilee

here i am, sitting at my computer, happily tapping on my keyboard because a great weight has been lifted from my shoulders. the last paper i have to write as an undergraduate is safely complete in its relevant folder, waiting to be printed first thing tomorrow, stapled and given graciously to dr. p, genial ethics professor. how the hell i managed to find 3000 words to describe virtue ethics in relation to christian virtues and the simple way is beyond me, but it's over. in the process of the paper, i've caught a cold, skipped 3 classes and cursed loudly at the computer - i blame the academic inertia. what an experience.

p.s. jubilee refers to a biblical tradition that happened in the old testament where every 50 years, people's debts would be forgiven and land would be redistributed equally. how very noble they were back in the day.

PFFtttttt

it's film festival time again.

future husband

in an msn conversation i had yesterday, this person told me to move to california and i asked if that was a proposition and the reply was "definitely. ure marrying material baby" and since i had been bitching about how hard it was to find a job, i asked if i could put that on my resume to which the answer was "sure! just put me as a reference."

one less day to graduation and still no job on the horizon. worst of all, the gals i had been planning to live with will only be moving to philly in july, far too late for me since i need a place immediately after graduation. this means that i will have to go it alone - rent a room from strangers - and start looking for job alternatives. i considered waiting tables or working at coffee places so last friday, i went to a few locations in center city and asked for applications and was horrified at the rather detailed application questions (high school graduation, college major, references, previous work experience). i have no previous experience whatsoever in making lattes or holding trays which truly serves to my disadvantage. i do have some experience in merchandise retail, having worked for a month or so at uomo in bsc and i definitely have enough experience to work at a book store/library due to my devotion to my work study job back in grantham but i can't help but feel like i've fallen through the net. this surely is the end for me.

or i could move to california.

irritation

i am definitely frustrated with self, realizing that i regress more than i progress. i need more motivation and stimulation to keep moving forward!
i watched wicked this weekend. chin cha ho kua, tat lui man. gee chap goh koh.
and i had a splendid dinner last night - gazpacho with crab, maple and walnut coated duck, creme brulee and sangria at valanni . c'est delicious est pleasurable. i am definitely not worth all of this.