Barclays Capital recruitment exam - how fast can you think?

Last night I sat the on-campus test for the graduate recruitment program at Barclays Capital. Barclays Capital, the investment banking arm of Barclays Bank, tests over 10,000 students world-wide each year BEFORE asking them to sumbit their resumes. Their theory is that they are a global employer (they took two Melbourne MBA students for positions in London last year), and that since not all business schools require the GMAT for their applications, they should give all applicants a fair and equal chance by having their own test.

I did a 96-question psychological profile ("are you a team member or an individual?" "are you interested in making a lot of money or having a lot of responsibility?" etc) followed by a verbal and a quant test. The questions weren't that difficult (any reasonably smart junior high school student could probably do them), but the amount of time allowed for the test was miniscule - four sections, each with around 15 - 20 multiple choice questions, but only 10 minutes allowed per section! None of the answers are immediately obvious - the questions require logical thinking and several calculations.

My advice to anyone who is planning to sit the test this season - make sure you're alert, bring a stopwatch, and make sure you are completely familar with the functions of your calculator. I didn't finish any of the sections (although I did randomly select an answer for the questions that I didn't have time to do), but I was fairly comfortable that I'd done reasonably well.

I should know within a couple of weeks whether I've made it to the next round.

Does the MBA force you to become a morning person?

Coming from a background in the IT industry, I would probably not be shocking people if I told you that I'm by no means a morning person. When I was working in IT back in Australia (especially when I was living the life of a computer programmer) I would struggle to make it to the office by 9:30. The first hour or so would be spent catching up on emails, surfing the web, consuming my first coffee, etc, and I typically wouldn't start any serious work until around 10:30. (Of course, I typically had dinner at the office, and would stay through to around 9:00pm)

I did well in Melbourne during my first two terms to avoid having any MBA classes starting before 8:00am. An 8:00am start at MBS would meaning leaving St Kilda by 7:15 at the latest. Which means getting up around 6:00am (ouch!). Here at Columbia I have one class that starts at 8:15am on Tuesday and Thursdays. The six-minute commute is definitely handy, but I still need to get my gf to give me a wake up call to ensure that I get up on time.

This is something I need to change. As an MBA graduate I'm going to have to be awake and alert in the mornings. Perhaps I should enrol in a bunch of 8:00am classes during my final term at Melbourne, and force myself to change ;-)

Changing of the guard at Hawthorn

News from back home: Daniel Chick has been traded to West Coast, and Hawthorn picks up ruckman Peter "Spider" Everitt from the Saints (source: The Age)

"Picking a VC is like picking a surgeon"

We had a guest lecturer today in my Introduction to Venturing* - Bob Higgins, founder and managing partner of VC firm Highland Capital Partners, Harvard Business School professor, and supporting "actor" in the documentary movie startup.com.

While it would be inappropriate to share with you the full contents of his presentation, there were a few key observations / comments that I found interesting:

• When evalutating an opportunity, VCs primarily look at the experience of the proposed management team. The market, product, and economics of the deal are obviously also considered, but the management team is essential.
  
• For around 80% of deals, VCs actually seek out entrepreneurs (by attending conferences and networking) rather than waiting for business plans to land on their doorstep.
  
• Virtually no new VC money is being raised at the moment, but there's about US$50 billion in existing funds waiting to be invested in ventures.
  
• For most deals, VC's like to take around 25% - 50% of the equity in a company, but it's important to ensure that the management team still end up with a decent share of the company (around 20%).
  
• A 'good' entrepreneur should be selective about which VC firms to approach. A VC will be making more than just a financial investment in your firm; they'll be on the board, will probably be involved in recruiting members of the management team, and may even be in a position to fire you if you don't perform (although this is rare).
  

* (full review of the course coming this weekend, I promise ;-)

Investment Banking exam

I have my first Columbia exam next Monday. It's a mid-term (20%) for my Investment Banking course.

I've been a little dissatisifed with this course so far. The classes are very difficult to prepare for as the professor does not provide very detailed notes and I don't have the experience/know how to provide enough intuition for the cases, however when I attend the classes the guest speakers are fantastic - lots of real-world experiences and heaps of insight. So far I've had the honour to hear from the CEO of collapsed west coast investment bank Robertson Stephens, the equity captial markets bankers who helped JetBlue go public in 2002, and the debt capital markets bankers who recently did a US$1 billion debt issue with an interest rate swap for FirstData Corporation.

For our mid-term exam, the professor has asked us to memorise a collection of industry terms that we would be expected to know if we worked in the industry. Most of them are fairly standard finance terms like maturity, volatility, warrant, and arbitrage, but we're also expected to know what NASDAQ stands for (about as useful as knowing what PCMCIA stands for), and how the fees for an IPO are distributed amongst the investment banks involved (very important).

I'll admit - I've learnt a great deal in this course, but I've been taking a passive approach to learning in a course where the professor's expecting me to be active. It's a good thing that only my pass/fail status will be reported back to Melbourne for this one as I don't expect I'll do very well. (This has been my approach for most of the subjects I've undertaken here at Columbia - I'm doing courses that will challenge me rather than those that I can cruise through and get a high grade).

Anthony is writing a book!

Check out the book cover - methinks he might have trouble getting this particular project finished. ;-)

An enjoyable break in San Francisco

I've just returned from a sensational four-day break in San Francisco! Columbia has a fantastic concept called 'mid-term break' - a full week off from classes while people who were enrolled in half-term subjects do their exams. So, I took the New Jersey transit (train) out to Newark International Airport, and caught a Boeing 737 Super 80 to Chicago and on to San Fran. A big thank you to my good friend Tristen who hosted me for the four days and took me on several outings on the weekend.

Some of the highlights of the trip:

• Dinner amongst entrepreneurs - on the first night I joined a large group for a dinner in San Francisco's financial district - the main topic of conversation: Germany's lack on entrepreneurialism. This was in spite of one of the guests who had bucked the trend and co-founded a dot com in Germany that had reached Euro 10b market-cap during the boom.
  
• Shopping Downtown - picked up some new 501s at Macys and a very cool woollen trenchcoat from Banana Republic - all set for those chilly New York winter days now
  
• A visit to SF MoMA - besides the regular Picasso's, Mondrian's etc, there was an interesting exhibition of the varied works of German artist Gerhard Richter, and some 1850s photography by Lewis Carroll (of Alice in Wonderland fame)
  
• Networking the Bay Area - I met up with a couple of people working in the Bay Area VC industry for some informational interviews - lots of juicy advice and some potential further contacts! One of them even partially restored my faith in career fulfilment in a big firm.
  
• Jack Johnson concert - "Why don't the newscasters cry when they read about people who die / At least they could be decent enough to put just a tear in their eyes" - I went out to UC Berkeley to see Jack Johnson at a very classic open-air greek style ampitheatre.
  
• College Football - saw my first college football game out at Stanford University. Stanford beat Arizona 16-6. This was also my first exposure to the American concept of tailgating, an activity I sincerely hope never takes off in Australia.
  
• World Series - Go Giants! - the Yankees may have failed dismally in the post-season, but the San Francisco Giants made it all the way to the World Series. Games 1 and 2 were held in Anaheim while I was in San Fran, and I had the unique opportunity to watch game one in a San Francisco brewery bar with a bunch of very excited locals. (SF won game one 4-3, the series is currently tied at 1-1). Tickets for games three and four in SF have been selling in secondary markets for up to US$1000.
  
• A hike amongst the redwoods - on Sunday we headed across the Golden Gate bridge (US$5 toll - ouch!) and went for a breathtaking six-mile hike amongst the Californian redwoods at the Muir Woods National Monument. Absolutely beautiful.
  

Back in New York now - taking it easy for a day before classes resume with Advanced Corporate Finance on Wednesday.

US press ignores Australia's pain

[the age 15.10.2002]

"The British press has dubbed the Bali bombings Australia's own September 11.

But in the US, Australia is hardly rating a mention."

So true.

My observation is that the US press only seem to care about world events in the context of how the event affects them. So, the Bali Bombing is just another international bombing that continues to add to the threat of international terrorism and the security of US citizens.

my last five imoods: sad, subdued, sick, tired, annoyed

It's been a tough week ;-( Hopefully I'll be able to cheer up in time for my holiday in San Francisco, which starts on Wednesday.

Business Week B-School rankings

Business Week released their biennial b-school rankings this week. Columbia has held firm at Number 7. Wharton has finally been toppled from Number 1 by Kellogg. Columbia is the second highest-placed b-school available for exchange from Melbourne Business School, only to be surpased by Chicago which came in at Number 2 overall (a significant improvement on their Number 10 ranking from 2000). As usual Harvard had the highest tuition (US$36,770/yr) but only came in second on median pay post-mba (US$134.6K).