The interview focused heavily on credentials that didn't seem relevant to the position. I was asked for my SAT score (which I took 9 years ago), questioned about a percentile from a test I sat at age 13, and pressed on the ranking of my undergraduate institution. My master's degree was treated dismissively. The framing suggested it was viewed mainly as an immigration route rather than on its merits. The overall tone felt more like an attempt to find reasons to disqualify than a genuine effort to understand whether I could do the job. I left with a poor impression of how the company evaluates people.
Advice to management: Consider whether your screening criteria actually predict job performance. Asking adults for standardized test scores from years or decades earlier, and judging graduate degrees by the prestige of an unrelated undergrad, signals a process that isn't focused on the work.
I applied through a recruiter. I interviewed at ELK Capital Markets (New York, NY) in Jul 2025
Interview
A recruiter reached out to me and we spoke for 20-30 minutes. He thought Elk Capital would be a good fit. I sent over some of my past trading performance and resume but did not hear back for ~6 weeks. Eventually I was prompted to schedule a meeting with them.
Once I did, Allen, who I was meeting with, moved the meeting without asking, didn't matter, both times worked.
At the rescheduled time I was sitting alone in the meeting room for 5 minutes when, just as I was about to X out, Allen appears 5 minutes late.
He did not know who I was or why we were meeting so I ended the call. Maybe that was rude on my end but their process seemed very disorganized which portents terribly for the company.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
How did we get introduced? What is the context of this call?
