Don't Talk To Randall Dillard About Your Little 60 Hour Work Week Unless You're Willing To Do It For Free
Credit Suisse may be encouraging its young bankers to shun the office on weekends if they are not working on a big deal. And Goldman Sachs might have a “junior banker task force” to examine how to make the lives of lower-ranking analysts and associates more efficient and humane. But Randall Dillard, managing director and chief investment officer at Liongate Capital Management, a fund of hedge funds, had a distinctly different message for a roomful of prospective financiers on Monday morning: expect to work hard – really, hard. And don’t look for short cuts. “I don’t say that because I enjoy telling people to work long hours,” he said. “There’s just not a lot of coasting.” He cited a recent Financial Times poll that asked young bankers how much they worked. Fifty percent reported that they worked 60 hours a week. “That’s not even in the game,” he said...the crux of his unusually frank speech was to explain how to get – and keep – a job in the industry. “It requires discipline, not incredible insight,” he said. Start early, he advised, right after college. And offer to work without pay, he said. Only 4 percent of those who apply will get jobs. “I don’t say that to be elitist,” he said, sounding very sincere. [Dealbook]