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<\/a><\/p>\nA trader told me: ‘Nobody gives a shit about your education\/GPA\/resume. To get a job on Wall St you need to know someone who already works there, and be able to handle numbers’. Is that true?<\/em> I’m heading to London for the U.K. book launch in February. A trader told me: ‘Nobody gives a shit about your education\/GPA\/resume. To get a job on Wall St you need to know someone who already works there, and be able to handle numbers’. Is that true? There’s a lot of truth to that … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":635,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/turneyduff.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/turneyduff.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/turneyduff.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/turneyduff.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/turneyduff.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/turneyduff.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/turneyduff.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/turneyduff.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/turneyduff.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/turneyduff.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nThere’s a lot of truth to that statement. And even more so when you get a job. Once you’re in the only thing people care about is the bottom line: Performance. If you didn’t go to a target school getting into Wall Street is like breaking into a house. The front door is locked so you have to try every window and door until you can break in. A young aspiring kid once asked me “what’s the best way to get a trading job at Goldman Sachs?” My reply “Build a time machine and go back and convince your grandfather to work there.”<\/strong>
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\nWhat’s the go-to restaurant\/bar for Wall St traders? Bloomberg talks about Smith and Wollensky’s – is that tourist bullshit? Or do the top-earning traders actually hang out there?<\/em>
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\nNot to be rude, but I would rather sit in the bleachers in 100 degree heat at a NY METS game in the 7th inning when they stop selling beer than go to Smith and Wollensky’s. If you’re looking for Wall Street playgrounds that serves food you should go to HARLOW, NOBU 57 or The General.<\/strong>
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\nDuring your time, was there a ‘Dorsia’ equivalent? (You talk about Canal Room in the book… was that the place to be seen, or simply a place you liked?)<\/em>
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\nThe Canal Room was a great place to throw a party… But the Dorsia equivalent in my day was Bungalow 8. I guess for a minute it was also Lotus and Marquee.<\/strong>
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\nWhat’s the most extravagant party you threw at The White House? <\/em>
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\nThe foot massage party was pretty insane, but I think the most extravagant one was the bring an intern after work party because they had no idea what was behind door #3… Some interns after that became members for life…<\/strong>
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\nIs there one Wall St party that has become legendary? (i.e. one that traders acknowledge as the benchmark when it comes to hedonism.)<\/em>
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\nThe benchmark for the haves and have not’s is the Super Bowl weekend invite. Typically it’s a private jet with hired help, luxury hotel suites and parties at night. Things can get a little crazy… <\/strong>
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\nIn terms of pranks between traders, what’s the best one you ever heard about?<\/em>
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\nThere’s so many of them, but one of my favorites is when an intern or new employee is asked to find “the upticks” so they are sent by cabs and subways all over Manhattan trying to find them. So the trader on the floor will tell the intern “oh man, they just left but if you go up to XYZ Capital on 57th and Park they should have them… and so on and so on… <\/strong>
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\nI feel bad about it now, but I once called a sales trader on their first day and said I needed to buy 1 million shares of T-W-A-T – I spelled out the letters so it didn’t sound like a word. So he stood up on trading floor with all of his new fellow employees and screamed for a market on 1mm T-W-A-T – it took him a few minutes to realize it wasnt a real symbol and it actually spelled a word. I’m going to hell aren’t I?<\/strong>
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\nThe hazing\/initiation ceremonies sound quite tame (getting a junior member of staff to pick up a $5000 tab). Does more extreme stuff go down? Or is it all myth?<\/em>
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\nIt’s more about verbal humiliation. Worse stuff probably goes on in fraternity basements all across the country. <\/strong>
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\nYou indulged in many hedonistic pursuits. Looking back, what’s the dumbest thing you spent money on?<\/em>
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\nI was on a quest to have the most comfortable bed in Manhattan for obvious reasons… I went to ABC Carpet and told the sales woman what I wanted. I really wasn’t impressed, but after prodding a little bit they finally let me into a secret backroom for linens and such. So I brought my items to the register and handed over my credit card. When I saw the total bill was $10,000 for a duvet cover, pillows and sheets I was ill, but it was too late to back out.<\/strong>
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\nWall St has it’s own language (‘fuck-you money’, ‘elephant hunting’) – what was your favourite bit of Wall St slang?<\/em>
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\nMy favorite bit about Wall Street language is making fun of it. When guys and girls are so enthralled with their trader talk they start to use it in everyday life… It doesn’t work. Here is an excerpt from my book…<\/strong>
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\nHe is coming dangerously close to becoming \u201cJohnny Wall Street.\u201d Randy and I have names for guys like this. We just say J Wall for short; he\u2019s the guy who wears button down shirts un-tucked over his khakis. In the office he tells you to protect him on the lunch print as if he was asking to be protected on a block trade of a million shares. Johnny Wall says he\u2019s a size buyer when he sees a hot chick. He tells you at Happy Hour how he whacked a bid and sold another 250,000 shares behind it. At dinner he brings up commissions and research. He asks you what your favorite stock ideas are as you put a slice of buffalo mozzarella in your mouth. He doesn’t own any stocks; he just wants to impress. Johnny is the last one to show up at your high school reunion driving his new car and checking his Rolex. Johnny Wall is a douche.<\/strong>
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\nBizarrely, given the insane amounts of money that traders are responsible for, I’ve heard a lot of them are extremely superstitious. Did you have any superstitions?<\/em>
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\nSuperstitious or Super-vicious? No, no superstitions…<\/strong>
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\nIf there a particular tailor’s shop where you’ll find all the top Wall St guys having their suits made?<\/em>
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\nNo not really. Occasionally you’ll see a guy sneak in the side door and take a few quick measurements, but there isn’t a go to place.<\/strong>
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\nYou were in Wall St around the time of the second dot-com bubble – did the relaxed dot-com vibe change Wall St’s suit-and-tie culture?<\/em>
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\nIt changed here and there, but it wasn’t industry wide. You can learn a lot about your peers on casual Fridays… Black jeans and turtlenecks say so much… <\/strong>
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\nPrivately, did Wall St traders ever say to each other: ‘Yeah, the valuations on these dot-com companies are complete bullshit’? <\/em>
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\nSure – people said it all the time, but it wasn’t bullshit until they were right. Someone much smarter than me once said… Being early and wrong are the same thing…<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"