Reply #80: Nahhh - a college kid is not expected to wear a $1K suit.

[Lucky Luciano]

You have to look hungry more than someone who went to finishing school. I mean every fourth word out of a trader's mouth is "Fuck" while on the job. It is Miss Manners' nightmare.

Connections can help becuase if the kid's father was in the business and the father does a good job, then there can be some credibility. The hardest thing for an unconnected person (I was one) is to convince them that you are for real. You don't need to look the part - as I said, there is a great deal of sensitivity to diversity now.

More important than anything is attitude. Are you knowledgeable, yet humble? That would score big points. A lot of these Ivy league kids go into an interview thinking they are hot shit - they rarely get the job. Also, you have to be humble, but at the same time, you have to be extremely confident in a healthy way and you need to truly believe in yourself. Sounds kind of cliche, but it is true - you can do whatever you want to do - the key word is "want." The reason a lot of poorer and lower middle class don't move up is lack of access to good educations - that must be addressed. Even if they do get an education, they need to have hope and honest confidence without hubris. This can be hard growing up in a poor neighborhood with no role models.