Jeffrey Chiang is a good example of what not to do to get a job. He recently interviewed at Bank of America and when asked if he had any other offers, he said that he was in his second round of interviews at Morgan Stanley. So Bank of America contacted Morgan Stanley who stated that he had only had a phone interview, and he claimed that he had an offer from Bank of America. Chiang then provided proof of a job offer from Morgan Stanley (which they now knew was fake). And the Bank of America forwarded the email to Morgan Stanley. Chiang also demanded to stay at the Four Seasons while there on his interview.
Here is the email chain of events:
From: Jeffrey Chiang
To: [Morgan Stanley]
Subject: FW: Bank of America Merrill Lynch Interviews
From: [Fake Bank of America ML Recruiter]
To: Jeffrey Chiang
Subject RE: Bank of America Merrill Lynch Interviews
Hi Jeff,
Everyone was very impressed with your interviews today. We are excited
to formally extend to you an offer to join Bank of Ameria [sic]
Merrill Lynch as an analyst next summer. You should be getting
documentation in the mail to sign very shortly. If you have any
further questions please feel free to email me. Again, congratulations
and we look forward to having you join us next year.
——————————
From: [Morgan Stanley]
To: [Bank of America ML]
Subject: FW: Bank of America Merrill Lynch Interviews
This is what Jeffrey sent Morgan Stanley to prove he received an offer
from your firm. Given you told me you dinged him, should I assume this
is fake? If so, that’s unbelievable and his school should be notified,
he shouldn’t get a job anywhere on Wall Street.
——————————
From: [Bank of America ML]
To: [Lehman Brothers], [UBS]
Subject: FW: Jeffrey Chiang
I don’t know if this guy has come up on your radar screens in terms of
analyst recruits, but you need to be warned about him. I should have
been tipped off by the fact that he ran a “5k marathon” on his resume.
I just figured something got lost in translation.
I interviewed him on campus, and while he was pretty weird/intense, he
seemed like somebody who would crank and potentially make for a good
analyst, so we waved him in for an office visit.
Things started going bad for him when I got a call from our HR
department about him during our Superday. In making his travel
arrangements with our travel agent, he had apparently made a big stink
about needing to stay at the Four Seasons and blow up on the travel
person. It was apparently bad enough that she went to the trouble to
inform our HR department.
Our Superday reviews on him were pretty mixed, nonetheless. He had
spent a summer at Gulfstar, so I did a bit of checking on him there,
and it became clear that they were also very unimpressed with the way
that he carried himself. So, we dinged him, but that is not where the
story ends.
He had told one of the associates in our office that he was in the
second round of interviews for MS’s Palo Alto office. Well, our
associate happened to mention this to his friend that works in the MS
Palo Alto office and the associate at MS said that Jeff had had only
had a phone interview but had indicated that he had an offer from
BAML. When the MS team asked him to send proof of his offer, he
manufactured the email below and forwarded to the MS team.
We have notified UT of this joker’s behavior, but needless to say,
this guy shouldn’t be able to get a job at McDonalds after a stunt
like this.
Everyone is giving this guy a lot of creaming.. yeah, he probably deserved it, but why is noone asking what was H.R’s role in this? Isn’t this not part of the Confidential part of the employment process?
them leaking this information out to the public was quite shoddy!
This kids was probably obnoxious, but Really, leak it out to ruin his career for the rest of his life? Really? That Blows!
Shame on you H.R -
I don’t really know…does he really deserve a respectable career after this? I think every company in the world has the right to be warned about a shyster like him. HR didn’t ruin his future, Jeffrey Chiang did.
HR is not required to keep his employment status confidential. Sharing experiences among firms of various candidates is very common on Wall Street actually.
HR didn’t so much leak it. They warned other recruiters on Wall Street to watch out for him. So Morgan Stanley HR sent to warn other bank’s HR. And other bank’s HR sent it to the rank and file, to watch out for the student. It’s all fair. This is how Wall Street operates, it’s a tiny exclusive world that Jeff Chiang will never belong to.
@492 Don’t say it was not H.R. – they obviously allowed an associate to have way too much informaton – they are highly accountable here.
H.R are the professionals, and this was silly kid, with a lot of Ego, trying to play the game. Doesn’t make it right what he did.
But blame and responsibility definitely on H.R Shoulders as They SHOULD know what they are mandated Legally to uphold. They could have advised him, or not too, but they should definitely make sure this was kept under wraps.
They now need to get rid of the guy who leaked this out to the press
I hope this guy Gets a GREAT lawyer.
To the post above, that’s not how it works in Wall Street. When candidates like Jeffrey Chiang interview, he does not only interview with HR – he goes through a series of rounds with the bankers. Those bankers then reach out to other bankers at different firms. Most firms involve the bankers in the recruitment process since they will be the ones working with any new hires – NOT HR! I highly doubt it was a case of the firm’s HR spreading information, more likely the bankers contacted each other after the interview and bought it to the attention of their HR. Then those bankers all told their friends at other firms to watch out. There’s nothing wrong with this – it’s called due diligence – before you offer someone a six-digit contract! And everyone knows everyone in Wall Street.
Patsy,
You’re a moron. Don’t talk about legal obligations if you don’t understand it. There is no legal duty for companies to hold your resume confidential. It’s generally a policy that companies abide by, but by no means obligated to do so.
I’m a UT Austin student and embarrassed by this guys actions. I hope you all realize he is not a good representation of our school.
AM embarrassed (pardon the typo)
Investment News published an article by Charles Paikert October 11, 2009. The article was titled ‘Sallie Krawcheck: Why behemoth brokerages will prevail’ A post in response to the article caught our eye that has particular relevance to this situation. “Recycling top management from one firm to another seems only to exacerbate the current problem which is correcting the lack of trust in the process and in the spoken word. The current condition of employee morale within BofA is one of fear. Pumping money into advertising does not address the issue of developing integrity with the customer when there is no integrity standard at the so called behemoth. Case in point was Merrill’s and BofA’s recent devastating treatment of Merrill Lynch’s 1st and 2nd year analysts (trainees) which provides insight into the misplaced culture of the company under the direction of BofA. Merrill and BofA literally wrecked the careers of unsuspecting 22, 23 and 24 year old girls and boys who had been heavily recruited by Merrill. Merrill had the fiduciary responsibility to protect these kids from the BofA culture and an industry gone afoul yet it chose to literally throw out the babies with the bathwater. It is absurd to believe advertising will persuade right thinking people to align themselves with a firm whose moral compass remains dysfunctional. If the desire is to regain the trust and character of the Merrill brand, then BofA shall bring back all those heavily recruited Merrill youngsters as the initial step toward directing the compass pointing at true north”. It would seem the release of this unfortunate JC episode to the public shall do more damage to BAML’s image. The issue should have been handled with sophistication and class yet the behemoth BAML can’t seem to get it right! Goliath should not take on David in public where too many others are impacted.
I’m sure this guy was just trying to secure a job, especially now with whole mess that wall street started, yes he was dishonest about but so everyone at wall street. i don’t believe he did anything wrong, just as those banks didn’t do any wrong by trapping ppl in floating interest rates.
nate:
You can join Patsy on the ‘Moron’ list. This guy forged a document and used it to misrepresent not only himself, but an entire corporation. That’s actually felony fraud. The fact that you don’t believe this guy did anything wrong says as much about you as it does about him. Great moral compass there, pal. And we wonder what’s wrong with the country right now…
I know this guy personally and though he may have a few flaws (namely, incredibly hyperactive), there is certainly nothing about himself he was trying to hide. So he lied on a resume. Whoopdee fucking dooo!! look at the industry he was hoping to work in and try and tell me what he did isn’t a common practice. What he did was wrong, but why is he in particular being publicly chastised? That industry began fucking itself over long before he received his degree – unbeknownst to him. Everyone tries to get an advantage, he just caught – why is a 22 year old being hung for this? focus your attention on the CEOs and HR. Jeff came from a very rough neighborhood in Houston (Aleif) and when he’s having to compete with individuals who have had life-long relationships through Ivy-League Institutions (inherited relationships), well, I sympathize with him.
I read somewhere else, that apparently chiang is a immigrant from china 7 years ago. his family is very rich, and they obtained their citizenship through business immigration (3 Million minimum).
I’m just throwing this out there.
shutup,
the kid screwed up and now he is paying the price. that is the way the world works. this kid needs to grow and start applying at the only companies that will take his resume… McDonalds and Burger King
i have the same problem as chiang.. I grew up with parents that never went to college.. never had a chance to get the ivy league for college.. but im starting as an analyst next year.. it’s possible.. he really shouldn’t have lied.
Patsy, it’s weird to me how you have posted the EXACT same message on several blogs/news site that reported Jeffrey Chiang’s scam.
Reading over your comments again, it’s obvious how much you want the person that made Jeffrey’s case public in trouble.
Here is a few link that Patsy has posted his comment in
http://www.techbanyan.com/6331/jeffrey-chiang-good-hired/
http://www.blippitt.com/jeffrey-chiang-job-interview-fail
http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-19632-Salt-Lake-City-Headlines-Examiner~y2009m10d22-Jeffrey-Chiang-blacklisted-from-getting-a-job-in-the-finance-world
I wonder who could patsy be.
And if Jeffrey could see this, please know that there are many people, seriously I mean many, that are very smart people who dedicate their lives catching trickers like you.
@ Wiltz. Apparently Patsy would like to get her point of view out to as many readers as possible. Don’t see why you would have an issue with that unless ofcourse you are an HR person. Thanks for the links I would like to read more.
I know this guy! He was strange when I first met him, as in he kept only to the people he knew and saw himself as somewhat better than others. Don’t say that this guy had a hard life because he was from Alief! I am from Alief and I know that he did not have a hard life in this district! What he did was really bad, especially to bring bad connotation to UT. The different companies had the right to spread around his wrong doings! It was a very stupid thing to do especially for a guy who had great grades and many activities/clubs memberships. Now I don’t see him anywhere on campus… What a bad choice to make in your last year at UT…..
I am a graduate of the Red McCombs School of Business at UT Austin and even though my heart my feel for this guy being buried alive in the public view, he dug the grave himself. I know most of us are young and it is easier to feel the world crash down on us if we lost our careers we worked so hard to start so early in the game, but try to imagen if you were running these companies and the school. UT, even though having no hand in this at all, is questioned in the minds of many and has a new mark against them for this because it should be their responsiblity to make sure this doesn’t happen. I felt that the lying was dishonest and makes you question his ethics, etc in the business world, but that trust can be regained with hardwork. Where he stepped over the line was the e-mail offer fraud. You can only over look and come back from so much, but that was the line of no return and he crossed it. If there is a fence between what may or may not be acceptable in a industry even though ethics or education tells you it is a “no-no”, this is something that would make me feel you couldn’t trust this person to any extent