Disqualified from a job because of a book I didn’t read

"Our Brave New World" by Charles Gave was published in 2005.

This wasn't about "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley (see first post in this thread)



Quote from tomcole:

Brave New World was publiushed in the 1930s.
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Quote from tomcole:

Its a classic book - they probably figured, correctly, if you've never read a classic, you probably know little to nothing about other things as well. I dont blame them for what they did.

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i disagree 100% tom. King kong is a classic movie, i never saw it. Shakespere is a classic and important literature as exists in the world...but lots of people dont like it...myself included. Motzart is a classic composer, but i dont own any of his music.

some people dont like to read those things, and were never required to do so in school.

I would still not read it simply because i dont care for novels, and have other things that i prefer to occupy my time with.

however, we can be very well educated and cultured. I speak a few languages, can cook cuisine form several different countries, have traveled extensively, went to a top 20 school, have a pilots license, have raced everything from yachts to go karts, have drivien the pan-american highway and just recieved an e-mail from the CEO of the largest Institutional broker in the world. Both my parents are PH.ds (father being an actual rocket scientist) and i doubt they have read it either. that is a personal situation, but i trust there are thousannds of very knowledgable people who have not chosen to read it.

having missed 1 particular novel due to lack of interest in the subject matter does not make a fool my friend.
 
This question is too weird for a finance position, unless the position requires entertaining a bestsellers freak client. Or at least a pop economics sucker client, the kind that likes the book freakonomics.

It also sounds appropriate for a bookstore employee or journalist.

Otherwise, either they threw that question to end the interview quickly, because it doesn't seem to measure any kind of finance competence, or, the position in fact requires someone good at BS and pop economics.

I've never heard prospective English teachers being asked about the economy or the stock market, or if they know what the VIX, convexity, delta or gamma are.

EDIT:
Just looked it up on amazon.

Maybe the guy was in fact interviewing for Gavekal research

This book is too esotheric. I read a lot about the markets and I've never heard of it. There's nothing there I haven't seen elsewhere: cycles, bubbles, a crash is coming blah blah.

Not fair to ask this to someone right out of college. In college, econ professors make a point of mocking and disdaining all macroeconomists not teaching at a top 10 program, so it's very unlikely for even an econ major to even hear about this kind of thinking.
 
Quote from tomcole:

Its a classic book - they probably figured, correctly, if you've never read a classic, you probably know little to nothing about other things as well. I dont blame them for what they did.
More...

I've never heard of that book either and I am a compulsive reader.
 
When I worked for a large firm, we used to ask what the last 3 books someone read. It gives you an idea of who they are and if they fit into the hiring group.

If you get someone who only reads speciality books, such as bird watching in outer Mongolia, usually it means if they get a job offer in that area, they're gone and you wasted months training someone.

I think its a polite way to ask someone their interests.
 
Quote from tomcole:

When I worked for a large firm, we used to ask what the last 3 books someone read. It gives you an idea of who they are and if they fit into the hiring group.

If you get someone who only reads speciality books, such as bird watching in outer Mongolia, usually it means if they get a job offer in that area, they're gone and you wasted months training someone.

I think its a polite way to ask someone their interests.
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I do a lot of hiring, and also a lot of reading. I laugh every time I see on a resume under hobbies, where the applicant puts "reading". I then ask what the last three or four books they have read were. Sometimes I get some good answers and a good insight into who they are. Many times I get the "deer in headlights" stare and they fumble to try to think of the name of some book because it has been years since they read one.
 
Quote from tomcole:

When I worked for a large firm, we used to ask what the last 3 books someone read. It gives you an idea of who they are and if they fit into the hiring group.
More...

The question was specifically about one book, it was not an open question.
 
OK, the guy didnt read the book. But instead of reading it, or reading some reviews, he posts his ignorance here, looking for some sympathy.

At least the guy who asked the question, had a job, and probably read the book. Maybe thats the clue the poster should follow.
 
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