He botched an interview at w/ a venture capitalist firm today in Trenton. He's just a couple years younger than me, so we talk quite a bit. Anywho, he said that he and the interviewer just didn't click. He's a BYU grad almost finished w/ his Masters in business. Really sharp kid, returned missionary, all that stuff. He said he thought the interviewer was LDS, too, but wasn't sure. The guy certainly was a BYU fan and really talked up the sports program, so naturally he felt very comfortable bringing up his mission, his time at BYU, etc.

Then my cousin said the interviewer started talking about clothes. He said the first big question the interviewer asked was, "If someone gave you 100,000$ to spend on clothes, what would you spend it on?" My cousin didn't know what to say, so the interviewer started name dropping things like Armani, Gucci, Burberry Prorsum. My cousin didn't recognize half the names.

Then the interviewer asks my cousin about his shoes? On his way to the interview, the cab had splashed mud on them while pulling away from the curb, so my cousin hurried to the bathroom to clean them, but only made things worse by leaving a thin coat of dirt on the whole outside. Rather than be late with polished shoes, my cousin figured punctuality was more important. BOY WAS HE WRONG.

Sadly, he is broke, like almost every college kid. 2 kids and a wife pregnant with the third. Both of their kids have high medical costs due to heart defects, so he works as an early-morning janitor in the Marriott Center to help bring in extra money on top of his schooling and night job doing filing for a local business firm. He couldn't even afford to get a new pair of kicks for the interview but his in-laws did recently get him a new suit for the interview. So when the interview started asking about clothes, my cousin had no idea what to talk about. When asked if he'd spring 1K for a new suit, my cousin almost threw up.

The next question thrown at him was what set him apart. This is an east coast job, not a lot of interviewees from out west, especially LDS, so he talked about his mission and how that had changed his life. And believe me, he was a total yewt before his mission, and he got his life in order and came back a completely different person. Unfortunately, the interviewer kept turning the conversation back to his clothes, which threw off my cousin. So finally he says, "I have a suit that lasted me my whole mission, so it must be as good as a 1K suit, right?" He meant it as a joke, but the interviewer took it really serious. After that, my cousin pretty much knew he wasn't getting the job, so he spent the next several minutes asking the interviewer questions to try and salvage whatever chances he had.

The interviewer went on about his yacht, his time in Dubai, how amazing it was, and how much money someone could make in venture capitalism. My cousin isn't terribly interested in the money aspect, he's just a guy who loves business. Sure he wants to make money, but he doesn't know if he's the right fit for the business anymore. Now I'm wondering what kind of advice I can give a kid who just got beat down in his first big interview?

The good news is, he doesn't have a porn problem, so I know someone out there will want him.