<p>I’m wondering what personality is ‘fit’ for i-banking and consulting. Generally, I heard that you have to be sociable and able to work in team. Well, I am not that type.</p>
<p>I am taciturn,shy, and initially unfriendly. However, I am a good public speaker and I can speak well in serious topics. And I perform very well in interviews. But I am also a loner. I like to spend most of my time with myself and I don’t like parties. </p>
<p>Anyway, I’m interested in I-banking and wonder whether my personality totally disable my potential in i-banking and consulting jobs.
Are there any successful businessmen who are not outgoing?</p>
<p>As you get older, you learn how to structure your personality to fit all kinds of social situations. To answer your question: no, your personality doesn’t doom you to failure. It takes all kinds to make a world.</p>
<p>I’m kind of like you, too; I hate parties and don’t understand why gyrating to blasting music and getting drunk is considered important in i-banking. But keep in mind that business is a social profession, so even if you’re not a party animal, you should be able to carry interesting conversations with your colleagues, not just keep to yourself. No matter how hard you work, if you’re a complete loner, you’ll always be doing some kind of grunt work, because at the higher levels of i-banking, you’ll have to make deals and net clients and so forth, which requires social skills. Performing well at an interview will help you get hired initially, but after that, it’s really your other social skills that’ll help you advance. Don’t worry though; this won’t disable you or anything. There’s plenty of time to work on it.</p>
<p>I’d say you’d have to work on it but its not definetely a handicap. I’d also say it’s necessary to understand that being social is not just a personality trait but also a desirable skill - once you look at it that way you can set yourself the goal of being good at it. Don’t kid yourself into thinking you wont need it or else youll be doomed at doing grunt work in a cubicle the other posters described. </p>
<p>So that you know, I started working for a consulting firm after I got my MIS degree and Im kind of like you - I tend to keep to myself. I quickly realized that I need to work on fine-tuning my social skills to make it in consulting, and not only that, I’m finding out that Im enjoying meeting all these new people thru work. Who would have figured…</p>
<p>Being social is just another generic skill apllicable to work like being on time, be willing to work long hours or paying attention to detail. If the prospective job/field requires a skill that you as an individual are not interest to develop, then don’t try that career path - simple as that.</p>
<p>Imagine that somebody said in a work interview for a fireman position that “he doesn’t like danger”, but besides that, he’s totally fine all the other peeves of the job. Well, that’s totally OK as far as him having his own personality, but guess what - he’s not fit for the job cuz “he doesn’t like danger” - he won’t risk his life to save a baby from a building in flames.</p>
<p>The example is a it extreme bit it’s the same concept.</p>
<p>Ibanking is a social profession. It doesnt matter that you can do any mathematical problem blindfolded in your sleep. What matters is that you can relate to clients, cajole them, and win deals. Its a deal making job. Number crunchers tend to stay in research or work as quants and even those require work as a team and being extroverted to a certain degree. To tell you the truth introverted, shy, and well loner type people really aren’t successful in business. In business you need to be extroverted, and open. </p>
<p>Even if you get into the job you will probably not be able to move up the corporate ladder much. Sorry.</p>
<p>No matter what career path you choose you’ll have to network, cut deals and be a “people developer” as they say it in my firm. </p>
<p>But I guess that if you still want to rake in big with your set of desired skills, then definetely get into computer engineering or into biochemistry, preferabley from a top Engineering school and get into internships as early as your sophomore year with big name companies.</p>
<p>Fortunately, becoming “social” isn’t that hard of a task to accomplish… just do it… I myself, am a perfect example of a shy, humble, meek person. I’m slowly breaking out of this shell as I’ve been working for a IT consulting company and I interface with clients.</p>