We are still in a tough job situation according to comments around my sphere of influence: A friend of mine told that a domestic bank was opening four trainee positions and got 500 applications. A VC had trouble going through the recruitment process. The CEO apologised that he could not see me till the end of May. Over 200 applicants were looking for an analyst position. He had to spend an hour with the selected top people one at the time. That eats up nicely your working week... The range of people who applied tells the true story: real senior people in their 50's till just graduated and everything between.
Great for the companies since experienced people are around. Dull for so many talented people who cannot find anything reasonable to do. I read somewhere that 50% of all analysts are unemployed at the moment. I wonder whether there is more volatile business than financial industry. An industry that floats with the good times and hits so hard when the bear market arrives.
Some time ago (April 16) I was telling about a LP who was actually the biggest owner of a growth company via three GPs possibly without even knowing it. PrivateEquityWeekly is covering the same problem area when many GPs are joining their forces for a single buy-out case. Who's in charge and whom to blame when the investment goes down the drain?
Sorry for not keeping my weblog for a few days. I was enjoying the sunny days and driving with my bike. Now my latest record is 700km in 24 hours. I visited our summer house and drove back. It's funny how a journey becomes more important than the destination. Even with my ex-sports car I was discovering isolated curvy roads from my ordinary and familar routes. Still, the driving was boring compared to a bike ride. My best experience with a four-wheeler was definetely in the mountains. Nine o'clock in the evening, dry weather and no traffic. A 20% uphilll serpentine road and an intensive session very fast. After half an hour later the car smelt like rubber, the clutch and the driver was in ecstasy. Next time I would like to do it with a car speeding to 0-60mph around 4 seconds. The acceleration is the best thing - driving fast is dull.
Guess what's the latest record for a newbie running into a serious accident with a motor bike? 40 meters! Last year it was still 70 meters. Unbelievable.
Posted at May 4, 2003 06:30 PM