[peterjmag]

After reading the responses, I'm really glad I'm not in finance. "Hilarious but bold"? "Best cover letter I've ever received"? It's good, but it's not exactly groundbreaking.

For tech startups, I feel like this kind of thing is almost required if you want to get anywhere. If I'm reading cover letters, I want to see some personality, and yes, I want you to be honest. Have some fun with it, even. Is that really such a novel concept? Or is my perspective just skewed by the startup world?

[mvkel]

Agreed! I've been on the receiving end of cover letters like this and while I appreciated the honesty, it wasn't exactly intriguing.

[icedchai]

Well, to be fair, honesty is probably something pretty unusual on Wall St.

[mvkel]

No offense, but I think that's a pretty typical (and boring) statement that is probably less true than it is on "main street."

Wall Street trading firms have to adhere to some pretty stringent SEC regulations; regulations no other private company has to deal with. That inherently means they're required to disclose more than the average "Main St." company. We all like to cite the bad apples (aka the exceptions), but by in large financial firms are as "by the book" as you can get.

So no, I wouldn't say it's unusual.

[icedchai]

Actually, I'll just broaden it: honesty in business is pretty unusual, especially big business. Are you happy?