“I’m sorry, I’m quite busy.” This was the response I was given when requesting my interview candidates to give me an interview for my communications class. I was in a dilemma; I needed to find an interview candidate and quickly. I was fortunate enough to find Professor Min Hwang, Assistant Professor of Finance at George Washington University. Initially, I was unsure whether he would be a good candidate for the interview. The project is supposed to be about communication in finance and I was unsure as to whether my candidate had to have experience working for a business. However, after interviewing Professor Hwang, I realized I could not have been luckier to have found him. Professor Hwang is a graduate of the University of California at Berkley and he received his B.A. at Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea. A professor of finance, he certainly was very knowledgeable about the different fields of finance and the various communication issues that exist in each field.
I started off the interview with a general question: What exactly is good finance and how did you become interested in finance? Professor Hwang was involved in the economics department at Berkley and he was rotating through various fields when he discovered his interest in finance. To him, the finance market seemed wild and mysterious, and it appeared to be a field in which irrational people chased fads. He sought to explain the behavior of the financial market world. Though he specialized in real estate, he studied the two major areas of finance, investment and corporate finance, intensively and enlightened me regarding the communication issues that existed in each field. This was the most important question I asked. He told me communication is critical to good finance. In fact, he says that the mortgage crisis is due to bad communication skills. The mortgage lending process is a huge chain of transaction that requires many documentation and various contracts. Often times, the process is sped up too quickly and documents get lost or the borrowers do not understand the products they are offered. Contracts require a lot of explanation and sometimes, brokers and lenders do not give enough information, do not explain the difficult terms, or mislead the borrower purposely. Thus, many borrowers do not understand what type of contract they are signing. This phenomenon is called information asymmetry and can be interpreted as the fault of the borrower and lender as it is a lack of diligence on both parts. Effective communication is important for both parties as a failure to could lead to tremendous monetary losses for both sides.
The interview was held in a very professional manner. While making the appointment with Professor Hwang, he asked me what the project was about and the types of questions he should expect. Because he was curious, I felt that I had found an interviewee who legitimately looked forward to his interview. During the interview, I was not nervous at all as I had a list of questions to ask, and he mainly talked while I listened actively and asked him follow-up questions or gave brief comments. I took careful notes and recorded the conversation so that I could get all the information I needed without having to call back for a follow-up interview. His body was directed towards me and he leaned in. One of the things that bothered me was his tendency to lean forward which made me slightly uncomfortable. It did not violate my personal space, but I felt I needed some distance. One problem I had was that I was unfamiliar with many of the terms he used so I had to interrupt him a few times to ask. However, he was very patient and explained to me the logistics of finance and the difficult terms he used during our conversation. Overall, the interview was successful and I came out of his office understanding the importance of communication in all fields, not just finance.
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This is great Christy, a great interview and a good reflection on your part.
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