Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Investment Banking Interview Basics

The investment banking interview is all about performance under pressure. Can you handle getting machine-gunned left and right with finance questions and then interrupted in the middle of your answers with, “Are you sure about that?”

If you can handle investment banking interviews, you will forever know how to respond smartly in the face of aggression. You can take that skill anywhere. The good news is, after making it through banking interviews, nothing will phase you. You’ll be sitting there smartly thinking, “Bring it on.”

What types of interviews can you expect?

There are 4 standard investment banking interview formats:

  1. Phone Screen: you’ll be called to see if you’re worth interviewing in person,;expect both fit and technical questions
  2. Fit Interview: typically a 30 minute interview with mostly fit questions
  3. Super Day: typically 3-5 interviews of all degrees of difficulty with fit and technical questions from junior to senior bankers
  4. Dinner Screen: you’ll be invited to a dinner or social event, this way a bank can gauge their pool of candidates in one sitting (from my experience, do not reject this invitation if you’re serious about the company because they will automatically reject you if you can’t come)

What types of investment banking interview questions can you expect?

Questions generally fall under 5 categories:

  1. Finance questions: valuation, modeling, accounting concepts
  2. Market questions: what happened in the markets, where indicators are at, where markets will be in the future and why
  3. Fit questions: why investment banking, walk me through your resume, greatest strengths and weaknesses, greatest accomplishments
  4. Brainteasers: to throw you off guard and make the interview more exciting
  5. Company questions: questions about the bank itself, relevant revenue and EPS figures, recent deals it completed

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