INVESTMENT BANKING PRACTICE INTERVIEW

Try a practice interview for investment banking, answering typical questions and also getting tips on how you should answer. There are also other questions students have been asked at banking interviews. It differs from retail banking is also know as high street banking which is largely about managing customers accounts, selling loans and mortgages etc.: see our separate interview on this

INVESTMENT BANKERS need to be NUMERATE and good at ANALYSING INFORMATION in order to research the market and carry out financial modeling. This information is then used in  MAKING DECISIONS and presenting information to clients, which requires SELF-CONFIDENCE and good COMMUNICATION skills.   Good TIME MANAGEMENT, in particular WORKING UNDER PRESSURE and MEETING DEADLINES is essential in this high-pressure working environment. Employers will expect you to be able to talk about and demonstrate these skills at a high level throughout the recruitment process. The sort of evidence you could offer includes:

• LEADERSHIP: chairperson of a student society;
• SPOKEN COMMUNICATION: debating society;
• NUMERACY: work experience in a financial environment;
• MAKING DECISIONS: planning a gap year and adapting your plans in changing circumstances;
• TIME MANAGEMENT: achieving strong academic results while being involved in other University activities at a high level.

Before you arrive ...

Before your interview make sure that you are well-informed about the company, the banking industry, the financial markets and the business world generally. You will be expected to know where the FTSE and Dow Jones indexes are and have been, where LIBOR and Fed rates are and to be up to speed on current financial and business issues. Read the Financial Times daily and register (for free) at www.ft.com  to get email updates.  See also the links below, the links from our banking careers page www.kent.ac.uk/careers/sitebank.htm and our Interview Reports for banking interviews.
 
You are likely to get verbal and numerical reasoning tests: see www.kent.ac.uk/careers/psychotests.htm for examples. 

There follow some of the questions that might be specifically asked of students at interviews for investment banking jobs. General interview questions are not asked here, so you might also like to try the general or multiple choice interviews as well for standard interview questions that can be thrown at any candidate. Click on "First Question" to begin. Think carefully about how you would answer, then click on "Show Answer Tips" to get an idea of how you should be answering.