Ding.
Really, what are the most common dings? Or is there a "list" of common bad answers/"dings" in general somewhere...?
Really, what are the most common dings? Or is there a "list" of common bad answers/"dings" in general somewhere...?
+106 | At what point should you give up? | 57 | 7h | |
+37 | Recruiting while unemployed | 16 | 1d | |
+37 | I am lost on the next step - Need Advice | 8 | 3d | |
+29 | Tips for: LSE MSc Finance-->IBD SA. Should I go for a third internship in M&A?? | 7 | 6d | |
+25 | SF vs NY IB Stint | 10 | 2d | |
+22 | Incoming freshmen at bocconi - SA 2025 recruiting | 15 | 1d | |
+19 | NYC Consumer PE/Growth Funds with decent comp but amazing WLB? | 6 | 1d | |
+19 | Trying to break into IB | 7 | 7h | |
+18 | Job Switch Advice | 3 | 16h | |
+17 | Career Path Advice Needed | 5 | 6d |
Career Resources
why do you want to be a banker/trader? - I want to ice out my grill.
ding.
dear recruiter lady,
i would love to work for morgan stanley in the investment banking summer intern program. i believe i have the skillsets it takes...
sinserly, dumbass wannabe
Dear Morgan Stanley Internship Coordinator,
I strongly believe that my professional and academic background make me an ideal candidate for a summer position with Goldman Sachs....
ding.
Interviewer - "That guy over there, he slept under the conference table last night, I didn't sleep at night and now I am here interviewing you? Why would you possibly want this job? Do you really believe you can handle this terrible lifestyle?"
Response from candidate, "yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Investment Banking"
interviewer: what are some of your stong points
me: i have good attention to detail, i am picky about everything right down to formatting
interviewer: why is the formatting slightly off on your resume?
me: ummm, i must have missed that
interviewer: ding
ding is a verb or it can be an exclamation ("DING!"). a "ding" is not a noun used for dumb things that you say to interviewers.
Interviewer: What do you do for fun?
Prospective Monkey: Insider trading.
Sounds like a strong applicant to me! :thumbsup:
Interviewer: Tell me about yourself.
Dumbass: I like to walk, but not like walking walking, but like the fun kinda walking. You know, like when you can go "hey, I am having fun walking" and then you tell your friend that like you are totally having fun walking and she is like omg I know, me too! Its like the best. Also, I love dogs.
Interviewer: What just happened? DING!
Interviewer: Anything else you would like to say?
Dumbass: Oh right! My parole officer says that I have to mention that I am a convicted pedophile... I hope that doesn't affect anything.
By the way, do you have any kids?
interviewer: what do you do in your spare time?
candidate: read the Journal and watch CNBC
That is such BS, interviewers can cut through the crap. They want to know what you really do for fun, instead of how much of tool you are or could be.
Interviewer: Is there anything else?
Douche from Princeton: Yeah, it really pisses me off that people don't understand how much money I make.
http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/it-annoys-me-people-have-no-idea-…
Ding.
Interviewer: What are your greatest weaknesses?
Prospective Monkey: Lack of analytical abilities, poor work ethic, no interest in the financial markets, hate to work in teams, and have never used Excel. Oh yeah - and I am a perfectionist.
prospective: Is that your wife in that picture over there?
interviewer: Yes.
prospective: Time to trade up for a newer model, eh ...haha?
interviewer: what are you staring at?
prospective: your chest
Although if it's a male interviewer, he may like the compliment.
Interviewer: Why should we hire you?
Candidate: because Impossible is Nothing.
aachimp FTW
HAHAHAHA i love this thread.
aachimp won!
This happened when I was junior interviewing for summer internship
Male interviewer: what do you expect from this internship?
ME thinking: (okay, say "i'm looking for hands-on finance work where I can utilize...etc. etc..)
Me said: I'm looking for handjob...fina..n..ce..(ah shit)
what happened after that?
interviewr: "oh...let's just move on to next questions..."
then 3 days later, i've got a letter. "Thank you for your interest..However, we could not find position that was suitable for your skills...."
I was like, really? hmm haha
on a serious note, if I WAS hired...that would've been one awkward position whenever that interviewer comes by and say "what's up? you have some free time on your hands?"
ugghh
oh boy. at least you got a good story out of that.
Getting Dinged (Originally Posted: 11/20/2012)
This is not a self-pity whining post. I'm genuinely confused
This is my 4th year applying for roles in IBD and I'm still getting dinged. (Spring Weeks, Summer, Summer/Off Cycle and now Summer/Grad Schemes).
I'm at a target in the UK, relevant degree, solid GPA/grades, IBD internship experience abroad, IBD internship experience locally (both at no name firms admittedly), own a business that makes profit, sports captain/president etc (usual uni stuff). I quote the only BB that I interviewed at said 'this is one of the best applications we received for a summer internship position'.
I have shown my application to tonnes of people on the WSO forum, people within the industry and the careers service - no one is sure whats going wrong for me.
Maybe I'm not clicking with the people within the industry. Maybe I am not qualified for a role in the industry. Maybe theres something I am not seeing. So maybe this industry may not be for me. But everyone I ask has no idea.
I've been told to search for other things as there are a lot of opportunities out there. However, I'm getting dinged left right and centre EVERYWHERE and I'm really not sure what else to do as a career as IBD is what I really wanted to get into. I've applied for ER, Corp Finance (big 4 etc), smaller IBD boutiques, consulting and so on. Every year my application gets stronger but my hit rate gets weaker and weaker... this year I have had no success (including at firms that offer recruitment help like SEO london!)
I have been networking but most people give me the generic lines: your at a target so you will be fine, you have a solid resume so you will be fine, its competitive, the economy is down, etc etc etc.
Time to give up and move onto something else entirely? Any ideas what I can do?
Honestly, it might be time to give up. Just look to get a job period at this point. Continue networking and see if you can get a position or interview at a later point in time but your focus should be getting a job - not your dream job.
It really depends on your ability to live without a job and willingness to live with mommy and daddy (sorry you're not an adult until you take full responsibility of your life - ALL bills no subsidies).
I am applying for literally anything remotely related to my CV that I can... I'm just not getting anywhere. Thats the trouble. I'm not sure if I should just focus on my studies and then once I graduate (Summer 2013) find something?
Focus on your studies for sure, but only so that you retain good grades. Networking, applications etc are extremely important at all stages. As long as you can get a solid 2:1 or 1st, don't put any extra effort into university.
If your CV really is as solid as you say, are you being rejected at the screening stage, testing stage or interview stage? If it's the screening stage then I'd have to say there is something wrong with either your CV or cover letter or you are just getting very unlucky and firms are not hiring (quite possible!). If it's the testing stage, work on your maths. If it's the interview stage, learn to get along with people better and how to answer interview questions.
I have a feeling I've spoken to you a bit via email as your story is quite familiar, if not then feel free to PM me if you have any other questions / want other advice.
Thanks for the reply (and nice pic btw haha)
I can get a solid 2:1 or a 1st for sure but only if I stop wasting my time on more and more applications. haha (I've dropped most EC's because this year's modules are hard enough!)
I'm being rejected after the testing stage/before the interview stage. I complete the application, am invited to tests, complete them. Then after 4-5 weeks (on average) I'm dinged. I do call HR up and ask them whether I have passed the tests and I have. A recent example: at PwC they give you your test results. My maths and logical reasoning was 'exceptional' and the personality test had 3/3 bars in 4/5 categories and 2/3 bars in 1/5 categories (3 bars is the max, 0 bars is the min). And I still got dinged. I also applied for a consulting position which was only open to my uni - after 4-5 weeks I was dinged there too yet my friend with no work experience/EC's and lower grades landed a first round interview. Its like HR have something against me haha.
Unlucky is what I wanted to think... but 4 years? I'm finding that hard to believe. I don't know anyone whose applied for this many years and still not got through.
Not sure if we have spoken before - I went through my inbox just now and your username isn't coming up...
Either way, I'm not sure what my best option is now. Another summer with no internships isn't going to help. Even if I graduate with a 2:1/1st theres no guarantee that if I continue to network/apply I'm going to get onto an off-cycle/summer internship or grad scheme. Losing hope here! :(
obviously don't give up. Download/buy the behavioral and technical interview guides on this sight. They are pretty good and pretty inexpensive. Start networking your face off and expand the geographical areas you're networking/applying to.
Honestly, if you couldn't even get in to SEO, just give up, brother
look at the post above
my opinion is that you have too high opinion of yourself or come across as a d-bag
you probably arent modest, which you should be or perhaps, questions inside the application (usually 3 that ask you stuff like "why us" "why ib" "biggest achievement") are not answered well and genuinely
dont know.. need more info need a print screen of your GS application need your CV & CL
i hope that you dont have some shit grade in maths..
Completely honest, as always.
Well you said "target in the UK..."
If you're only applying to firms in the UK or even the rest of Europe, then that's your problem.
To answer some of the comments above:
Happy to send over my CV and CL if you want them.
Btw are you serious about the SEO London comment? I really don't know why they are going to dinge me. :(
Hi OP
Got a 2:2 from a UK target, in 07,gap yeared it out (to be consistent with why i bombed university). Worked 1 year in Big 4, left, 3 months in an algo shop, office closed, unemployed for 9 months, then took temp work in accountancy (forensic side) until i got an offer from a prop shop (which i approached a 18 months ago), nearly 3 years after I left my first audit job, and 5 since i left uni. Don't even begin to preach about giving up. You dont even have a degree yet. I wrote a post on job search forums about going the extra mile. look it up
Disagree with the SEO comment. You're obviously FOB Asian... and SEO isn't meant for Asians much less FOB Asians.
What's FOB Asian? My friend is Asian (Chinese) - born in the UK - and got in.
Sorry to hear man. Similar situation here. Look into Corporate Law. Finance isn't for everyone. Also remember those top MDs usually don't have an analyst --> associate --> VP etc background so chin up ;)
Does anyone have any further advice please? I'm getting dinged from summer internship applications too.
Sounds like you lay in the classic limbo of too good for SAs (people think you're not gunna take it / waste their time) and not good enough / a douche for FT.
All the best,
O
Oreos - I know people with tonnes of internships and loads of stuff on their CV who get through. And I'm not a douche. What do you suggest I do now? (p.s. I already 'dumbed down' the CV so it didnt look over-qualified for internships so I'm not sure why I'm failing the screening stage at a lot of places).
If there are any senior people/people within the industry who are able to give me some honest advice I would really appreciate it. I'm really tired of generic lines and I really want the truth.
In addition to competency, you need these things: 1. Positive attitude 2. Demonstrate interest in job (don't be talking about things like exit opps in an interview or meeting) 3. Do not let them think that you think a lot of tasks are beneath you or you'll get bored doing things that everyone else has to do
You are not doing all of these things.
When I applied I honestly thought I had a strong application and was positive. None of them have translated into an interview which is why I don't know what to do. If they did translate to an interview and I was failing them that's a different story.... But I'm getting dinged from the application stage.
It's coming across in your emails or other written communication.
What do you mean?
I did show my application to my contacts and also my careers service before sending it so of there was a problem surely it would have been pointed out?
Either way I'm not sure what my next step should be.
Did you network at all? I'm not sure how it works in the UK, but it never hurts.
Yes West Coast rainmaker. Infact several people at BBs said I had a strong application and I should apply online because they were confident I would get through (even if you get into SEO London etc you still have to apply online). For several applications, I even wrote a contact name (after gaining their permission of course) yet I was still rejected (without a telephone interview even). When I returned to them for advice on what I could improve for 'next time' (note: this is next time) they said 'you just need BB experience/brand name which is what you are applying for so nothing really'. Infact some analysts even told HR about me but were ignored. I also know some senior people within IBD - most are surprised my application doesn't get through. I'm not sure how it is in the US, but in the UK employees of the firm will not overturn the decision unless there is something seriously wrong. So they tend to say 'well I didn't see all the applicants so who knows maybe you just got unlucky. Just keep applying.'
The application isn't passing HR for some reason, and constantly, and no one I ask can seem to pinpoint whats going wrong. This is why I'm here now... (I read a thread about someone being dinged and the replies said 'come back when you have been dinged 3+ times... so I am!)
Now you're just being defensive.
Us: Something could be the problem. You: Nah it can't be I'm golden. And so on, and so on.
If you were golden you wouldn't be getting dinged einstein.
From what I read I think what hopesanddreams wrote it is a little defensive but it does seem like external evidence has been provided to the questions being asked/comments being suggested rather then just saying 'they are golden'. I don't know the situation seems difficult. Hopesanddreams - did you look into Corporate Law (if you like deals)? Or market roles like Trading or HF's?
Interesting post. Just shows there's a shitty job market not just in America, but in the UK/EU also.
Life is tough if people have to "dumb-down" (is that the word ?) their Resume.
The problem is, no matter how well-qualified you are (and I am speaking from experience) there are at least 100 others just as qualified as you are. Therefore, Hiring Managers/Partners are rolling the dice on you. They're f*ing nuts !
Last but not least, don't forget that cold-calling died 50 years ago. It always helps if you know someone in the company, or have anything to relate to, however remote or irrelevant it may seem.
Don't give up !
Ok so I should continue calling/meeting people/networking and applying? Are you sure there's nothing else I can do? I'm just losing motivation as people are saying stuff like if its been 4 years I should quit and maybe I'm not clicking with the people so this industry is not for me etc (usually people with offers grow a big head and treat me like a trash can). Also I have a hard time believing they are not hiring etc as much as I know a lot of people still getting offers (at least for internships). I know it's not about qualifications only... I was referring to the whole package (experience, extra curiculars and so on)...which is why I'm confused as a lot of people I know with 'much less' get through. So I'm wondering what I'm not doing correctly...
I'm thinking of writing a "Thank you, a*hole, for wasting my time" letter to every Hiring Manager who's rejected me. Anybody else thinks it's a good idea ?
Lol It's not about giving up. I'm thinking whether I should swap division or aim for something else? Or keep going for IBD?
Maybe put up your cv on here, as well as cover letter or consider professional editing.
The Number One Reason You Were Dinged (Originally Posted: 12/08/2012)
At first you might think it was because you screwed up your technicals. Then maybe after writing your story on here, the folks will tell you it was because you didn’t do a very good job with the brain teasers. Later some asshat might take it upon himself to inform you it was because you wore a blue shirt with an orange tie instead of a white shirt with a red tie.
And while those reasons all might have had something to do with it, none of them were the ultimate reason why you didn’t make the cut.
The reason you were dinged boils down to confidence. Specifically that you weren’t confident enough. It’s not enough to download all the interview guides and memorize the answers backwards and forwards. It’s not enough to have simply completed an internship or two. You need to know the business inside and out. You need to live, eat, sleep, and drink it.
How do you do this? For starters, don’t just do what you are told. Push the limits. If you’re an intern, bite off a little more than you can chew. Yeah you might be worked close to death, but you’ll learn a ton in the process. If you’re not fortunate enough to have internship, then start building your own merger models. There was a guy in the equity research forum a while back trying to write his own full report, and I have mad respect for that. This guy gets it; the best way to truly understand something is by making it yourself from scratch.
Do everything you can to learn everything about the business. If you take this advice to heart and really get it inside and out, the full-time interview will be just a formality. You’ve already seen and done enough to know that answering questions about an oversimplified DCF model can’t faze you.
When you’re confident you can’t help but show it. Who cares what color suit you’re wearing or if you used the right font on your resume? Of course you’ll still be a little nervous going in to the interview, but there’s a difference between the standard jitters and a lack of confidence. If it turns out you don’t get the job, fuck it. On to the next one. Remember: you want this job, you don’t need it.
A word of caution though: always be mindful not to stray into the land of overconfidence. You’re still a child and have nothing on the years of experience the guy sitting across the table from you has. Don’t try to prove him wrong about some insignificant point or any other crap. You ought to be smart enough to know where the line in the sand is.
In order for others to believe in you, you must first believe in yourself. So pick up your skirt, grab your balls, and let’s go make some money.
See a similar discussion: Didn't get the job? How to survive rejection
well said - totally agree here. only thing that can separate you and everyone else interviewing for that exact same position is how well you are prepared for the interview (confidence)
great post, thanks olaf
Great advice. I'll add that your entrance into the office is important too (mostly talking about smaller firms). Open that door looking happy, like you just got your first blowjob. Be really polite to the lady at the front desk. If the person you're interviewing with is busy and you have to wait for a few minutes, ask her how her day has been. Connect with her. Notice something on her desk and start a conversation about it. When the interviewer walks in to greet you he will see you get along well with people. If you are instructed to walk into his office, walk in confident. Confident stride, strong handshake, ask him how hes doing, make a joke about something if it's appropriate. Like the OP said, overconfidence will hurt you. Don't over do it.
Read "How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie. The people skills taught in that book will change the way you deal with people. One of my favorite books.
This is a great book to read so that you know who in the room are the complete tools. It's kind of like learning statistics so that you know when someone is feeding you bullshit.
I interviewed at WFS for IBD awhile back. The night before I had a 45 min call with the associate as a pre-network thing. Everything was going well; we hit it off relatively well. Given my weird midwest location, everyone else had flown in and was from HPY. I was the only one from my state and went to the worse state school here. Still, I had made it this far.
I had to do the interview over lunch since I still had a job. I did not know if they would bring it in so I ate before in the parking lot in my car. They brought in lunch and I only had a couple bites. The girl taking notes did not eat and neither did someone else (obviously they were not important since I cannot even remember their face). One kid, a lateral from IBD in NY, chowed down.
I am not saying I did not get the offer because of this, but some of the feedback was to "not be nervous, you know, eat your lunch and stuff." The lateral, for likely many reasons, got the offer.
Take every chance you can to make yourself look like a good fit, and that means being confident/less nervous.
Great post. Confidence is everything.
I got a CF SA this past summer simply by being confident. Other candidates were from public ivys (I am not)
But one has to be careful, for you do not want to come off as arrogant. .
JimmyLee gives great advice. For us non-target kids, confidence can land us the offers.
http://www.amazon.com/How-Win-Friends-Influence-People/dp/0671027034
Completely agree. Especially with the night before networking events. You should be comfortable, but not too comfortable that you come off as over-confident, over-eager or simply arrogant and think you have the job the next day.
I was dinged because of the Color of my Skin . That is all.
LOL. Not easy being a bbbllyaaak man in a white man's world. You be iite brah.
Confidence... but luck also plays a huge factor.
I feel like the biggest reason should be fit - its easy to nail the technicals and be confident if you've prepared enough. It's hard to interview with a guy who can actually relate to you.
But I study pure math at a non-target so I'm kind of expecting not being able to share the same interests with my interviewers.
I don't think the confidence argument holds a lot of water. I'm sure that if you could quantify you'd find out say, out of 10 semi-finalists selected, at least 6 of them had very high, comparable "levels of confidence". So who made the cut had a "gradient" other than that.
Fit-niet. Same as above. At least a couple of the finalists had it at similar levels.
Love it! Solid post. Definitely makes you want to push the limits. Fuck yeah! Aside: Just you watch all you recruiters and interviewers next time you're talking with me. You bet your ass I'm getting the Job!
Great post, thanks for sharing.
what about this? a good looking chick interviewing another good looking chick? My strategy would always be playing nerd, socially awkward and trying to drip sweat so to make her think I'm far from a threat.
The situation above has noting to do with "confidence" but clearly playing/dissimulating the lack of it. If you win, then confidence is not a trait worth having. More like lying.
It's my understanding that most hr departments are full of females, and like you hinted they hire the relatively 'less threatening' (less attractive) female candidates. Opposite is true for men - better looking men get the job
Maybe, if you know your interviewer will be female ahead of time, wear less makeup? If its a dude, slap that whore paint on like your looking for a new husband
and sometimes, you just suck. you know the company inside and out, but you just really fuckin suck. i know a guy like this. you know a guy like this. everyone knows someone like this. ...and they're unemployed
True.
Insightful. Thanks
thanks for the advice
Very helpful thx!
Thanks a lot man, this post will def help me in my upcoming interviews.
What Question Got You Dinged At Your Interview? (Originally Posted: 05/13/2007)
For all of you who have been rejected in some of your ibanking interviews (this means everyone), what was the question that got you dinged and was the reason why you did not get the job?
What killed me was:
Tell me about a stock you like and one you don't like. What are two strengths of the stock and what are two weaknesses.
I don't invest in the stock market and don't pretend to. I told the interviewer that I would be willing to walk through a "theoretical stock" saying what I would look for, but he said no. The rest of the interview went amazing, but this was the last question and the interview stopped afterwards (although we were at the 30 minute mark). Needless to say, I thought I was unfairly dinged.
"Why are you interviewing for both IBD and S&T?"
After my first BB interview I found out that "because I have no idea what I want to do" was not the answer they were looking for...
goldson, you never know what got you dinged - well, unless they tell you
Ha I disagree, I have had some questions that I completely bombed and I knew after that moment there was no way I was getting the job. One in specific, was when they asked me why I left so and so firm that I did my previous summer internship at, and the things that I mentioned I did not like happened tp be the same thing that current firm still has
How would you explain what a t-statistic is to a regular person on the street?
are you a statistics major? why did they ask this? was that for S&T?
I got a question about what would you do if you caught a classmate cheating.
There was no good answer to the question, but the person interviewing me seemed like the by-the-book kind of person so I said I would first confront them and then go to the professor. However, she didn't seem impressed by the answer and I think that killed me.
Damn how would you answer this question?
This question was a good way to enter into a discussion about ethics and professional conduct .
Whenever you leave an interview, you realize certain things that you couldve done better. The great thing is that the questions are usually similar across interviews, and you can make sure to never screw up the same way again.
The trick is to learn the types of answers that work - and to adapt them to as many situations as possible.
"assume that i have a great idea and im thinking about starting a company. keep in mind that it is currently producing no cash flows and is nothing more than an idea. give me a monetary value of this idea."
-cs la interview
I would look at comparable ideas/startups - the phases and success/fail rates and work from there.
all i would do is talk in terms of previous ideas, hopefully as similar to yours as possible, that were in fact materialized. go the comps way. use a firm with a similar structure, and base your analysis off of how they are run/what they're CFs look like.
i got dinged primarily because i didn't go to amherst or weslayan by a boutique. they apparently only hire from those 'top schools'
i was appalled. actually,kinda wanted to punch the md in the face who i was interviewing with.
i really dont believe that, if u r that good they cannot say no
and yes, the analysts from the past few years came from those schools, for whatever reason.
Why merchant banking? What is the PEG ratio? What multiple would you pick if you had to choose any?
"more like why NOT merchant banking amirite?" high five interviewer
the cs la guy was probably trying to get at the fact that there may not be any decent market comps available (think amazon in 1995). so projecting a flow of reasonable cash flows is difficult, obviously.
a great idea generally pays off handsomely in a few unlikely great states (amazon), breaks-even in a few mediocre states, and most of the time loses money (think of the # of failed ecommerce companies). the key is understand what the approximate value of great states are ($100mm? $1bn?).
project cash flows for each of the possible states, then run a monte carlo simulation using your estimate of the underlying distribution of the different possible states. this will provide an expected value of the cash flows. discount this value.
vc's are paying for the great states and willing to lose money most of the time so long as a few times they find amazon.
as for the original question... during an interview with GS hong kong, i was asked which other banks i was applying to. so i told them MS, Merrill, Citi and UBS, but i also said Standard Chartered.... we have a number of alums from my school at stanchart in asia so i had been networking there and it just rolled off my tongue... what an idiot. tone of the interview completely changed and the conversation ended shortly thereafter. lesson learned.
why would they care about Standard Chartered?
are they so obsessed with prestige that they would refuse candidates just because they were interviewing with lesser banks? seriously, wtf
There is no way you were dinged for mentioning StanChart...this is you misunderstanding what happened. Standard Chartered is a growing firm and in some areas is superior to some of the other names you mention above.
Not me, but I know a girl who was asked to talk about a favorite book of her's. She mentioned some business book, to which the interviewer said "no, seriously, a BOOK, not a business book or text..." So, she went on to talk about a book she had read back in high school (think Catcher in the Rye type stuff), it was painfully obvious that she never reads for fun, and was dinged for being a bit of a tool.
Yeah, if you don't read in college for fun you're a tool...all those people out drinking and getting laid, they're huge tools.
Deservedly so. They should ask this question more in interviews.
Yeah because those things are really mutually exclusive.
What do you know about bonds? Seems to be an easy one and yet from the start of the interview I got a hint that answers should be brief and to the point. So for quite some time I kept it that way: "there are munies, govies and corp., GO bonds backed by ad valorem, special taxes and such, revenue bonds blah, blah, blah...Gov.bills issued at discount, all govies quoted in 32's and blah, blah, blah...Corp. issues can be secured and unsecured, debentures and subs...trust indenture act requires...Nominal yields, YTC, YTM, sinking funds, adv. refunding, settlement dates, accrued interest.... In other words, you get the whole picture. The subjest is kind of broad, you try to give them all you know, you add up details such as (there are TAN's, BAN's...all when you just finished talking about the Trust Indenture Act)and it only makes you more confused because you understand that it does not sound logical and structured anymore.And then you mention MBS and CMO's and the whole thing just falls apart... So to make the story short, at the end I f*&^ up the story about the yield curves (draw-explain), was asked how to pull some data from BL. terminal and screw the whole thing when instead of ticker+equity+go I said ticker+GO...
These trick question scenario-type interviews are designed to test your reaction to a certain situation. There is absolutely no way to prepare for it since they could throw ANYTHING at you. Be yourself. Think clearly. Trust your instincts.
Maybe the MD was being an asshole to see if you would take it. If you claim to be a leader, own up and take control of the situation. Use humor, call him out, do whatever, just don't fall for the traps (dings).
heres 3 of my favorite stories
-- at boutique bank -- "you have 5 seconds, whats 7 to the 3rd power" accidentally did 7 to the 4th power
interviewer: why do you want to get into finance? standard answer about wanting to challenge myself interviewer: STFU nobody wants to get into finance for anything but money, elsewise you're an idiot"
-- top asset management firm --
"why do you want to get into finance" "blah blah blah i want money blah blah blah, something about using it to get into politics"
interiewer: "are you good at excel" me: "Pretty good" interviewer: "how are you with macros" me: "what are those" interviewer: ...
Got the job.
You really can recover from anything, as long as they don't conclude the interview, they are still holding out hope.
that is friggin priceless.
7x7 = 49 round up 49 by 1 to 50 50x7 =350 -7=343 subtracted 7 because we rounded up 1 7 times
I know how to do it...specifically he said 7 cubed, and for some reason i thought that was the 4th power. I actually got 7x7x7x7 correct haha
my most memorable question after getting grilled by two douchey BB people (one girl kept inserting she went to Harvard, the other guy just seemed so bored and antisocial, even they were both in sales).
INterviewer: "So, do you have any questions for us" (this was after a very boring, kind of irritating interview. At this point, i already had offers elsewhere so I didn't care.)
Me: "Can I ask anything?"
Interviewer: "What do you mean? Do you want to ask us a brain teaser or something..?" (direct reference to all the damn brain teasers they asked me.)
Me: "Yeah. Actually...(gave them both two brain teasers. Spent the next 10 min. watching the two of them try and figure it out.)"
Interviewer: "Ah. we're wasting time. But this is going to bother us the rest of the day. What's the answer?"
Me: "You know, I think you can get it. You just need to try harder. I'll e-mail the answers."
Interviewer: "Wow this girl's got gumption. That's for sure."
So, yeah. i was dinged. but it was a good time and my very last interview during recruiting season, and sooo worth it.
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