1)Ask if the interviewer wouldn't mind speaking in generals about a current deal they are working on or a recent transaction. (Shows interest in the group)

2) Ask if there is a formal mentorship program associated with the SA position where you will be matched up with an analyst to report to, or if you will float around. (Shows interest in the specific SA program as opposed to others with different firms)

3) Ask one question regarding the industry, specific to something you mentioned or the interviewer mentioned in the interview. (Shows enough knowledge of the industry to formulate a deeper question rather than just being able to regurgitate stats you have read on Bloomberg)

Just my opinion here.

 

I really like #1 above. #2 is iffy, because if the firm doesn't have such a program in place, it's not a good idea to put your interviewer in a position in which they're forced to say, "Nope, sorry, we don't have anything like that." As for #3, also good but bear in mind who your interviewer is. VPs and MDs would be able to speak to an industry/market, but associates might not. Other questions you might ask could be specific to the interviewer's background, taken from their brief spiel about themselves, ie "What made you want to make the switch over from F500/corporate to banking?'

 

I always found success asking about the culture of the team they worked with. I would ask how they get along with their coworkers. I think the question above discussing the deal they are working on is a good one, and maybe ask about what their life is like on a day to day basis (probably just analysts) and what kinds of responsibilities they have in the deals they are working on. Ask questions that let them talk about themselves. Never ask a yes or no question.

While the questions you ask are important... Your answers to their questions are FAR more important. So study up.

 

Do not be overly concerned on what questions to ask at the end of the interview. In fact, this is probably one of the least important parts that you need to prepare. In general, your decision is already made by then and as long as you don't ask something stupid, you should be fine. You do not need the best question since nobody will judge you based on the one or two questions you ask them at the end. Just make sure that you prepare a couple of safe questions.

 

Question I always, always lead off with is the "culture" question. I generally acknowledge that it's a question I like to ask all interviewers, followed by the fact the culture is one of, if not the most important part in my decision. Every interviewer seemed to love this question -- it's an open ended question and rarely results in an answer that takes less than 3-5 minutes. It can really help you avoid having to ask those stupid questions at the end that these guys here from every interviewee.

 

I'm using a new strategy to answer this... supposing it works (ie: it gets me to the next level, whether it be next round or offer), I'll let you know :)

-- Recent Actuarial Science (good statistical skills) grad looking for entry-level work ANYWHERE. Writing CFA Level 1 in June 2010. Passed 3 actuarial exams.
 

I, personally, always ask about mobility within the company ie group to group, location to location, because "I want to learn as much about the business as possible." Probably not a good idea in a group specific ib interview though.

If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses - Henry Ford
 
happypantsmcgee:
I, personally, always ask about mobility within the company ie group to group, location to location, because "I want to learn as much about the business as possible." Probably not a good idea in a group specific ib interview though.

Not to hijack from the original poster, but I think this is a bad idea. IMHO, you want to ask questions about the job you are applying for, not about some job you might move to in the future. To me, asking about the ability to switch jobs before you even have the job in the first place indicates a lack of interest. In fact, i often ask more junior interviewees the question "where do you want to be in 5 years" in order to get the sense of how serious they are about the job they are applying for and how realistic they are about what they are going to be doing. It is shocking to hear some of the over-the-top answers about the positions they think are realistic 5 years down the road...running lots of money, etc....to me it shows that they see the junior job as just a stepping stone and they arent seriously focusing on doing it well. Interview for the job you are applying for...

 

"If I were to tell you that I had 6 toes on one foot but 4 on the other, would it change your opinion of me, as a person? I mean I still have 10 so..."

If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses - Henry Ford
 

My favorite wrap up question: when is hookers and blow day?

"You stop being an asshole when it sucks to be you." -IlliniProgrammer "Your grammar made me wish I'd been aborted." -happypantsmcgee
 

[quote=Wall Street Mentors]Are you saying Pam or Pan?

]

lmao, now I need to go watch this movie again, thanks a lot asshole :-p

"You stop being an asshole when it sucks to be you." -IlliniProgrammer "Your grammar made me wish I'd been aborted." -happypantsmcgee
 

I usually go with the flow and just come up with questions connecting to our conversation. A lot of times obviously about their background.

If its a senior person interviewing me I get some opinion on some current issue but then try to get more casual and talk about his hobbies back in the days.

Check out M&I for good questions to ask as well.

If you did some good research on the company or know beforehand who interviews you you can ask them about a specific deal they worked on.

As you pointed out ask already a lot of questions during the interview so it becomes more natural.

"too good to be true" See my WSO Blog
 

Got this about a month ago from the ladders.com weekly email, some of these are good.

So I thought it would be even more useful to collect my best questions together and update them for you. Here are "Twenty Questions" that you can ask in an interview... What's the biggest change your group has gone through in the last year? How has the recession impacted your group?

One year from now, if I get the job, what will earn me a "gold star"? What are the key accomplishments you'd like to see in this role over the next year?

What's your (or my future boss') leadership style?

About which competitor are you most worried?

How do your sales / marketing / finance / technology / operations work here?

What type of people are successful here? What type of people are not?

What's one thing that's key to your success that somebody from outside the company wouldn't know about?

How did you get your start in this industry? Why do you stay?

What are your best and worst working relationships with other groups in the company?

What keeps you up at night? What's your biggest worry?

What's the timeline for making a decision? When should I get back in touch with you?

Why is this position open? Who was previously in this role / why did you decide to create it?

What is your reward system? Is it a star system / team-oriented / equity-based / bonus-based / "attaboy!"-based? Why is that your reward system? What is the hoped-for purpose of it, and what actually happens when you put it into practice? What are the positives and negatives of your reward system, and if you could change any one thing, what would it be?

What information is shared with the employees (revenues, costs, operating metrics)? Is this an open-book shop, or do you play it closer to the vest? How is information shared? How do I get access to the information I need to be successful in this job?

If we have a very successful 2011, what would that look like? What will have happened over the next 12 months? How does this position help achieve that?

How does the company / my future boss do performance reviews? How do I make the most of the performance review process to ensure that I'm doing the best I can for the company?

What is the rhythm to the work here? Is there a time of year that it's all hands on deck and we're pulling all-nighters, or is it pretty consistent throughout the year? How about during the week, is it pretty evenly spread throughout the week, or are there crunch days?

What type of industry / functional / skills-based experience and background are you looking for in the person who will fill this position? What would the "perfect" candidate look like? How do you assess my experience in comparison? What gaps do you see?

In my career, I've primarily enjoyed working with big / small / growing / independent / private / public / family-run companies. If that's the case, how successful will I be at your firm?

What types of attributes are common to the people who are considered heroes at your company? What types of attributes are common to the promising people you hired but who then flamed out and failed or left? As I'm considering whether or not I'd be successful here, how should I think about the experiences of the heroes and the flame-outs?

 
mr_bigglesworth:
Got this about a month ago from the ladders.com weekly email, some of these are good.
So I thought it would be even more useful to collect my best questions together and update them for you. Here are "Twenty Questions" that you can ask in an interview... What's the biggest change your group has gone through in the last year? How has the recession impacted your group?

One year from now, if I get the job, what will earn me a "gold star"? What are the key accomplishments you'd like to see in this role over the next year?

What's your (or my future boss') leadership style?

About which competitor are you most worried?

How do your sales / marketing / finance / technology / operations work here?

What type of people are successful here? What type of people are not?

What's one thing that's key to your success that somebody from outside the company wouldn't know about?

How did you get your start in this industry? Why do you stay?

What are your best and worst working relationships with other groups in the company?

What keeps you up at night? What's your biggest worry?

What's the timeline for making a decision? When should I get back in touch with you?

Why is this position open? Who was previously in this role / why did you decide to create it?

What is your reward system? Is it a star system / team-oriented / equity-based / bonus-based / "attaboy!"-based? Why is that your reward system? What is the hoped-for purpose of it, and what actually happens when you put it into practice? What are the positives and negatives of your reward system, and if you could change any one thing, what would it be?

What information is shared with the employees (revenues, costs, operating metrics)? Is this an open-book shop, or do you play it closer to the vest? How is information shared? How do I get access to the information I need to be successful in this job?

If we have a very successful 2011, what would that look like? What will have happened over the next 12 months? How does this position help achieve that?

How does the company / my future boss do performance reviews? How do I make the most of the performance review process to ensure that I'm doing the best I can for the company?

What is the rhythm to the work here? Is there a time of year that it's all hands on deck and we're pulling all-nighters, or is it pretty consistent throughout the year? How about during the week, is it pretty evenly spread throughout the week, or are there crunch days?

What type of industry / functional / skills-based experience and background are you looking for in the person who will fill this position? What would the "perfect" candidate look like? How do you assess my experience in comparison? What gaps do you see?

In my career, I've primarily enjoyed working with big / small / growing / independent / private / public / family-run companies. If that's the case, how successful will I be at your firm?

What types of attributes are common to the people who are considered heroes at your company? What types of attributes are common to the promising people you hired but who then flamed out and failed or left? As I'm considering whether or not I'd be successful here, how should I think about the experiences of the heroes and the flame-outs?

Your bonus this year comes in the form of a Silver Banana. Congratulations!

 

Completely agree with Illini, as usual...

If you've been thru enough interviews, especially in a super day capacity, the only thing you are thinking of when you get to this point is "Finally this one's done, ask something that let's them ramble about themselves and their interests for a couple minutes, nod your head in agreement and smile.". I feel like a lot of you kids feel like you are going to blow the interviewer's mind with some insightful question... NOT GONNA HAPPEN! Cuz they've heard every question under the sun already. At this point its like running the clock out in the fourth quarter of a football game when you're up by a score and they have no time outs left. Don't be a hero and fumble the ball... Take the knee and get the "W"...

 

One of the ways you can make this part of the interview incredibly valuable is by asking the interviewer something along the lines of:

  • are there any concerns you have about my candidacy which I can specifically address\
  • do you percieve any weaknesses in my candidacy

Obviously you have to craft this question quite a bit but in general you just want to get an inside scoop in what some of your weak spots are. Particularly because you can address them with that person right there and ESPECIALLY because you can address them with other interviewers.

What generally happens after an interview is your interviewers ask eachother "what'd you think of that Johnna Chang?" and one will say "I really liked him, but he didn't really seem like he knows anything about our business" or "He seemed pretty sharp but I think he seemed more focused on trading and equity markets" or something to that effect. With the above questions what you're trying to do is kill those "BUT" statements and/or make it so when one says "I like him BUT he doesn't know a damn thing about finance" the other will say "Thats interesting, because I liked him alot too and we actually talked about X at length and while he may not be a finance major, he follows the market and seems like he's hot the intellectual horsepower to pick things up pretty quickly."

So one mentions a weakness, and because you got that feedback of his perceived weakness you can address that issue with other interviewers (or even that one) and they'll defend that aspect of your candidacy when it comes up as a weakness.

 

I don't know, but if you don't know (or show that you don't know by asking) the qualities of a successful candidate by the time you interview, it just sounds weird and reeks of "tell me how I'm doing right now, hire me, please!!!!" toolness.

What you need is to ask about the competitive situation of the interviewing firm, where they see themselves, and how are they going to take on their competition. I.e. if it's Evercore, ask about how they differentiate from guys like Perella, Lazard, and Greenhill. Ask about how much business they're expecting to do next year, what kind of transactions they will target, etc.

Another line of questions is corporate culture / process at the office at hand. I.e. what's the process like for analysts, is it a strict assembly-line / chain-of-command, or is there more interaction across the boards. This is where the boutiques shit on the bulge in regards to bureaucracy and deal experience, and make themselves look awesome. This is where the bulge promise you that at THEIR firm, there's less bureaucracy and an open-door policy (which, by the time you start working, ends up being BS as MDs won't even notice your existence).

Lastly, asking questions about the industry you'll be working in (i.e. healthcare, tech, etc) and types of deals the company worked on in the past might demonstrate A) your interest in, B) your enthusiasm for, and C) your already existing knowledge of the industry vertical you'll be working in, IF ASKED CORRECTLY in a non-contrived and tool fashion. I.e. if your question sounds pre-planned and pre-composed, and you can't carry the conversation any further and just smile and nod, you'll be dismissed as a tool.

 
bumbleb33:
I wish I saw the list that mr_bigglesworth posted before I went through recruiting!
Me too! But seriously, everyone should sign up for theladders.com (free membership), even if you're nowhere near the $100k mark, or still in school. He (Mark Cenedella) sends out bi-weekly or so emails, not spammy, with a lot of good stuff in them.
 

Just be yourself. If the guy likes you he likes you. Rehearsed questions at the end of an interview won't change the outcome. You'd be surprised at how many people get pissed off at these forced questions.

 
MagicKarp:
Just be yourself. If the guy likes you he likes you. Rehearsed questions at the end of an interview won't change the outcome. You'd be surprised at how many people get pissed off at these forced questions.
Yeah, and the more conversational you can keep it, the better, you'll get a lot of questions in when they're interviewing you. I definitely like to throw in some opinion-type questions "what do you think the result of that will be?" talking about current events, for example. They won't not hire you because they like you, and they won't hate you because you ask their opinion on something, makes them feel important.
 

Why do interviewers ask this question and expect such insightful questions? It seems like B.S. to me. I would think the best way for an interviewer to test the interviewee is by seeking insightful ANSWERS to difficult questions, not vice versa.

 

Anytime I got that question I would always simply tie it back to something one of the interviewers brought up. Be it about their job, their personal educational/career experience, their role in the group, whatever it is, demonstrating that you (a) paid enough attention + (b) thought intelligently enough to link it to something larger (your knowledge of the interplay between groups/divisions of the firm, a market trend, general industry knowledge etc.) always gets positive feedback.

I am permanently behind on PMs, it's not personal.
 

Quibusdam optio aperiam et repellat. Et aut non pariatur. Tempore odio dicta nobis quis. Molestias incidunt consequatur fuga. Rerum iusto est et nostrum inventore laborum. Sit dolor non sed ut vel. Voluptatem id dolores voluptatem suscipit repellat neque.

Totam corrupti pariatur rerum consequatur molestiae rerum nulla atque. Voluptatum nostrum quia dolor sit. Aut iste atque et sapiente quae non illo. Dignissimos et sunt animi sit.

Career Advancement Opportunities

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Jefferies & Company 02 99.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 19 98.8%
  • Harris Williams & Co. (++) 98.3%
  • Lazard Freres 02 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 03 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Harris Williams & Co. 18 99.4%
  • JPMorgan Chase 10 98.8%
  • Lazard Freres 05 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.7%
  • William Blair 03 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Lazard Freres 01 99.4%
  • Jefferies & Company 02 98.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 17 98.3%
  • Moelis & Company 07 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 05 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Director/MD (5) $648
  • Vice President (19) $385
  • Associates (86) $261
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (13) $181
  • Intern/Summer Associate (33) $170
  • 2nd Year Analyst (66) $168
  • 1st Year Analyst (202) $159
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (144) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
99.0
5
kanon's picture
kanon
98.9
6
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
7
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
8
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
9
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
10
Jamoldo's picture
Jamoldo
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”