Citigroup - Non-target and non-finance major

Vault Guide to Finance Interviews should be in ANY major bookstore in the city. Past that, I think if you go to Vault.com, you can purchase a PDF version online (it's the same thing, and in fact, maybe easier to use).

And yes, 2 weeks is more than enough time to prepare the technicals.

Just don't forget to prep yourself to talk through your resume, know your strengths and weaknesses (clearly make them not something like 'I'm bad at math') and all those soft skill questions. ie.) Examples of teamwork/leadership/etc. Vault Guide will have those types of questions too.

And of course, make sure you know exactly what IBD is and does and be able to explain that clearly and the differences between IBanking, S&T and Equity Research and why you prefer one over the other.

paulson_01:

thanks for the response. where can i grab the vault guide in the city? can i get this down in 2 weeks? any pointers? will it help if i currently have an internship that should develop a lot of these skills, though i may not have them up to par yet? should i mention that or simply get my shit down?

It's clearly relevant financial work experience. Talk about your responsibilities. ie.) If you do modeling work, explain what you do and how you analyze companies (investments, whatever) to show you have an analytical mind. If you make presentations and shit, talk about that as well. All of this shows that you have applicable skills for banking. Bankers more or less build financial models and make presentations (ie. pitchbooks, CIMs, etc.) all day. Being able to properly build a complex financial model is very important. Also, keep in mind that if they are interviewing you, they clearly think you have the right skills for the job, you just need to interview well and seal the deal...so to speak.

Oh yeah, and to add one more thing, just remain calm and be yourself. I've interviewed with some people at Citi and they all seemed pretty cool and down to Earth, yeah thy might try and grill you and act aloof (this is all interview tactics), but they all seemed to genuinely want someone who they could get along with easily as well as work with. So just be yourself.

paulson_01:

If I currently have experience in a small, small company regarding investment management, research, etc... how can I leverage this to an IB position? Is this a disadvantage?

Yeeah:

With regards to TheKing's post, I think fit is somewhat important, but when it comes down to it, you have to be able to sell your skills and how your skill-set is better than the other 30 people interviewing for your slot.

For example, instead of talking about how one of your hobbies is playing basketball, talk about how playing basketball has taught you lessons like sacrifice, discipline, etc etc.

One time you were on an IM team and you were down 20 points at the half. But you kept your head in the game and really focused and helped bring the team together. The game went down to the buzzer and the team eeked through with a win. This story shows teamwork, leadership, and bouncing back from a loss.

Point out skills that you can bring to the table as an analyst.

Again, know your technical stuff but you don't need to know a lot given your background. If you're an Art History major, make sure you know your art; the interviewer may very well have an interest in Greek statues.

I cannot emphasize enough the importance of tying your experience to particular skills.

Great post -- I agree with you 100%. It's equally important to have a sense of what traits/skills the "ideal analyst" would have -- everyone should have a sense of this before they go into the interview. And because the ability to succeed in this field really depends a lot on your personality and ability to work with others under intense pressure, some of the most relevant skills towards succeeding as an analyst are the "soft skills" you develop through your passion for and commitment to your extracurricular activities. The technical skills are easy enough to teach to someone who's reasonably smart, so that's why "softer skills" like mental discipline, perseverance, leadership, and attention to detail are so important. It's all about how you frame the things you learned from your experiences and being able to clearly articulate how you think your experiences in team sports, music, mountain climbing, volunteering in some third-world country, or whatever else you may have done outside the classroom can help you succeed as an analyst.