Does the difficulty of the interview vary depending on how you got the interview?
Lets say your resume was passed along to a bank by a baller MD who you have a good connection with. Would they go easier on you than someone who had an interview just by applying through OCR?
What if you are from a non-target and applied through the website or cold called to get an interview? Would they grill you hardcore since you don't go to a good school and they want to see if you're smart?
Is there ever a case where you will get a joke interview because of a certain person that passed your resume along? Like basically a superday/offer before you even interview?
Asking just to get an idea of how people with connections get interviewed vs people who were just lucky to get an interview. Like, if your uncle was an MD at MS or something like that.
No. Connections typically only get you in the door. The rest is up to you and everything else is at the discretion of the interviewer.
Depends on the size and your level of experience. If you're interviewing for a summer analyst or 1st year spot in a structured training program and you were connected through a decision maker, its a greater possibility that you'll get mostly fit questions with some layup technicals. This can also happen if you're from a non target and a group head has tried to reserve a spot in the analyst class for a recruit or 2 from their alma mater.
Being from a non target and applying through a website can go both ways. If you have no finance experience on your resume they are less likely to give you any real brain busters.
As bearearns said though, its also possible that your connection won't help at all beyond getting the interview if they're not a decision maker. No one is going to hire a full time analyst as a favor for a friend, but other things being equal - it could tip the scales in your favor if you hold your own in the interviews vs the competition.
WH - good to see you back on wso. lets catch up soon.
For the most part, the guys posting above are right; connections get your foot in the door to the interview, and the rest is up to your individual performance. However, there are always exceptions to the rule. If the son of the head of my group (or someone else similarly related to someone high up at my bank) were to interview, you can bet I'm not going to grill them (or maybe I would, just to mess with him... but I kinda care about my bonus so I most likely wouldn't).
Bottom line is that generally, no, it doesn't matter who got your foot in the door; however, if you have a very strong connection (outside of just professional networking), then likely your interviews will be a point of formality, and unless there is a very negative reaction against you, you're likely a shoo-in. But these cases are obviously rare, and I suspect you wouldn't be asking these questions if you were.
Best of luck in the interview process.
Do the interviewers know that you were referred by 'Head of xyz group"?
Inevitably, with that sort of question, you'll end up mentioning your connection and how helpful s/he was and how "it really gave you a sense of the type of culture" at whatever firm.
Note: these kinds of answer actually are the best to the "Why x bank" question; anyone can say "because of your strengths in ______ that really appeals to my interest in __________." but the better answer differentiates you and shows that you're serious about your interest. That's also not to say you can't combine the two answers.
In the past many of the interviews I was invited to were due to the connections I made before hand. In every single case (I was referred from Partners at one firm to Associates at others) the interview process was the standard that everyone had to go through. I just didn't have to go through online numericals and submitting stuff online.
I recently talked to an alum at a top IB.
He told me that the interviews are harder and more technical for the kids in the non-core process. Even if you're an Econ or Liberal Arts major, the interviews will be more technical than even those given to Wharton kids.
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