Interviewers' attitude
Curious about this. When you were interviewing for SA or FT analyst positions, were most interviewers out to get you, or did they hope you are a good candidate and not wasting their time?
Mainly SA experience:
I interviewed first rounds with 5 of the BBs, and the on-campus interviewers were pretty cordial.
Interviewed with three elite boutiques. For one, the first-round OCR was brutal, one of the interviewers just smirked at me the entire time, and the second kept on repeating the question, saying, "No, you're not listening to what I'm asking. Let me repeat it again." (It was a really easy question about EV vs. EqVal, so I knew my answer was correct, she was just giving me shit). The second was pretty standard, the interviewer just looked really tired. The third I made it to superday, and they were super nice throughout the entire process.
Interviewed with three MMs. They were a little more stuffy and stuck-up, questioning a lot of the choices on my resume and even saying, "So basically you just gave up, that's a horrible explanation" when I explained why I changed majors...
Interviewed with one advisory shop and one Big4 (superdays/final rounds at both). They were definitely the nicest of the bunch.
Most interviewers are not out to get you. I live by the rule that if an interviewer wanted to ask you something to make you look stupid, he/she could, but if they have a genuine interest in hiring somebody, there's no reason to do that.
Having said that, very difficult and/or aggressive questions will fall into one of the following categories:
(a) Difficult technical questions that they hope you can answer. If you don't know the answer, do your best to demonstrate some level of intelligence and an ability to work through the problem. Sometimes not knowing the answer will kill your chances, but other times it won't. Assume it won't and try your best.
(b) Difficult or hostile questions that are meant to test your interest/resolve or ability to remain cool and collected. These will often take the form of digs at your prior experience (perhaps insinuating that things you've listed on your resume are less meaningful than you've implied) or skepticism at your motives for wanting the job. The key here is to not get defensive, remain upbeat, and have a strong story for why you want the job and for everything you write on your resume.
(c) Meanspirited questions from an interviewer who has already written you off and doesn't like you. This is really rare. The best you can do is assume it's a test and act accordingly.
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