2nd Round Interview with MD

I had a phone interview last Friday at a boutique bank and it literally consisted of two questions: "tell me about yourself." and "what is an IB?" After that the interviewer spent the last 20 minutes or so in sell mode and told me about how they're setting up a new office in Asia and that they needed people here in NY to help set it up. He said that they're going to set a date for me to come in and speak to the MD to see if he likes me. How should I prep?

tl;dr
-phone interview at boutique in NYC
-Only got asked two questions
-interviewer went into sell mode about bank setting up new shop in Asia
-Going in next Friday for interview w/ MD
-How to prep?

Is it a good sign that I only got 2 questions?

 

For boutiques its kind of tricky. What is your education background? Most boutiques sway heavily on fit and want to make sure you will be good to work well with the office; however, at times boutiques want to make sure that new hires or interns have a strong finance or technical background because they don't have the resources to train. Pm me for specific questions, I'll help as much as I can

XX
 

do you know of any guides on alcohol to consume when with a MD vs. VP? also what's the appropriate etiquette on customizing drinks. for example, if I have to explain what a Sinatra select is (3 ice cubes, 2 fingers of jack, splash of water), will that look douchey?

also any guides on how to relax would be great. what's the proper posture, right leg crossed over left or vice versa? does it depend on where you're sitting?

 

Interviewing with senior guys is usually much more fun than analysts or associates... essentially you don't have to worry about somebody a year or two out of undergrad/bschool busting your balls and trying to make themselves feel important (which they aren't).

Know what youre interested in and why youre interested in it. Everything else will probably be pretty low key and friendly. Its usually cool to get them going about their clients, recent deals theyve done, and even where they went to college, maybe they played sport, etc- senior bankers talk for a living, so once they get started talking about themselves you may not get another word in... Their experiences dwindle those of the analysts (whom you should go out of your way to meet while youre in the office) that havent left their bullpen since graduation.

 

Actually this applies even to buyside interviews - I had way more fun interviewing with the Partners at these firms than with the Associates (most of whom still hate their lives and are bitter).

In general MDs are much more focused on the big picture rather than small details... it would be highly unusual for an MD to ask you to do a DCF, for example. Focus more on your story, background and the bigger questions of why you want to do this job and where you see yourself going.

Also try to ask a lot of questions of them, again focusing on larger questions like why they're doing it, vision for themselves/the firm etc., senior guys love to talk about that kind of stuff.

 

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