To absolutely kill technical interviews
So I'm prepping for ft ib internships coming in the falls.
So far, I've read and I'm planning to skim again the WSO guides, 400Qs guide from M&I, and Vault.
I also have Investment Banking Valuation, LBO, M&A by Joshua Rosenbaum et al., which I have not started reading yet.
First of all: do I have enough resources to be able to answer 100% of technicals asked? If not, what else should I study?
Second, I need a routinized system to keep up with them. I currently have two part time internships to keep me busy throughout the day. I was thinking of putting aside half an hour to an hour every night and study more intensely on weekends. But I'm afraid I might forget them come closer to the interviews, if I start now.
So for those of you already in the industry, what was your strategy of keeping up with technicals leading up to the recruiting period?
Thanks.
1. I would not worry about
1. I would not worry about 100% crushing every single question.. its unrealistic tbh. If a banker wants to technically crush you in an interview... it will probably happen.
2. Find a buddy that has the same goal as you.. mock interviewing each other/discussing answers will make a HUGE difference
But yes, if you know the M&I and WSO guides really well, you will be fine
Everything that will likely
Everything that will likely be asked for an entry-level analyst is probably in M&I/WSO, unless your interviewer really wants to fuck with you OR you come off as arrogant and they don't buy your shit. That said, M&I has a lot of "example"/"general" type questions that can be easily changed around. For example, a lot of the accounting questions in M&I's guide refers to specific line items (depr, COGS, etc.) You don't want to just be blindly memorizing sample questions and answers. In order to kill technical interviews, you need a perfect understanding of the basics. In general, if you have a rock-solid understanding of how everything works - financial statement analysis, valuation, corpfin/projectfin concepts - you can easily figure out many other things.
On a slightly unrelated note, how come no one recommends Heard on the Street anymore? Arguably it's better suited for more quantitative roles, but I found it to be good practice in case of curveball/brainteaser questions.
"Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself."
Currently: PR/MarComm/IMC, semipro dancer, academiphile, Crafter of Stars
even if you read all of those
even if you read all of those I can still find a technical you can't answer. You really would have to read textbooks on everything. Not a basic summary like the rosenbaum book or interview guides.
And still, textbook knowledge won't be enough. You'll lack real world experience and research knowledge.
Couple of thoughts: 1.) Make
Couple of thoughts:
1.) Make networking by far your #1 priority. As okay24 mentioned, a banker will screw with you if he/she wants to and it is impossible to be prepared from every technical angle. Make sure you network hard to land the interview in the first place and earn positive reputations at the banks / dependable relationships. Virtually everything will hinge on that. If the banker likes you and the recruiting team has notes that you have done well in informational interviews, your real / superday interviews will go well with softball questions. Most people who get tough technical questions are the candidates whom bankers don't really like / know well.
2.) Make sure you don't memorize and regurgitate your answers. You should ideally be able to know the concepts so well that you can verbalize them in a simple / easy-going / smooth way. I hate it when people repeat answers / phrases from the guides verbatim as it is obvious and boring. Try to break it down into simple and summarized concepts...
3.) To really demonstrate your mastery - be able to weave in deals and existing issues. For example, if someone asks you about IPOs, you can define it but also relate it / comment / weave in factors regarding the Facebook IPO. I am fairly impressed it someone can answer a question and then find a relevant example. Anyone can define what "capital structure" is but a great answer would be the summary and - on top of that - an example of a company and that company's capital structure.
intermediate financial
intermediate financial accounting 1&2 will prepare you more than enough
Studying guides at length and
Studying guides at length and in depth will be hugely helpful, but the only way to "kill it" it to understand the stuff well. Make sure you have an understanding of the material that technical questions are asking about. As a couple people mentioned before, the standard questions can be flipped around to throw you for a loop. You may even hear some completely new ones out of left-field that the interviewer comes up with just to test whether you really understand the concepts behind the questions.
So basically, beyond the standard (i.e. how does depreciation flow through, etc.) focus more on developing an understanding of how everything works. You'll end up being much better prepared to think through tough questions when they get thrown at you.
chicandtoughness: Everything
Everything that will likely be asked for an entry-level analyst is probably in M&I/WSO, unless your interviewer really wants to fuck with you OR you come off as arrogant and they don't buy your shit. That said, M&I has a lot of "example"/"general" type questions that can be easily changed around..
Is this more or less true at the Associate level too?
I wouldn't know, never
I wouldn't know, never interviewed for associate positions. From what I hear, more deal- and project-based.
"Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself."
Currently: PR/MarComm/IMC, semipro dancer, academiphile, Crafter of Stars
1. practice 2. practice 3.
1. practice
2. practice
3. practice
..speaking, modeling, being able to consider 2-3 different transactions (i.e. buy an asset using debt, making a dividend payment and an acquisition using debt, etc.)
but yeah..networking is priority number 1
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I'm making it up as I go along.
You have the necessary
You have the necessary resources to do well (guides, books, etc.). As long as you put in the time, which it seems like you're willing to do, you should be able to hold your own in the technical interview. Its important that you actually understand what they're asking, rather than just memorizing the material.
My WSO Blog
wso1234: Studying guides at
Studying guides at length and in depth will be hugely helpful, but the only way to "kill it" it to understand the stuff well. Make sure you have an understanding of the material that technical questions are asking about. As a couple people mentioned before, the standard questions can be flipped around to throw you for a loop. You may even hear some completely new ones out of left-field that the interviewer comes up with just to test whether you really understand the concepts behind the questions.
So basically, beyond the standard (i.e. how does depreciation flow through, etc.) focus more on developing an understanding of how everything works. You'll end up being much better prepared to think through tough questions when they get thrown at you.
This is awesome advice and I think you have the right attitude in mind; look at preparing for the technical aspect of IB interviews as an open book test and everything that you have/should have learned at the UG level [and some above] is fair game.
I've said this before and I'll say it again every time these 'prep' threads show up its fine to be prepared for all the questions you may be asked, hell even w/ some script as well, but also be prepared to back your answers. Having prepared answers though should be a no-brainer. If you can do this you're probably 50% better prepared than your peers, but you should take it to the next level and leave nothing on the table. You should actually practice what you're learning. Take the time to build a model or two, three or more and have that motherfucker 'break' on you and #ref on when you plug your ending cash back in the balance sheet from the statement of cash flows. I think there's some valuable experience in chasing down mistakes and it brings you to the 'next level'. You'll develop a familiarity and comfort with the financial statements that you wouldn't gain otherwise and won't be left sweating out a stupid debit/credit question that seems a bit foreign to you when you've been spending all of your time in LBO land. Building/breaking models pulls on all of the nitty-gritty details that you skip when you study a canned 5 line response to DCF, Acc/Dil., or LBO question.
Chances are, if you're not a dick, you won't get asked anything ridiculous, but you want to be prepared for that arrogant Associate fresh out of b-school that thinks he's the shit and drills you with something. I'd also hazard a guess that if you develop a comfort with financial modeling/interview questions it does loads for your confidence. Yes, it's important to toe the line and not be a snobby know-it-all, but it'll hurt even worse to look like a fool when an interviewer 'digs' into your knowledgebase and exposes your ass to get burnt.
So study like you are and throw in modeling and if you're weak recognize it and don't push the shit off. There's nothing wrong w/ coming home from two internships broke-the-fuck-off and tired and studying. Optimal? Probably not, but there's winners and losers and you don't want to be left standing outside the circle in November. Feels like shit.
'Before you enter... be willing to pay the price'
I crammed for my interviews
I crammed for my interviews for a cumulative of 2 nights before them and got offer. Investment banking interviews are cake man.
chicandtoughness: Everything
Everything that will likely be asked for an entry-level analyst is probably in M&I/WSO, unless your interviewer really wants to fuck with you OR you come off as arrogant and they don't buy your shit. That said, M&I has a lot of "example"/"general" type questions that can be easily changed around. For example, a lot of the accounting questions in M&I's guide refers to specific line items (depr, COGS, etc.) You don't want to just be blindly memorizing sample questions and answers. In order to kill technical interviews, you need a perfect understanding of the basics. In general, if you have a rock-solid understanding of how everything works - financial statement analysis, valuation, corpfin/projectfin concepts - you can easily figure out many other things.
On a slightly unrelated note, how come no one recommends Heard on the Street anymore? Arguably it's better suited for more quantitative roles, but I found it to be good practice in case of curveball/brainteaser questions.
The reason why people don't recommend Heard on the Street as frequently as the other interview guides is basically within the reason that you gave for recommending it: it focuses on brainteasers and relatively more difficult quantitative questions that might help you differentiate the geniuses from the "normal" smart people, but then again, in IBD, you don't need to be ridiculously smart to succeed. While FT interviews may well include brainteasers, it's a foregone conclusion that they'll include some sort of finance/accounting questions, so I suppose that's why you don't see that guide recommended quite as often.
If you are able to answer
If you are able to answer every question in the M&I guide then you're very well prepared. In the interview process there are very few things you can control. Knowing your technicals in and out is one of them. However, don't fall in the trap of thinking that if you do know all the technicals you will get a job.
Most bankers who interview you are for the most part testing whether you're a hard worker and whether they would want to spend 12 hours of their days with you. So in the end, the fit part of the interview is what will get you the job. The fit part is harder to master, but you can prepare for it. The best way to do it is to practice with friends who can punch holes in your story and help you in formulating well flowing responses. Make sure that you can answer all basic fit questions in an analytic way: Why, how and give a specific example.
These are the basic fit questions. They sound simple, but they are the most important in my mind:
- Tell me about yourself / Walk me through your resume?
- Why do you want to do investment banking?
- Why do you want to work here?
Also, the following posts by M&I are more helpful than anything i can tell you (he thinks about this all the time):
http://www.mergersandinquisitions.com/how-to-tell-...
http://www.mergersandinquisitions.com/3-most-impor...
Thanks everyone!!!
Thanks everyone!!!
Matthias: I crammed for my
'Before you enter... be willing to pay the price'