I have an upcoming phone interview for a corporate development internship position doing M&A work. This is for a company in the industrials sector. I'm coming from an accounting background and have an MBA.
Just wanted to know if anyone has had experience with these phone interviews for this type of position and what I should expect in the phone call (technical questions, fit questions, both?).
Thanks.
adpp0, I work in corp dev for an industrials company, so hopefully I can help. You need to know your story, why corp dev, why this particular company, etc. You might get some basic technicals depending on the background of your interviewer. I would highly suggest looking at this company's IR page and watching or listening to their most recent earnings call and then taking a look at how the Street reacted after their most recent earnings announcement. Industrials is a VERY broad field, so definitely know why you want to work in whichever space this company operates.
I hope that helps. Feel free to PM me if you have any sensitive questions, but I would definitely prefer answering questions here so that others can benefit from my answers as well.
EDIT: For some background, I did two years in IB as an analyst and then moved to corp dev. I do not have an MBA.
Thanks much for the reply. Great advice. I am actually interested in IB and thought I could use this type of experience to get an IB internship or fulltime position after since I have no prior banking experience. This is only a 3 month internship so I dont know if they would hire fulltime after. I wouldnt mind getting into corporate banking either but I want to work in M&A in general. If i really want to land this position or make it further in the interview process I dont know if my interest in banking is something I should mention or just make it all about corporate development. I know the guy I am interviewing with used to be an investment banker and went to a top mba program.
If you are asked why you want to work in corp dev, the "correct" answer is because you find the M&A process interesting and want to be in a role where you are evaluating transactions and helping a company form their strategy over the long run. If asked why corp dev over PE, the "correct" answer is because you want to focus on long-term investments and on one company's growth through acquisition as opposed to acquiring companies with the intention of exiting said investment after a certain amount of years.
I would personally not mention your interest in IB. Think about this from the interviewer's perspective. You are interviewing for a buyside role, one that most people take to get out of banking, but most importantly, you are interviewing for a role that will pay a decent amount less than IB will. The interviewer will immediately wonder how dedicated to corp dev you are and why you would accept his/her offer should an IB also make you an offer. This is especially true since you are most likely graduating with crushing student debt, which is why so many MBA students go into banking, a scenario your interviewer knows first-hand.
Hopefully that all makes sense. I'm happy to answer any more questions. Good luck in your interview.
Awesome advice man I appreciate it. One last question I have is what type of competition do you think I would be up against for this internship? Former bankers?
its a little misleading because in the job description under qualifications it mentions mba student but also a separate line for undergraduate students as well.
I imagine that it's most likely MBA students with a banking background. I would not feel nervous about competing against bankers or anything. Your accounting background might not be the traditional background for corp dev, but it brings something new to the table, and having deep accounting knowledge is also a plus.
Thats what I figured. Aside from the accounting background my undergrad degree was in industrial design so hopefully that makes me stand out a little bit.
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