Who Gets the Technicals?

I graduated with an economics degree and interviewed for a variety of different finance jobs, and I think that over the 2 years that I interviewed for SA and FT, I got maybe 3 technical questions and 2 of those were easy "walk me through the 3 statements" which barely even count.

So, I'm wondering if the distribution of technical questions tends to heavily lean towards business majors or was I just lucky?

Just for clarification, most of my interviews were at BB IBD or Investment Management firms. No elite boutique ibd interviews, which I understand are by nature more technical.

 
couchy:
I got raped in my elite boutique interview... some small no-name sketchy boutiques really tested me too

That never made sense to me. Is it cuz they don't have a formal training program for their SAs and FTs? It doesn't make sense since I would imagine most of the 'smartest' people go to BBs and elite boutiques, so the less elite boutiques would have the leftovers so to speak. Why crush them with technicals?

Remember, once you're inside you're on your own. Oh, you mean I can't count on you? No. Good!
 
couchy:
I got raped in my elite boutique interview... some small no-name sketchy boutiques really tested me too
Woah that's scary - haven't you studied technicals really hard (based on your posts that's what I've gleaned...not that I stalk your posts lol)?
 
Ron Paul:
couchy:
I got raped in my elite boutique interview... some small no-name sketchy boutiques really tested me too
Woah that's scary - haven't you studied technicals really hard (based on your posts that's what I've gleaned...not that I stalk your posts lol)?

Thanks, I haven't studied too hard but I think being Asian has something to do with the tough questions. fuck me

 
Best Response

I am an Economics major and I noticed that my first round interviews were very technical (70%+) whereas the final round interviews leaned toward behavioral with a few high level technicals thrown in (merits of EBITDA vs FCF, what an increase in NWC would mean).

I was pretty surprised with the level of technicals asked in this recruiting cycle though. I knew my M&I guide front to back but most of my interviews centered around DCF analysis with a few accounting questions thrown in. I was never asked about accretion/dilution or LBO's which I had studied for. Unexpected, ambiguous behaviorals were the hardest parts of any interview by far.

 
cik11:
I am an Economics major and I noticed that my first round interviews were very technical (70%+) whereas the final round interviews leaned toward behavioral with a few high level technicals thrown in (merits of EBITDA vs FCF, what an increase in NWC would mean).

I was pretty surprised with the level of technicals asked in this recruiting cycle though. I knew my M&I guide front to back but most of my interviews centered around DCF analysis with a few accounting questions thrown in. I was never asked about accretion/dilution or LBO's which I had studied for. Unexpected, ambiguous behaviorals were the hardest parts of any interview by far.

What did you apply for - M&A? LevFin?

Maybe something about me made interviewers think I had my technicals on lock and didn't need to be asked. But probably not. Actually definitely not. I'm not complaining about it, it's just my experience was so counter to what I've read on M&I, this site, and even heard from friends. Maybe I just got lucky.

Remember, once you're inside you're on your own. Oh, you mean I can't count on you? No. Good!
 

Technicals are a pretty poor way to assess a candidate- lot of interviewers don't really believe in them. Doesn't really test anything except- did your guide happen to have x,y,z questions or did the finance class you took in school happen to cover x,y,z topics. There are a few simple concepts- walk through dcf, 3 statements, that you should know just in terms of being prepared, but besides that these things are pretty worthless.

Had an IBD interview the other day and the guy recognized that I was an econ major at a LAC- basically said "Would you be able to do x,y,z things if I asked you to" (I think it was dcf, 3 statements, and outline an LBO) to which I said yes to all 3 but didn't actually have to do them. Found that interesting.

 

Well that's pretty awesome.

I agree that they're useless, especially if you're applying to a bank with a training program where you'll learn that stuff anyway.

One thing I find funny is that, from what I've heard, the people who generally drill you with technicals are junior people. Like once you mature you no longer give a shit if they already know how to outline an LBO.

Remember, once you're inside you're on your own. Oh, you mean I can't count on you? No. Good!
 
snakeplissken:
Well that's pretty awesome.

I agree that they're useless, especially if you're applying to a bank with a training program where you'll learn that stuff anyway.

One thing I find funny is that, from what I've heard, the people who generally drill you with technicals are junior people. Like once you mature you no longer give a shit if they already know how to outline an LBO.

I don't agree that technical interview questions are necessarily "useless". For one thing, while very technical finance topics might not come up every day as an analyst, that doesn't mean that they won't ever come up. And when they do come up, it's far better to have someone who at least has a sense of what's going on. Even if your bank has a standardized training program, it's better to have someone at least familiar with these topics.

Additionally, in the interview process itself, it helps to separate candidates, kind of how a GPA does as well. You won't hire a candidate solely because he knows the in's and out's of every technical questions, but if there are two candidates that you like on a 'fit' level equally, then I wonder who's going to have the upper hand...

The poster above is right about why senior bankers don't care about your technical abilities; they're not the one's who are going to be correcting your work and walking you through a model at 3 AM. With regard to that, it's pretty hard to determine whether someone is technically competent or not (be it within modeling, or finance/accounting topics in general) just based on a few interview questions. That said, I think in many cases it's pretty apparent who is NOT ready.

 

Well, junior people often ask the technical questions because they are the one's specifically tasked with doing so. It's not necessarily that senior bankers don't care. They will in the conference room when they ask their juniors how you did.

Here's my data point. I have no education in finance or accounting, but I have been an M&A banker for over a year as an associate. I am rarely ever asked technical questions.

 

Not at all. After being on your end of it and now being on the side where friends are giving interviews, technicals seemed to get doled out to kids who ask for it. People who have level 1 CFA on there resume, boast about their modeling experience and related class work, and people who come in cocky will routinely get hammered with technicals (not saying this is a rule of thumb and that other people don't get technicals, but these are the kinds of kids who tend to get shit on). Whether or not that is fair or not is besides the point. As it almost always is, interviews come down a lot of the time to what kind of mood your interviewer is in. The more conversational, the better it is usually going, but there have been times in the past where I felt I had great interviews that were basically strong convo's and didn't get the offer so it all depends on the eye of the beholder.

Regardless, don't sweat it.

 

If you don't have IBD internships but want to stress your knowledge of the concepts, shouldn't you put under your 'Technical skills' what you are familiar with? DCF, Enterprise value, Pub Co Comparables, Precedent, LBO models, etc? Is that boasting, or just stating a fact?

Also why would you not put what level of the CFA you have passed? If you put in the time studying and passed, I would hope you would signal that on your resume somewhere.

My name is Nicky, but you can call me Dre.
 
aempirei:
If you don't have IBD internships but want to stress your knowledge of the concepts, shouldn't you put under your 'Technical skills' what you are familiar with? DCF, Enterprise value, Pub Co Comparables, Precedent, LBO models, etc? Is that boasting, or just stating a fact?

Also why would you not put what level of the CFA you have passed? If you put in the time studying and passed, I would hope you would signal that on your resume somewhere.

I'm not saying to understate your qualifications, I'm saying the people that have that kind of shit on their resume tend to be the ones that get hammered with technicals. If you have passed the first or second level of the CFA, most of these technicals should be a cakewalk anyways so you shouldn't be too concerned.

 

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