Equity Research

I applied to Barclays' SA program on its website and placed Equity Research first before Investment Banking. A couple of weeks later, I get a email saying that I was selected to participate in one superday (3 back-to-back 30-minute interviews) with 2 MDs and 1 person from HR.

When I arrived, the interviewers were super relaxed and there were only 2 other candidates at the office when I was being interviewed. The questions the MDs asked weren't even technical but much more behavioral and they wanted to know why I am pursuing Equity Research instead of Investment Banking. Like all Equity Research interviews, I had to pitch them a company and I went into detail about my investment thesis and reasons for why the company was undervalued and also went over possible catalysts. The MDs did not ask any really technical question about the pitch. The most technical question that I got asked related to accounting and valuation was just how to calculate WACC and Unlevered Free Cash Flow. Be careful though, one of the MDs asks you to pitch him a company that he chooses so it's best to really understand how to pitch any company.

The HR person also asks a lot of weird/hard behavioral questions so it's really important to not become nervous and lose your cool. One behavioral question was, "If there was a movie made about your life, what would it's title be and why?"

Overall, I would say I definitely over-prepared for the interview.