Began the process through a referral from a friend in Hong Kong. He was familiar with SBI E2 Capital markets because his father had done some work with them.

They are very well-known in HK and had won awards for being the best HK local broker for a number of years in a row, so I thought I would give it a shot. Through a friend's referral, I was introduced to a director at the firm, who helped me through the recruiting process for the summer internship. Usually they only recruit in HK and mainland China, so they did not have a fully-developed recruiting process for applicants from the U.S., I was told.

The interview process was relatively straight forward. After submitting a resume and cover letter (before which I had spoken with the director at length and learned a great deal about the firm) I was asked to have a phone interview with HR. The first interview lasted about half an hour and seemed to be more of a confirmation of my resume and prior experiences. As the only previous finance experience I had on my resume was accounting-related, they asked specifically about what I had learned and the challenges of accounting. What I liked about it/how that could add to my investment banking experience, etc.

Following that call, I was asked to have another interview with a second director of the firm (not the one I had previously spoken with, but it seems he put in a good word). This phone conversation lasted over an hour and was much more fit and business-culture related. Questions such as: "What would you do if your boss asked you to do something you deemed unethical?" "How do you deal with stress?" "What to you expect the biggest challenge will be banking and how are you prepared to deal with it?" and "Not everyone can succeed in banking. There are winners and losers. Give me examples of when you have been a winner and a loser and your key takeaways from each experience."

After the second phone interview, I waited a few days and then received an e-mail (yes, bummer, an e-mail) saying that they were offering me the summer internship position. I thought about it for 24 hours and accepted the position.

Overall my perceptions of the people I dealt with during the interview process were along the same lines as when I was working at SBI E2 - really professional and great people. There wasn't too much chit chat, but it wasn't 100% business either.