Can you really afford to miss one or two technicals?

Can you miss one or two technical situational questions before realistically moving onto the next round? If I sounded like I knew my stuff and the concepts but chose the wrong answer ultimately is that a ding despite getting the fundamental technicals (prior to that) ?

I started off strong, getting first 3-4 technicals 100% and showing a good understanding however I accidentally gave wrong answers to specific industry questions, messed up and said DCF is the best way to value a healthcare company and mutiples to use are EV/EBITDA and P/E although ik its not right for that industry but usually it is overall in general. Like conceptually I understood for general companies but said the wrong answer for that specific industry. 


It seems like I really hit it off with the guy and we had a lot in common. The bank swings more into fit based on what I've seen. Any thoughts? Just want to know my chances, lol. 

 

Thank you intern, we were all waiting for you to say it

 

What is that even supposed to mean?

that they artificially lower standards based on race and gender to appear more progressive 

when, in reality, moving the goalposts is regressive

nobody complains about the diversity of plumbers, garbagemen, construction workers, coal miners

as somebody previously commented, this whole corporate wokism is solely a product of 0% interest rate environments…nowhere else in the world do you see this kind of phony wokism

 
Controversial

just cope with the fact that your ancestors had all this time to run their bag up but they couldn't establish a system of nepotism for you. so many successful white people working at the top firms and you aren't one of them. also, as a black prospect who knows most of the best black prospects out there, we all know our technicals just as well as the non-diversity that gets recruited during the regular cycle. Only difference is that we are recruited from all over, we don't have to go to a target school in order to get a chance. Yeah its tough that non-diverse kids at nontargets get fucked, but it is what it is. If you are non-diverse and go to a target you have no excuses fr. 

 

What is that even supposed to mean?

that they artificially lower standards based on race and gender to appear more progressive 

Correct. Usually by way of early diversity recruiting Spring Freshman / Fall Sophomore semester (I've participated as a mentor in one of these programs at my shop) 

when, in reality, moving the goalposts is regressive

Let me make sure I'm understanding this correctly - you're basically saying "giving an easier set of techs to a diversity candidate is inherently unfair and puts them at a disadvantage to the other candidates they're competing against for SA/FT spots", correct? Just want to clarify, because I'm pretty sure I'm reading this wrong... 

nobody complains about the diversity of plumbers, garbagemen, construction workers, coal miners

Plumbers, garbagemen, construction workers, and coal miners don't clear six figures immediately out of undergrad. 

as somebody previously commented, this whole corporate wokism is solely a product of 0% interest rate environments…nowhere else in the world do you see this kind of phony wokism

lmao, ok big dawg, you're going to definitely have to elaborate here. Explain to me how the FFR contributed towards affirmative action / "corporate wokeness", because I'm not seeing the connection between the interest rate banks charge one another to meet overnight cash reserve requirements and political correctness.

I'll wait... 

 

knew a girl who got BB FT and the hardest tech she got asked was “what does ebitda stand for”

 

My school has pretty good pipeline into NYC BBs and I have been told that they mostly don't ask technicals and focus on 'fit' questions. The reason I was given was that diversity programs recruit earlier, so many candidates aren't well prepared with technicals (which sounds bs tbh, especially considering how forgiving diversity recruiting already is supposed to be)

 

If you're diversity, you'll probably not even be asked any technicals (at least at BBs)

 

Leaked technical questions:

What is revenue?

What is your favorite financial statement?

Are you litigious?

 

Attention all interns, attention all interns: doing a DCF is not rocket science. In 3 months everyone can normally do the same exact shit anyways, banks are training programs themselves. Study harder, and compete. Life isn’t fair.

 

Attention all interns, attention all interns: doing a DCF is not rocket science. In 3 months everyone can normally do the same exact shit anyways, banks are training programs themselves. Study harder, and compete. Life isn't fair.

Easy to say when you benefit from a system that moves the goalposts for you

 
rangerfan243

Can you miss one or two technical situational questions before realistically moving onto the next round? If I sounded like I knew my stuff and the concepts but chose the wrong answer ultimately is that a ding despite getting the fundamental technicals (prior to that) ?

I started off strong, getting first 3-4 technicals 100% and showing a good understanding however I accidentally gave wrong answers to specific industry questions, messed up and said DCF is the best way to value a healthcare company and mutiples to use are EV/EBITDA and P/E although ik its not right for that industry but usually it is overall in general. Like conceptually I understood for general companies but said the wrong answer for that specific industry. 

It seems like I really hit it off with the guy and we had a lot in common. The bank swings more into fit based on what I've seen. Any thoughts? Just want to know my chances, lol. 

These answers dont sound wrong

 

It doesn’t sound too wrong, I mean what is a healthcare company is it an early stage biotech startup or HC services company ?

If you’re talking about like Pfizer I am not in healthcare but would imagine you do a DCF of current project cash flows along with probability weighted DCFs of new drugs in pipeline where you capture probability of completion along with potential future cash flows as well (just from hearing my HC/pharmacolleagues say “we need to do 50 mini DCF for this company”). EV/EBITDA multiple probably captures these too if you have the right comp set. 
 

basically, depends on delivery but if the only mistake you made is saying EV/EBITDA can be applied to healthcare (assuming the company does have EBITDA/can be valued in that basis), should be fine 

 
deathTouch

The most comprehensive answer was the ask which HC sector the company is in, but not really sure why that would be expected at an IB analyst level. Your answer is acceptable for a number of HC companies so I wouldn't worry about it. Hell, two years ago you could probably say Price/Maximum Conceivable TAM and be ok for most growth-leaning companies.

 

It depends, if it’s for a specific coverage group (which it sounds like) they are usually looking for someone who has a genuine interest in that coverage. That being said, they are probably using those specific coverage technical questions as a metric for a candidates true interest in said group (if you like this industry you will study it kind of mentality). I botched industry specific technicals and was dinged almost every time, when I got them right I moved through.

 

I've interviewed lots of people in both investment banking and private equity, and I've never administered an interview in which the candidate got 100% of the questions right. Hardos on WSO focus on technicals because (1) it feels bad*ss to say you have "technical" knowledge and (2) it's the part of the recruiting process that feels more in your control. In reality, folks administering these interviews are just hoping that the person can walk through technicals reasonably well so we can talk about football (i.e. ascertain whether or not we actually want to work with you). 

Work hard, prepare, but don't freak out over some random questions an analyst came up with using the restroom 5 minutes before your interview. 

 

Yes and no. 

As someone who interviewed Analyst candidates I wouldn't expect them to know everything like for ex the treasury stock method if it was a more advanced question. There are exceptions to this like I once interviewed at Evercore in college for an internship and they expected me to know accretion / dilution with debt / equity consideration lol (as a junior in college which I think is ridiculous). 

If you miss two though that's bad - 

 

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Like the unadjusted- only with a little bit extra.

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