Have my first phone interview with the group soon, with a junior associate. Any suggestions or insight? I'm expecting some basic technicals (connections of 3 statements, DCF walk-through, cost of debt vs. equity), but don't know really what else to expect.
Probably will get some "Why Citi" questions, anyone else had Citi interviews recently?
good group and nice office. good luck
SA or FT?
FT
Sent you a pm
bump
I am also interested in this question. I am going to be talking to the Energy group of another bank in Houston soon.
Wouldn't they also ask technical oil and gas questions regarding the industry itself? I got the impression that if you don't come from a technical oil/gas background (like an engineer) then they would want to know if you have knowledge regarding the industry and what their clients do regarding putting together off-shore platforms or pipelines, or shale gas knowledge etc.
Is this not the case?
It's actually probably the opposite, King. If you DO have, or claim, oil and gas experience they are probably more likely to hit you with those kinds of technicals. In my experience, they asked standard technicals, why energy, and maybe "how would you value an oil well/shale gas play/etc". The most industry specific thing I would worry about is full cost v. successful efforts, but no one even asked that (still worth knowing though). Feel free to pm with any specific questions about Houston groups.
i've recently interviewed with a few houston banks and Cartwright's story seems to be the case. while you probably won't be expected to understand relevant industry multiples (if you do, then go ahead and try and impress them), one thing you could ask about is what the group's focus is (are they just m&a or also capital markets? do they specialize in deals involving upstream, midstream, or downstream assets? what's their regional focus etc.)
This tends to vary across firms. i interviewed for SA though, so you might be expected to have a greater understanding for FT. good luck.
Sent you a PM
I have my SA interview with Citi Houston's Energy Banking team next week. Any thoughts on what the interview will be like? Any help will be appreciated.
god, how is FT still going on.... I was stolen early september
Citi Houston Phone Interview (Originally Posted: 02/10/2009)
I have a phone interview tomorrow with Citi's Energy group in Houston. Anyone know what its like? Technical? Fit? Any weird questions?
Heard they may be downsizing. This for FT or SA?
I have had several IB phone interviews with other companies. From my experience, the technical questions during a phone interview usually aren't very grueling; I've been asked general questions about the financial statements and valuations techniques. The most common types of questions asked to me during interviews are similar to the following:
What about you would make you a good analyst/a good fit with us (think firm culture/industry)? Give an example of a time when you paid careful attention to detail/showed leadership. Greatest weakness/strength. Prior work experience (definitely be well prepared for this one).
The one time I was pressed for more in-depth technical knowledge during a phone interview was when I fudged my response to the first question asked. Usually as long as you show them you know are familiar with the general concepts the phone interview shouldn't be too technical.
Hope this helps.
@WxOnWallStreet: You have to assume the position is a SA position. If, as you say, they're downsizing, this wouldn't be FT recruitment. I know some people who applied to this SA program, where/what did you hear about this downsizing?
Just murmers here and there; nothing substiated hence the "may be." Hopefully that is not the case and even if it is, then as you said, it may very well not even be impacting SA recruitment.
Hey - PM me if you have a chance, I may know some people over there that you might be interviewing with.
In case we don't hook up before then, though, I'd say that you should also prep for some basic technical questions that would correspond to energy trading, not to financial statements. ie., define a commodity swap rather than define a P/E ratio. It is also very common in energy trading outfits for them to ask math brain-teaser type questions (all but one of my interviews out of B-school had those kind of questions). If you get one, don't get flustered, just think it through -- out loud is even recommended, that way they can see your thought process.
SA at an energy trading shop is a pretty good gig. Good luck.
On a related note, what school are you currently attending?
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