IB SA, 2nd round in a few days
Any thoughts on how much I can expect to be grilled on technicals and market stuff? First round was pure fit but I don't want to be caught off guard. I'm trying to decide how to best spend the time I've got left, mostly been focusing on "behavioral" prep.
nontarget, science major, PE/valuation work during summer.
MDs/Directors dont give a shit about technicals. thats all the first round stuff
Depends who. The chief quant for index strategies hit me with stats and matrices questions like nobody's business when I first interviewed four years ago.
The MD may care if he is a quant, risk manager, or if he still trades on a daily basis. Sometimes, second-round S&T interviews will have a technical stress test component. It really depends on who's running the interviews.
I think that as a nontarget student with a heavier quant background, you should expect some stuff. Especially if science major means physics. Get a copy of "Heard on the Street" if you don't already have one and keep practicing- ideally with a friend who's been through S&T interviews. That book covers probably 70% of the problem set of interview questions.
You're the random kid who managed to get into the interviews from a non-target (I say this as one non-target to another.) They will wonder how bright you had to be to land this interview and maybe expect you to be a little smarter than the other candidates- particularly any alumns who might be interviewing you.
Don't pretend you're an expert on everything. If they ask you if you know XYZ, always be honest and even couch a little. You don't have to know everything- we assume most of our analysts start off bright but totally incompetent.
Try and get the interviewers to talk about themselves. Oh, and SMILE.
+1 on the heard on the street reference.
Illini is right, coming from a non target I was tested a bit more than the other candidates. Be ready for anything, the more prepared you are the better, but one thing you are for sure going to be asked on is the technicals you worked with last summer.
Interesting pov on being tested more as a nontarget, I thought the playing field was more level at this point. I did some DCF, M&A and comps this summer which is on my resume and not going to make things easier, but they were rather "ghetto" as I had no instruction and was basically expected to pull them out of my butt from scratch. I'll just admit that and brush up on what I can.
@ Illi - you are right, science means physics and math. That said, your examples came from S&T and I'm applying for IBD - how much does that change things?
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