Difficulty of London SA Technicals
How difficult are London SA Technicals? Some folks say no need to look beyond the Basic sections of the IB400 Technicals. Is that generally the case?
Are there any particular banks I should prepare more rigorously for technicals?
Do UK bankers ask stuff like "walk me through the impact of £10 depreciation increase/£10 accrued expenses increase" (do they ask the UK version of US accounting walk-me-through questions?)
Not difficult at all
Would love to get some opinions from candidates with experience or those conducting interviews, but I would expect the technicals to be of a lower difficulty because all the undergraduate applicants in UK have only done 1 year of schooling in the UK, plus half of an internship (albeit perhaps a few spring weeks). I have also noticed that the North American "business" or finance degree is less common in the UK, so students get less exposure to it during the class as many opt for less quantitative degrees, such as PPE or History, etc.
bump
Very easy. Interviews place a much higher emphasis on fit. UK candidates are often pretty weak technically, especially if compared to Europeans which are often master's students with 3-4 internships under their belt. The internships themselves are also much less technical and demanding in the UK. A lot of focus on coffee chats and intern projects. During my internships in Europe, I was thrown straight into projects and was treated as any 1-year analyst. With that said, in my experience the UK is significantly easier (both during interviews and the internship) than Europe.
In the UK, they want to see more of extracurriculars instead. They want to see that you did volunteering, was a member of societies, was good at a sport etc. In Europe they couldn't give a fuck if you climbed Mount Everest, saved 2,000 refugees and competed in the olympics. They just want you to be good at the job and that's it.
Agree with the above comments - I would say it totally depends on your CV - a lot of my friends confidently say they can build DCFs, LBOs just from barely attending a Uni society workshop or some 2 week internship at a finance department and as such, some have got completely grilled in interviews. I never say I can do any modelling at all, just because I know I'll get caught out. It's better to have something niche or some extra-curriculars, most interviews are on fit and more on if they like you as a person, regardless of technical ability. I would say most interviews I've had have barely focused on technicals at all, more competency like why IB, the firm etc and them asking more about my academic and extra-curricular interests. If you have common ground with an interviewer, it makes the process so so much easier. On technical questions, the only basic ones to know are walk through a DCF, 3 types of valuation methods Bankers use and maybe a depreciation question (fairly rare).
On the non-Finance topic, do interviewers go easier on the non-Econ/Finance students? I fit into this category but I do know all the stuff you've mentioned (walk me through DCF, 3 valuation methods, etc etc)
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