i commented on the interviewer's accent...am i screwed?

just had a phone interview with a BB for asia...towards the end, when he asked me if I had any questions for him, I just asked him why he chose asia, because his accent sounded like he was from Australia, and he was like "uhh no, I'm actually from the UK"...idk what i was thinking, but i blurted it out...am i screwed? lol

16 Comments
 

Lol wouldn't worry overly about it, he probs just found it funny. I'm from the UK and people have thought I was from Australia/South Africa/NZ/America before, and I just correct them. I doubt he'd ding you just for that. That said, probs best to avoid commenting on interviewers accent/appearance at all during an interview.

afroman23

 

Yeah don't worry about it. Except the question "why you chose Asia" when you thought he was Austrailian was pretty dumb....would have made more sense if you thought he was from the UK.

I'm horrible with accents so I don't even try. Dude could be eating wienerschnitzel, have the German flag tattooed on his ass, and being singing Hail Hitler and I still wouldn't ask him if he was German.

"Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, for knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA."
 

OhHi -- I was thinking the same thing. The guy Gekko describes is probably Austrian!

CompBanker’s Career Guidance Services: https://www.rossettiadvisors.com/
 

you guys are missing the point, the guy could be anyone from "that region".

"Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, for knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA."
 

I think the South African accent is hardest to place personally. I generally try not to comment on people's accents because apparently any comment you make about how X is different from Y makes you a bigot...who knew.

If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses - Henry Ford
 

The worst story of all, though, came from a friend who interviewed with an Israeli-focused (though domiciled in the US) engineering firm. Instead of keeping it simple, he decided to find that common ethnic bond (he was "ethnically" Jewish) and started equating the interviewer's obvious Middle Eastern background with his own Jewish upbringing (i.e. mentioning passover, channukah, etc.)

Little did he know that 10-15% of Israel's citizens are actually Arabic and many are well-educated enough to be working at Israeli engineering companies.

Still got hired, but more "in spite of" rather than "because of" that particular interview.

 

Dolorem non quidem ut. Ea molestias nulla quia voluptate maxime inventore. Rerum iure veniam recusandae est ratione.

Sit eos dolor sed in ex esse provident numquam. Incidunt cumque possimus est modi molestiae iste quis labore. Non ducimus repellendus velit commodi sint. Delectus ipsa porro eius autem ut.

Eum repellat numquam voluptas est et recusandae. Non eos quasi tenetur.

Dolor cupiditate architecto et ipsum sit omnis iusto hic. Amet est fugit autem quae praesentium odio rerum.

Career Advancement Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.3%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 02 98.8%
  • Evercore 01 98.3%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.7%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.8%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.3%
  • JPMorgan No 97.7%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (14) $434
  • Associates (44) $258
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (13) $156
  • 1st Year Analyst (78) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (73) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
5
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
6
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
7
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
8
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
9
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
10
Jamoldo's picture
Jamoldo
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”