Interview prep, how long will it take?
Hi, I am a sophomore at a target school, majoring in economics, and pursuing a career in investment banking. I did not think I would be pursuing this path until fairly recently, and have not prepared for interviews yet technically. I plan on recruiting this spring, and was curious, how long would it take me to learn all technicals for an interview. I know banks such as RBC have already opened apps, and will have super days later in the spring, so would it be possible to go from 0 knowledge to interview ready in that amount of time? I know everyone understands things at a different pace, but in general, do you guys see this happening? Thanks!
i'm more of a PrEP guy iykyk
bump I’m also trying to learn this stuff expeditiously
Depends. Have you taken intro accounting or know the equivalent? If you have basic accounting knowledge, should be completely doable to go from accounting and 0 finance knowledge to interview-ready in a matter of 1-2 months. If you also have 0 accounting knowledge, 2-3 months is more reasonable. When I say months, I'm talking like maybe 4-8 hours a week.
~10 hours cumulative is all it took to prep IB techs sufficient for BB superdays lol it's not that serious
I will be cautious about advising so. Sure you can just grab a 400Q pdf and memorize things in 10 hours. But chances are you are not understanding what those technical answers really stand for. Sure that you can tell the rule of thumbs for accretive dilutive analysis in M&A. But what about a M&A deal with 30% case 30% debt 40% equity? What about other many things in depth? You might be brilliant enough to do so, but not everyone here can study all from scratch in 10 hours, or a few days.
My personal superday exp. at a BB IBD for SA positions is the head of M&A group asked me the above question, just to let you know.
Very true, especially as you move up the interview process, you will get questions that are not from the guides and that you've never seen before, which are meant to really test how well you conceptually understand the concepts.
Do you add the weighted cost together and compare it to the yield of the seller?
Lol. This guy comes here to brag about how it took only 10 hours to go from 0 working finance knowledge to superday ready. Anyone that actually has gone through recruiting knows it takes 10 hours minimum to learn just ONE of the following topics well enough for successful interviews: LBO, M&A, DCF, etc. If you spent less than 10 hours on interview prep then you either didn’t start with 0 finance knowledge or you’re flat out lying — (Which is really sad considering we are all just trying to help the OP get an accurate understanding of interview prep...)
I came from a non-target with basically no accounting/finance courses. The closest thing I got was econ classes that really didn't prep you for technical questions.
It took me about a month to be totally ready from basically no knowledge to being competent and ready to interview.
I usually spent around 3 hours during the week then loaded up to about 5 hours on weekends. So I spent 8hr/week, so I'd estimate 30-40 hours of studying.
This is certainly not crazy and again I wouldn't expect like super obscure questions during superdays. From my experience, technical questions just check a box, they don't kill you. During my superdays I missed 2 technical questions at a BB and still got an offer.
With that being said—it always looks nice to have demonstrated interest and forethought into the industry and advise spending your 40 hours studying. Accounting questions and valuation questions are basically all I got. Know your 3 financial statements and how they connect and know Comps and the basics of a DCF.
Do you still remember the two questions you missed?
As someone from a non-target with limited to no background knowledge, how did you go about studying? Was it more self guided or did you use a service like WSPrep? I’m trying to structure a comprehensive study plan so if given the chance to have a superday I won’t bomb the technicals. Thanks!
It really depends on who you’re interviewing with and who you are as a person. I was a finance major with a lot of finance internships and I still dedicated a lot of time to it. Also, for example, I could’ve been ready for the Wells Fargo Securities Superday in like 5 hours of prepping. but for the more rigorous processes, itsmuch more difficult in my opinion.
Chill out Gekko
Qui consequatur dolorum inventore et. Est perferendis quia et temporibus recusandae doloremque aut. Quibusdam ad aut in id consequatur.
Possimus voluptas nisi magnam minima dolor sit. Quod vel illo iste. Qui maxime ducimus aliquam doloribus.
Deserunt et autem similique. Aliquam sed rerum iste maiores. Totam nisi error perferendis ipsa mollitia. Et enim quia omnis eligendi esse assumenda adipisci.
Cumque esse ut qui. Explicabo ut qui et maiores quaerat rerum ratione. Voluptatem soluta quod architecto quia. Voluptas praesentium non in consequuntur vero id praesentium non.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...