Questions to ask a IBD VP

Currently an IBD analyst at a tiny boutique and I've managed to cold email an IBD VP at a top firm for a phone call. Unsure if this will be an interview or a casual conversation with me asking him questions.

I've prepared a few questions but just in case he is expecting me to spend the entire time asking him loads of questions, what type of questions do you recommend asking a VP? 

Also if anyone has any examples of good questions they would ask a VP, that would be amazing thank you. 

3 Comments
 

It depends what your cold email was... If it was more of just a casual networking thing i'd expect it'd just be you essentially telling your story and maybe he will too then you could jump into questions for him.

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You should go into any conversation like this under the assumption that you may need to be able to ask enough questions to fill up 30 minutes. Often the better conversations end up more free flowing, but if there are lulls, the last thing that a VP wants is to now bear the responsibility of figuring out what to talk about with a random analyst that sent a cold email that they were nice enough to respond to. 

In terms of actual questions, you should get their background, then you could ask what they like about their group; if there are things about banking that have surprised them as they've grown in their career; if you are either familiar with their industry or have time to get somewhat up to speed with issues in the industry, you could try to ask some questions around trends and things that they think are interesting and how it might impact banking business going forward. Importantly, you should make sure to pay attention to their answers and what they say in general. It is extremely frustrating when someone asks a question that was already basically answered two minutes ago, and it makes it clear that the person isn't really trying to learn or understand anything, and is just trying to tick boxes on questions that they think sound good.

What is the overall goal of this call from your perspective? Is it to try and get a lateral interview? I assume so - at the end of the conversation, you should feel comfortable asking them if that is a process that their bank engages in, and if they're not sure how that process works (they probably won't be 100% sure), whether there is someone (even in HR) that it might make sense for you to speak to.

 

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