Having done a few first/second round phone screens, I realized most of them are behavioral heavy with only 1 or 2 technical questions towards the end. With that said, what would make you ding a candidate given its only a 30-minute conversation?
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bump
Bump. Just got dinged and it was all behavioral. Thought I had a great conversation with this person but I guess I misread the situation.
What are the questions? Also what made you feel it was a good conversation?
You can PM me if you want
You didn't necessarily misread the situation.
Maybe you had a genuinely good conversation but a few others did as well. Then it becomes more so about luck that not and who the interviewer liked best.
SA or FT
FT, but would like to hear from people who conduct interviews in general
As a wise man once said “don’t be weird”
As someone who hates interviewing people because I always feel bad dinging people since I know how hard it is, I can offer some personal insight. Absolutely butchering the technicals (like bomb them before we even really get going) is a good way to get dinged. Like you're expected to have reviewed the vault guide at least once. If you get some later ones wrong its really not a huge deal to me but if you're messing up early, it isn't a factor of you not knowing it, its just clear that you didn't prepare, which everyone does and is almost expected at this point. After that, you could be dinged if I just don't like you. If you crush everything else, this probably won't cause you a ding, but if you are tied or even slightly better than a bunch of people and we have limited spots, I still might lean towards someone I can actually see myself being around for 16 hours a day. Sorry if you're weird and quirky and proud of it, but if someone digs into their interests (which I always save time to ask about) and they seem either really interesting/cool/unique/normal or they like the same stuff I do (like one kid talked to me about fantasy football during an interview and we discussed sleeper picks) and we just hit it off, that person will get points. I have analyst coworkers who I am good friends with, and have had ones I really did not like, and it just makes a stressful job all the more annoying. Not 100% fair, but neither is life.
would you look up candidates on social media beforehand? I heard some people do
Nah I don't go that far
That’s creepy
Honestly, if you get dinged, don't automatically assume that you did something wrong. I can't even begin to tell you how strange, awkward, and/or crazy some of my former M&A colleagues were. For example, if you went on a first date with a crazy chick, would you blame yourself if it didn't work out? Same idea.
Are bankers the ones to do the phone screen, or is it HR?
Usually HR
i got first rounds done by bankers
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