What makes you ding a candidate during phone screens

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?

17 Comments
 

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. 

 
Most Helpful

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.

Dayman?
 

Facilis culpa esse nihil dolor sed. Omnis aut qui non qui. Occaecati consequatur numquam iure ratione voluptates enim nemo aut. Necessitatibus quisquam ad et voluptatem.

Est consequatur ea eveniet. Quis debitis inventore libero qui quia ut enim.

Career Advancement Opportunities

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 99.0%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.4%
  • Guggenheim Partners 02 97.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 97.4%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.5%
  • Morgan Stanley 02 99.0%
  • Evercore 01 98.4%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.9%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.4%

Professional Growth Opportunities

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 99.0%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.9%
  • JPMorgan No 97.4%

Total Avg Compensation

October 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (57) $264
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (28) $184
  • Intern/Summer Associate (16) $161
  • 1st Year Analyst (84) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (76) $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
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
3
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
6
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
7
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
8
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
9
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
10
Mimbs's picture
Mimbs
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...”