8 Comments
 

This shouldn’t be too hard. Look at their typical deal size and there are plenty of canned responses for BB, MM, Boutique, etc.

Mention something about how they’re a premier group in this or that industry if you’re interviewing for a particular industry group.

Mention a specific transaction that piques your interest particularly, bonus points if the person you’re interviewing with also worked on that transaction.

There are entire videos on YouTube dedicated to answering this question.

 

I agree with the above, also you can try to network with analysts from that specific firm and talk about how they were resourceful, had a great attitude… then talk about how that kind of culture is appealing to you.

 
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Why this firm will never get you the offer. It's solely a check the box, asking "did you talk to our juniors enough to be able to give a specific answer that distinguishes us from the shops down the street". Realistically, the analyst experience at GS vs JPM vs CS isn't that different, but you should know if they have specific "cultural" items that set them apart at all.

Talk about the people you've talked to (by name and group if needed) and what they said about the culture, perks, deals etc. Use specific examples from what they said, a single transaction or cultural point they mentioned. the more specific the better, and more knowledge you demonstrate about the firm the better

 
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I’ve found that team specific answers go further. Especially at the big banks teams can be wildly different. Also banks will have long standing relationships with clients that they’re quite proud of, look at the deals they did and try and find clients in common:

“I really want to work for GS TMT because I think you have the relationship strengths required to win in a very competitive market, in 2020 you advised Ligma on their acquisition of Sugma, and then clearly you managed to use this experience to win the advisory deal on their Fugma divestiture in 2021.”

Also if any of the deals are complex, bankers typically have huge egos so try and massage that a bit, also makes it look like you want to be a career banker not some leech who fucks off to PE after 2 years:

“I saw that 4 way merger between Black Co., Grey Co., PerriCo., and Khalifa Industries. Managing all those stakeholders and designing an appropriate CVR instrument to bridge the perceived valuation gap and explaining the benefits to them all must have been very complex. I really want to learn from a place that teaches me not only the ordinary IB technicals but also a higher level approach to deal making and client management.”

 

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