BB Final Round Advice

Hey WSO,

After a whole slew of interviews with a BB (think MS/UBS), I managed to secure a final round with their IB team. I've been to a lot of interviews at BBs and worked briefly for a boutique, but have never done a super day at any BB.

Any advice I should heed before going in for this? I'm a very non-traditional candidate in terms of educational background and experience (non-target, no BB experience).

Looking for any general life lessons, useful input, and sage advice from you guys. Thanks for all your help.

6 Comments
 

Of course, thanks for pointing that out: this is for an NYC product group (not M&A).

My technicals are solid and I've got the story down, otherwise I likely wouldn't have made it this far. I guess I'm more interested in hearing any specific things that might be different about a final round. I've only worked at one place, and it wasn't a BB, so I know the experience will be quite different all around.

in it 2 win it
 
Best Response

It'll generally be more high level than first rounds. You might get a "tell me about yourself", a few easy technicals, but the majority will probably be fit and behavioral. MDs want to know if you'll be a cool person in the group (culturally) and that you'll work hard. As always, it's better to illustrate something through an anecdote rather than straight up say it. Your "Why X bank?" should show that you've invested time in meeting people at the bank and learning about it -- it shouldn't necessarily be something that you can just find on the website or something that you can say about any BB (drop some names -- say things like "I've learned from speaking to X, Y, and Z that...". Lastly, it's always good to know about a deal that the group or bank has done -- doesn't have to be a landmark deal, but have something interesting to say about it or have some sort of view. Hope this helps.

 

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