For years now, I've read these forums and rather enjoyed most content - whether or not it's actually useful information or a "Day in the life of an FT Partners analyst," I'm always glad I stopped by.
One thing that keeps reappearing on these forums is the question and often wrongly answered, "How should I prepare for an interview?" As my (hopefully helpful) gift back to the forum, here is what I can say sitting in the VP seat and having sat through countless cycles of on-campus recruiting:
Gents and ladies, it all comes down to you answering enough questions that makes the other side come to the conclusion that hiring you makes MY life easier.
You may be thinking, "how do I do that?" You may also be thinking, "oh, no problem. In the bag." Well if you said the later, you likely fall into the "insufferable" camp and chances are you aren't going to make anyone's life easier, regardless of how talented you may be.
Making the associate and VPs life easier is the golden gate to acceptance, my friends. Here is how:
1. Demonstrate pristine knowledge of Word, Powerpoint, Excel and Outlook
While this may seem obvious, I don't think people realize that you live in these programs. You draft memos in word, build CIMs and weekly updates in powerpoint, build models and all-else in excel and with the e-mail traffic you are going to get on deals, knowing how to keep a clean inbox is paramount. Know how each program links with each other. If you can get get your hands on macros, know short-cuts, and be as good as possible day 1, it will help.
2. Be so good at financial modeling I tell my friends about you
Pretty plain and simple, I want you to be able to crush this skill. I mean, be so good that everything from the formatting, to the links, to the footnotes, to the print screen, to the formulas would make a TTS instructor weep. In no particular order, by the time you hit the desk I would ideally like you to be able to: 3-statement model, perform a DCF, perform an accretion/dilution analysis, perform comp and precedent analysis, and be able to tie it all together in a tidy power point.
Yes, your analyst training course will get you up to speed on this. Evermore, there is so much out there to help you learn these skills prior to the interview (I highly recommend the Adventis bootcamp and CFI FMVA course). Yes they cost money, but if either or both of those certifications show up on your resume, I know you've got the bolts and self-interest to hit the desk running. While others factor in other aspects of what makes a good analyst, this to me is the most important part.
When you're running several deals at once, you've got to have the numbers hammered down in a clean and concise fashion. If your senior associate or VP is running late to a call and a sponsor/buyer asks a specific question about the model and you can speak to it for us, boy does that put a gleaning smile on your senior's face and a token in your bucket. If you can demonstrate this via the questions you're asked in the interview (i.e. technicals, but really expound upon it and tell us how good you are), you're going to be in the driver's seat going forward.
3. A genuine interest in being an investment banking ANALYST
When we meet for 15-30 minutes, I don't know whether it's been your life's dream to become an IB MD, whether you're just pulling into the station for 2 years before PE, or if you're doing this because you saw Wolf of Wallstreet. However, what I do want to know is that you want to be an investment banking analyst for the next two years. That means you are interested in not pretending to be an MD, but are someone who is genuinely curious about the deal process, committed to making the time sacrifice to be one, and are going to be a reliable person to work with for the next few years.
Being an analyst can be a lot of fun. Seriously. Some of the best friends you'll have going forward are the folks you'll meet in the bullpen. You'll ask questions to each other, go drinking together, and even cover for each other when a fire drill happens and you're 3 sheets deep at the end of the world.
But beyond that, you are a person who knows what the analysts job is to do both fun and un-fun. I get pulling together a PIB is not that stimulating. I get putting together 6 slides of a comp analysis can get a little glazy as well. However, to be able to talk to it, you need to be able to do it in your sleep. Express to us you know what an IB analyst does (prepare pitches and explain what's in one, different types of analysis, managing data rooms, managing buyer lists, etc...) and talk how your both technically and mentally in to do just that.
4. The airport beer test
This is usually the part of the interview where you get asked something softball like, "what do you do in your free time?" At this juncture, this is where we can see to some degree whether or not after a 3 day sprint to get together a pitch, you're worth spending another 2 hours in the sky lounge with drinking a few beers. Are you genuine? Humble? Mildly interesting? Can you take a freaking joke? Out of all the things candidates can fake, this usually isn't the one, and if it's a tie between candidates (and there usually is one), this is the tie-breaker.
So how do I prepare?
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Know your technical questions. 9/10 these are the softballs from WSO or Wall Street Prep.
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Demonstrate your skills to hit the desk as if you were going to start in 48 hours. It may be overkill to some, but if I think you pump out a nice first draft of a pitch already, you'll be good to go
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Practice financial modeling and spend the money to attend courses. Not only will you actually get an idea of what you'll be doing as an analyst, you'll inevitably be able to answer any "drill-down" questions with ease
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Ask yourself "why do I want to be an IB analyst?" and frame the answer as if you answering it in an interview. It should hit: (1) What you know the job entails, (2) Why you have an interest in it, (3) Why you'd be good at it, and (4) What steps you've already taken to get good at. You answer this correctly and you'll give yourself a great chance.
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Practice your answers in a mirror. Seriously, it works. You're going to sound so much more confident.
I'm sure some of this is somewhat repetitive to what others have posted on this board, but I've yet to see it aggregated. Hopefully this helps, and know that like anything else, the proper preparation is what will give you the best chance.
Good luck!
From a HF perspective, it's going to depend on the fund, but the big thing always comes up is an ability to be trained and your thought process. Is it methodical, or all over the place? A new deal comes across you, where do you start? What can influence returns? What should be inputted on the sensitivity analysis? What does the macro market look like and what should be analyzed? Idiosyncratic risks? You may have interviews at shops were all they ask is technical and market knowledge. Some may only be asking behavioral and structural questions to see how your mind works. It just depends. At the end of the day there, you'll most likely be given autonomy and responsibility off the bat. You can always ask questions until your blue in the face, but they care about your reliability and product. They want to know that when you present something, they know you've thought about it from every angle.
The places I've been have had unique approaches and styles, so being able to learn, and learn quickly, is important. Might get some case studies and excel tests. Case study is 100% how you think about the prompt, and can you defend your ideas? Can you take the criticism well? They don't care what your answer is, just how you got there.
If there's anything that is more particular you'd like to ask feel free to DM or comment and ill do my best to answer
It really comes in the narrative. Instead of, “I use Excel and PowerPoint really well,” it’s inferred and even more impressed upon the interviewer if you said something to the degree of developing materials where it’s obvious you had to use both in a feature rich manner. For example, “… part of my time spent in the investment club was putting together both a full-scale LBO model and investment thesis presentation that was structured much like a CIM.”
Unless you’re working on Mars, it’s pretty much inferred that you had your hands dirty in the necessary software in the Office Suite.
I'm writing this because I think a lot of people don't know how to go about preparing for interviews. I want to let people know what we want candidates to come in prepared to know and how to relay that information.
The worst thing in the world for a bank would be, plainly, we miss quality candidates because we didn't get a good read on them during the interview process. I want everyone who is qualified and wants the job (and I'm assuming if you're reading this - you are at least the latter), to put themselves in the best light possible.
As a general observation, I do believe analysts are not as good as they have been but I truly do believe a lot of that has to do with the virtual work environment.
WFH is an absolute heaven-sent phenomenon and I do think that a perfect structure for in-office/WFH would be: (1) MD/D: 1-2 days (2) VP: 2-3 days (4) Associate: 3-4 days (5) Analyst: 4 days.
The reason is, analysts working from home miss so much - and this coming from someone who bangs the desk hard for heavy WFH. The first 12 months on the job are really such a big deal in terms of enjoyment and benefit from the job. "Face time" is a worthless metric. But being an analyst and having the ability to sit in a conference room with a VP and MD as they hash out a pitch structure, walk-through a model, or discuss deal terms in real-time is something you can't simulate as well virtually. There are also the obvious inefficiencies of asking questions. Popping into someone's office is always going to be easier than teams/slack/phone tag. Also, I know I've said this before, but analysts need to network and make friends with other analysts. You have no idea how many great friendships and lifetime connections you'll make in that 12-36 month period of time together.
I personally don’t agree with this at all, and I think a lot of freshman hardos might start panicking and buying some scam $7K piece of shit program to help them “model in their sleep.”
You’re fucking 20-21 when you interview, I don’t think there is any reasonable expectation that you are good at anything whatsoever. It would be an absolute travesty to spend your college years learning how to do this bs work when you have so much other shit you could be doing. Perhaps explore an industry that you can be passionate about, so that you have interesting perspectives and folks can see you in their coverage group, for example.
As long as you know your technicals, then I would agree about demonstrating interest in the Analyst role and the learning opportunity, and here you can tie in industry interests, M&A, etc.
Like, if you’re not a goddamn retard I *think* you could pick up on-the-job stuff during training, and putting in a lot of effort your first 3 months will work wonders.
Also, I’ve interviewed a ton of kids, and I will say the hardos that “know how to model in their sleep” are the fucking worst. Typically they have way less EQ, don’t pass the airport test, and have spillover arrogance from being “better” than their peers at college which makes them a pain in the ass to deal with when you’re trying to teach them because they actually fucking suck, because everyone fucking sucks when they start. I wouldn't trust a kid at all who's said they've done an LBO, or that they've created some sort of PPT pitch, etc. They've likely picked up bad habits and we'd have to start over anyway. I would SOOOOO much rather have a smart, humble kid who learns quickly, because THAT makes my life easier to train you. Your job as an Analyst is to make everyone's life easier. Your job as an intern / kid who just hit the desk is to learn how to become a real Analyst.
Just another opinion, feel free to MS
Fair points. However, I think you missed the gist of what I was saying.
1. In regards to modeling, it doesn't require a $7K course. It requires $150-$400 for really good online courses.
2. I don't think knowing how to 3-statement model, DCF, or public comps analysis before graduating makes you any sort of hardo. If you do it during your free time (and I've been to college, everyone's got plenty of that), it's something you can do easily without affecting your social life.
3. The kids that come in and brag about how they model in their sleep, you're right. They suck. Fortunately, there are only a few hundred slots in investment banking analyst classes each year in the country so the ability to select both sides of the "cool" and "technically sound" ven diagram isn't impossible by any means. This guide was meant to help those who were interested and wanted a leg-up some general guidance.
4. You touched on humble and smart - I don't think coming in prepared (especially in a technical sense) deters one from proving either. So long as they don't come off as someone who hums and beats their chest in the bathroom stall, I wouldn't ever ding someone for taking the time to learn a skill in their free time.
5. I do think that a lot of people can get jobs by just knowing the verbal technicals. However, I think most of those kids probably come from feeder schools/programs. If you aren't at one of those schools, the above is likely more applicable and can really separate themselves in an interview process.
I get where you’re coming from, and I guess it’s a mindset shift, since I tend to hyper focus on efficiency of time utilization.
I’m not dinging a kid who does shit in their free time, but I absolutely would not advocate that as an efficient use of time to secure an offer, as the marginal gain on that is minimal. Because you have to bring up your “skills” WITHOUT sounding like a total hardo, that means you have to subtly incorporate it in your answers. You understand where I’m getting at right, like most interviewers will never pick up on that subtlety nor give a fuck. You might, but on average they won’t.
So much advice on here is akin to a bullshit banker ask of boiling the ocean until there’s nothing else left, and the mindset of “well it doesn’t hurt to do just one more thing to give you a leg up” should be done away with, because there are a vast number of things you could be doing in your free time that would make you a much more interesting and well-rounded candidate.
OP sounds like a complete hardo loser
VPs like you are laughed at behind your back
In scanning through the replies, I can't emphasize the importance of the overarching theme: Making the VP/MD's life EASIER. It's not about you, it's about them. It doesn't become about you until your senior (if ever). If they sense any "what's in it for me?" you've blown it. Being humble, a team player, accountable, reliable are all keys. Yes they know you're likely not going to stay in X for your whole career. But they want ALL of you to be focused on the betterment of the team, the deal, the X while you're there.
It's not rocket science. Stop the "you should hire me because I'm ...." Enter the world of "I want to work here because I can help you achieve X by A,B and C." They don't need rock stars. They need soldiers who are willing to do whatever whenever. Those become rock stars.