Anyone else had this type of first-round interview experience?
I had a first-round phone interview with one of GS/MS for SA IBD. It was with a 2nd-year analyst that was set up through HR. The issue is that it was so conversational that I have no idea if it was actually a real interview. It was more informational than anything. This is how it went:
- Interview told me about himself
- "Tell me about yourself"
- Asked a couple questions about what I said for clarification purposes
- Asked me if I knew a few of the basic valuation methods
- Finished up by asking him a few questions
The thing is that GS/MS get so many good people to interview for a limited number of spots that I don't know how you can actually ding that many people this way.
Most people I would think are capable of talking about their story and knowing what's on their resume. What's the first-round pass rate? Maybe 20%? How do you weed out 4 out of 5 (or whatever it might be) if all you're really testing is if someone knows DCF, comps, precedent transactions? Not even any behavioral/fit questions. Does this sound like a legit first-round interview that could lead to superday?
likely that 1) HR had no interest in interviewing you and had set it up to keep up appearances or 2) they already had people lined up and just wanted to see if you were going to blow them away
I had a similar experience with one of my interviews at a superday at a BB (BAML/CS/BarCap) and got the offer, so I wouldn't automatically assume it went badly. It may or may not be different since mine wasn't a first round, but literally all I was asked was to go through my resume/story, one technical of medium difficulty, and then moved on to questions after less than 10 minutes. The whole interview probably lasted 20 minutes instead of the half-hour that was scheduled. Your interview is over so there's no point in worrying at this point. Just wait and see.
Theres a possibility that the guy just liked you and was tired of conducting "formal interviews" so he wanted to be a bit more casual with you. I wouldnt look into it, especially since its SA and technicals may not be the most important thing
Agreed. Also it's a pretty standard interview for first rounds, I would say -just to see if you're some one they like talking too
experienced something like this at a superday - almost all fit, really just talking about my resume. any thoughts?
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I had the same situation with a BB for their first round last week. Super conversational and no technicals were asked. I was supposed to hear back yesterday but no emails yet.
I can add a little bit to the conversation. My school had OCR for one of GS/MS/JPM NYC office. Roughly 20 people had first round interviews through the phone. Some people, like myself, had interviews exactly like the one you described, and 2-3 had more technical/serious interviews. The people who had the initial serious interview had several other rounds of phone interviews which eventually led to a superday. Of the people who had the vanilla interivews, none heard back. That is not to say that your situation is the same, just sharing my experience.
I don't know anything about how OCR relationships work so I might be talking out of my ass, but to me at least it seems more than reasonable that BBs will hold some vanilla first rounds just to give face to the school they're interviewing at and maintain a good working relationship. I'm a non-target junior btw.
I am a non target as well and we don't have OCRs. So the process for us is phone screen then superday. I just don't understand how a conversational phone screen where no technical was asked can lead to a superday.
Who did you network with at that firm?
I've had a few such interviews back in my day and I still progressed into the next round. I wouldn't read too much into it. Some interviews were a mix of serious and conversational. Especially the more senior the person, less technical it's going to be.
Had a phone screen at an EB that was something like this. Super conversational to the point where I thought it wasn't even part of the interview process. First round was equally conversational, with basically no technicals. Ended up getting the offer and the super day was loaded with technicals so I wouldn't worry too much about it unless you feel shaky about how the screen went.
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