Preparation for Interviews

Study a lot... haha. I went nuts, prepped for every possible question I could find in guides, other interviews, etc.

Know the markets and have an opinion on where they are headed and why.

Don't sound rehearsed, just have a conversation.

Try and move the conversation away from finance and just talk with the person across the table. They aren't expecting to find someone who can build an LBO model with bank debt, senior debt, convertible debt, preferred stock and equity... but they are expecting to find someone who will have a good attitude while they are teaching them how to do so, and someone who will be fun to hang out with at midnight.

Buy the interview guides below:

http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/guide-to-finance-interviews

Behavioral & Technical have work wonders

I actually made flash cards with technical questions and was prepared to walk through my resume and talk in detail about my prior internships and deals I worked on. Have about 4 - 5 general stories in mind that you can apply to situational questions. Know your strengths / weaknesses and have a story for each. You will not be able to prepare for every technical question so the key is to understanding everything you study. Understand how the financial statements flow so there is no way you will be thrown off by any accounting question. Know the ins and outs of every valuation methodology and that + accounting should be 95% of your technicals. For the rest, study your guides, be confident, have stories ready and if you don't know an answer to a question, don't bullshit it. Agree with above and don't sound rehersed and be yourself.

I read every single guide out there, read every technical guide but most importantly. You need to be a cool dude, anyone can talk about WACC and a DCF but can you shoot the shit with the big guns?

For this, I recommend listening to some pump up music and going in with a killer mindset.

i prep by doing a line of bavarian marching powder and watching scareface before.

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Do a couple mock interviews, they can be helpful.

pump up a milli by lil wayne before the interview

I hate to say this on these forums, but I used the interview prep guide by Mergers & Inquisitions, and at least for the technical questions, there was nothing that was asked during my full time interviews that wasn't covered in the "Basics" part of each section. Extremely comprehensive and helpful.

listen to the final countdown

Listen to "Remember the name" - fort minor. Go in with a killer mindset.

Don't let anything distract you. From personal experience, my day always goes wrong somehow before the interviews at superday. Can't let it fluster you.

Smile in the interview. Works wonders.

Aside from what everyone else above mentioned (in terms of prepping for the technical / accounting questions), I always try to prepare by learning as much about my interviewers as possible. True, you may not always know who you're meeting with until you show up for the interview and HR gives you an interview schedule, but you often know which group / department you're interviewing with.

I usually go to the company website / linked in and research members of the firm in the specific group / department that I'm interviewing with. Also, brush up on any recent news or deals that involves the firm. If you're familiar with a few of their most recent transactions, it definitely won't hurt.

Finally, if you're interviewing for a specific industry group, brush up on any recent deals or news that will affect the industry as a whole. Basically, have a good idea of the overall deal / competitive landscape (who the major players are, what's going on in the industry, trends, news, etc.).

Know the basic technical stuff, everyone would expect that, if you know some of the more advanced concepts, you will stand out but if you do all that AND are confident, polite and show eagerness to learn, you are golden. Smile, firm handshake and eye contact count for a lot more than people think. Be yourself, and you'll be fine

Wallstreet oasis behavioral guide and mergers and inquisitions technical guide. Between those, you will be ready for almost any question that could be asked. Be very confident, outgoing, and enthusiastic. I recommend honing in on your story aka walk me through your resume. You should really sell yourself and display your passion for IB here. Your story is absolutely critical, and could be enough to gain the interviewers approval (most people decide whether they like you or not within the first 5 minutes).

The behavioral questions are the most important, but missing some easy techs could make you look like an idiot, furthermore ruining you chances.

Make sure you take a dump right before the interviews. Nothing is worse than being nervous and having to hold in a shit for a few hours.

Scarface (Push It to the Limit) - Paul Engemann It hasn't done me much good for my last few interviews but I'm sticking by this one.

Mock interviews, mock interviews, mock interviews. Try to get mock interviews with students who are a year ahead of you and have already secured a FT job.

I've never used the M&I guide, but I know the technical and behavioral guides on this site are awesome. I love the fact that they give you a "sample" answer.

Reading the Behavioral and Technical Interview Guides have been truly eye-opening for me, and I honestly recommend paying the $50 to purchase them both. Previously, I didn't know some people prepped for interviews so hard, and now I know what I need to do in order to prep for them myself. It reminds me of the advice from M&I, where he talks about how in some areas, people apply such little effort, that just doing your homework will pay dividends (he usually says this when talking about networking). I think interviews maybe one of those things too. Sure, lots of people are hip to the game, but plenty of others probably don't prep that hard and should be easy to beat in interviews (so long as you prep).

Prepare, prepare, prepare.

Once you do that: drop an an enormous load just beforehand. This is serious advice.

Gotta say that the wso behavioral guide was my biggest help

jam out to house music and watch royce gracie youtubes.

Record yourself answering practice questions on a webcam and play it back later. Shows you how to improve your delivery and body language.

Thanks guys! Keep 'em coming if anyone has anything else.

Read the guides and know the stuff that you need to know.

Rehearse the fit and behavioral answers until you sound natural. I'm not one of those guys that can go in there and wing it through my nervousness. I'm frankly skeptical of anyone who says they could do that. But if you remember and rehearse the key points for your answers (not memorize a speech mind you, key points), then you can sound conversational and come across as prepared at the same time.

I had a similar experience to the guy in Monkey Business.

At my Superday last month they had half hour interviews with 5-10 min breaks in between. I had to go so bad so let one go in the office washroom - came out just in time to shake the hand of my next interviewer.

This is the firm I will be working at come next August. Link between dumping at the office and getting an offer? Can't say..

In all seriousness, everyone's advice has been solid. I made myself a huge guide that included all the technical stuff, some basic behavioral questions/anecdotes and even information about my previous summer job and all the details about that company that I might forget. All my technical stuff came from the WSO guide which is definitely worth buying. I also had stuff on my market outlook, and a few researched stock pitches. Probably a 20 page document all said and done. It was a hell of a lot of work but it paid off in spades. I also made sure to eat a decent breakfast and grab a small coffee before.

Bottom line - prep a lot, hit some mock interviews, but little things like dumping, eating well and pump up music help too.

Be attractive and don't be unattractive.

Okay if you want to get into the nitty gritty on how to really crush that interview here's how to think about it assuming you have that behavioral and Technicals on lock-down like Fort Knox.

Bucket your Banks: 1. Boutique - You want to emphasize your individualism and ability to work under higher responsibilities a story involving you randomly being asked to do a much harder task last second will flatter your interviewer 2. Middle Market - You want to see where the platform is expanding to "compete" with the "big boys" all of them are trying to be bulge brackets, so find that spot and bring up positive transactions in that spot. Flattered again. 3. Bulge Bracket - Explain why that BB is the best. This one is much harder unless you're at MS or GS because they already have through the roof egos.

Bucket your Interviewers: 1. Managing Directors - read that post u copied up there that's the outline. Basically a MD or Director only cares about two things 1) will this guy be happy if we crush him with 48 hours of work. 2) will this guy be decent in front of clients long-term? 2. Vice Presidents - Have your intensity up here. These guys are in the rockiest part of finance. People are soloplistic they will feel only as they feel themselves. So the point is be MUCH more professional. Give very very conservative answers. No joking around. You're going to give humble, professional answers that are correct. No "rounding" write out numbers on your note pad so it makes it obvious you double check your work. 3. Associates - In between an analyst and associate so sometime you can joke a bit, these guys are bitter but not as bitter as a second/third year analyst so veer on the side of professionalism and try to make some sort of connection. 4. Analysts - Towards the tail end of the interview, you may be able to lighten up. Of course you can read them and if they are "super bankers" like the VP type personality then yeah veer on side of professionalism, but this is just bonus points because they don't make major decisions anyway. If you have to choose always get the higher ranked analyst to like you.

Bucket your Products: M&A - Choose one mega deal and one niche deal that you can speak to, always start with major deal so they can toot their horn and flip to the smaller deal. (this is done in Q&A). Basically you make their mood positive then turn on the "i did my research bulb" in their head and now they think ... hmm he's a good hire ECM/DCM - Emphasize your salesmanship more here because you're going to be doing tons of pitches and chasing deals and your MD's are going to get paid on that deal closing. They have less interest in your ability to put an Acc/Dil model together... because you wont. Consumer/Tech/Financials - Know the metrics the company is valued on and drop this in the interview. A smart way to do it would be during Q&A when they say "hey so do you have questions for me". If you're going to work with Financials bankers you can drop some stock you like in the REIT sector then talk about how its trading at ### to book value... This does two things, gets convo flowing about if the guy invests in the sector and shows you understand one of the main valuation methods for that space.

Geographically Lock Yourself In: If you're interviewing in NYC somehow put a strong tie to NYC and how your family or some other jargon is tied up here so that's why you're location specific to that area. This gives them a very minimal but important psychological selling point on why you would bother staying in that area. Again they want to make sure you are not a "one and done"

Lock up a stock: Know the ceo, multiples, cash and debt balances, themes and controversies. If you get grilled you can back that thing up and veer the conversation around what you know. When you drop that book value per a reit banking job veer that into how management is good.. veer that into EV valuation, then veer that into "Bull Bear"... Get them chattering about the stock and you've done your job. Almost like you're interviewing them, they'll be impressed they got into that long-winded of a convo.

Good luck.

Great post. I'm currently cramming for an interview at a MM IB tomorrow. It was pretty last minute so this will help a lot.

No problem, remember to say you're interviewing with their competitiors (hopefully true) and have that on lock as well. Don't name drop BB's unnecessarily.

I like to focus more on behaviorals during mock interviews, as the interviewer can teach themselves technicals more effectively on their own time.

I like to group my behaviorals into eight buckets.

1. Strength
2. Weakness
3. Success
4. Failure
5. Why IB
6. Why the firm
7. Entrepreneurial spirit
8. Why should I hire you over the other candidates
9. Teamwork

If the candidate has two or three strong stories that can touch on all of these buckets, then they are good to go for the interview.

How is that an ethical decision?

Basically, in each question you want to bring out the characteristics in you that will add value to the firm. So think about that when answering those questions.

• How many minutes should I take to walk through my resume?

Target 3 minutes if you are an undergrad. Maybe 3-5 if you have a ton of work experience.

• How should I answer the question; “Tell me about a time you experienced failure and what you learned from it?”

Give an actual example of failure. Don't give some empty answer like, "Sometimes I work too hard...". A real failure would be not doing a project successfully, not running a successful event for a club, something like that. Make sure it is not an ethical failure like cheating or something. After briefly stating your failure, focus on how you improved/learned from it. That is the most important part.

• How should I answer the question; “Say you are at a meeting with a client and your MD is giving a presentation. You suddenly notice a mistake in some of the calculations, which you have prepared. Do you mention it? When? What do you say?”

Hmm this is actually a tough one even after I've been doing this job for over a year. I would say no, don't point it out because it will make the MD look bad and the mistake may not be noticed unless it is really blatant. If someone does notice it you can address it with him afterward.

• Is this a good answer for the question “Describe an ethical decision you had to make?” The social chair was signing checks with my name when I was fraternity treasurer. I talked to him about it instead of going to the police or something else and it never happened again.

No, not a good answer. How is that an ethical decision? He was signing them in your name but did it really have any effect on anything? No.

Better answer: turning in a friend for cheating or turning in someone for doing something that's actually unethical.

Also, I’m finalizing my resume and I would appreciate any input, if you’re willing to help me please post you’re email address.

Sure, my contact information is on my site below. May take a few days to respond since I am traveling.

why would you turn someone in your fraternity into the cops...that's hilarious

-Don't spend more than 2-3 minutes walking through your resume. Point out the key pieces, such as 1-2 relevant internships, a club you lead or are closely involved in, then something else that makes you unique outside of class/internships. They can read your resume so don't spit it back verbatim.

-Got this one but was able to spin it. I am work on setting up a finance club and have been stonewalled by the finance department chair for a meeting because I am not a finance major. So in a sense I failed to get the club started by the time I wanted to (end of the summer). As a consequence I learned from this and met with the school treasurer and dean to talk with them about coordinating a meeting and was able to learn from it. They want to see not what you did failing but how you responded. Don't talk though about something like getting rejected from a school. Try to find a time where you had a problem/situation, failed to solve it but went back and got the solution.

-NEVER point it out. You would be embarassing your MD publicly by showing a mistake, and likely lose the client/potential client. If it is something blatant and is noticed own up or try to spin it, but don't point it out. It's only going to piss your MD off more.

-Find a better ethical situation. That seems more like a "duh- hey dumbass stop forging checks!" kind of situation. Something like involving a peer cheating or a friend stealing or a similar event. Just don't tell a story about a time you shoplifted and then 'fessed up. That will look REAL bad.

That is a terrible example of an ethical decision. Did you really threaten to turn one of your fraternity brothers in to the cops? Why did he have your checks? Why didn't you just add his name on the account, wouldn't that make his job easier...just wondering.

In terms of prepping for interviews, you really want to practice. Review technical questions, behavioral questions, W (why, what) questions, and really become familiar with the answers. Walk through your resume and really become proficient in walking through your experiences, your professional and educational highlights - and doing so in a matter of minutes without jumping around from section to section. The key with interview prep is to become very familiar and comfortable with your answers without sounding too rehearsed and mechanical. You want your responses to sound natural and smooth, but, at the same time, you want to know the general messages/points that you want to convey.

In terms of successful strategies, you want to pull up lists of common interview questions, lay out your responses and practice going through them. Additionally, you will want to run through several mock interviews, with feedback, as practicing on your own is often quite different than when someone else is firing questions at you, and ready with follow-up questions to further dig into your answers. I offer an interview prep service that you might find helpful ( http://www.bankonbanking.com/2009/08/10/bank-on-banking-presents-interv… ), but there are also other solid products out there as well, and, if money is an issue, you can always provide trusted friends with a list of common questions, and have them fire questions at you, and then provide feedback in terms of answer content, delivery, etc.

In terms of reaching out to alumni, the best way to go about doing it is to just jump right in. Log into your school's database, and find alumni who are already in banking. From there, draft a quick email introducing yourself, mention the alma mater connection, touch on your interest in the field, and ask if they would be available to talk about how they got into the business/answer a few questions (on the phone for an informational call). With interview season fast approaching, this is the perfect time to reach out, pick up a few more tips/pointers, and possibly even get some resume drops. I would definitely begin reaching out to alumni now, and try to get a few emails going, and some informational phone meetings - you will not get an answer from everyone, and many who answer won't be much help or won't have much time to help, but that's why you cast a wide net. Reach out to many alumni, and ideally at least a few will provide some valuable information, and possibly even drop your resume for you in the coming weeks.

It's definitely a lot of information to process and tackle, but getting a jump on it now will definitely pay off come FT recruiting in the upcoming weeks. Good luck and let me know if you have any other questions.

IBanker www.BankonBanking.com [email protected] Articles, News, Advice and More Break Into Investment Banking

Great response by i-banker. I did a ton of last year before my interviews and definitely agree that practicing your answers enough that they don't come across as completely rehearsed is key (even though interviewers will know you have practiced). I bought the Vault and the first version of both the WSO interview guides and the networking. Found the ones from WSO to be more helpful. Straightforward with just the amount of info you would really be expected to provide in an interview answer. Vault almost tries to give you too much, especially if you dont have a finance background. And they give you "sample answers" which help you get an idea of what they are looking for.

Just look at the guides that are available, memorize the answers, and then practice making them sound natural and try and have a normal conversation with the interviewer.

Thanks for the comments... anyone else care to chime in? I guess late on a friday was a bad time to post and expect to get responses...

I would list out every possible interview question from various sources (interview guides, past interviews, common sense). Then I'd come up with answers for each and every question. Once I did that, I would condense each answer down to maybe three very short bullets which more or less contain the points I want to get across. Then I'd rehearse that. The benefit of this process is it forces you to organize your thoughts and prepare, but still doesn't require you to memorize a script, so it seems more natural and less rehearsed.

Another thing I would do is ask anyone and everyone I knew who had been through atleast one interview about interview questions they had received and any particular ones that had stumped them. At the more JR level, interviewers sometimes say things like "thats exactly what I was looking for" or "good answer" or something to that affect. Most of the people I asked usually volunteered these types of incidents too.

One thing that some people overlook is having a cohesive story. All your experiences and interview answers should communicate a story to the interviewers. So each interviewer has a distinct perspective of you, they all understand your story.

with regards to guides (especially for technical interview questions), check out www.ibankingfaq.com.

ibankingfaq.com basically covers a lot of things. If you are some douchy interviewers at Lazard MM in LA however, they will grill the hell out of you on minute accounting details such as what are the 4 factors of leases and tell me journal entry crap. At the end of the interview, tell them to take a finger and stick it up their ass because they haven't been laid in a while.

Lazard MM LA recruits at my school =( that's sad to hear considering I was planning on signing up for SA interviews with them.

They asked me if I was comfortable working with people with "explosive" personality. I said yes. And then they said no, like really explosive. Well shit what do you want me to say. Worst comes to worst, I'll shove the CIM up the MD's ass.

A) Yes B) No, they generally dont ask that crap. They may ask you to explain a complex topic you learned to them as simply as possible c) Read WSJ, know what the debt markets are doing, know libor, where the markets closed, know a few stocks in case they ask what companies you find interesting

Generally interviews are more about fit questions. They can teach you all the accounting and corp fin during training. Summer Analyst interviews are much less technical than full time interviews. Know the vault guide inside out. The main accounting concept you should know beforehand is how the main financial statements are interrelated and for corp fin is the basic valuation methods.

Practice and be sure to network. These interviews are competitive.

you're missing a major part of the 'technical' section: lame math questions/puzzlers