Phone interview Credit Suisse

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I know for a fact that CS (along with most other bb's) filled the quotas they had in the fall. It's most likely that someone reneged and there is one opening. Or the SF Tech office convinced hr they need more people.

Prepare like you'd prepare for any interview. Know your story, be ready for technicals.

There is often a few slots here and there that either open after the standard recruiting season or need to be filled because someone accepted an offer and then renegged - it won't be a bank-wide search, as you probably now realize, just on a group-by-group basis, whichever teams have an open slot that they need filled. This is, however, a great opportunity for you - congratulations - now you need to prepare.

With 2 internships at BBs (even though they are in WM), you should definitely have a handle on at least the basics. In other words, know the financial statements, finance basics and things of that nature. Unless you are a finance or accounting major, you won't be grilled really hard on technicals given your background. That said, you should definitely know all of the basics and be VERY prepared for the behavioral questions since, without a deep technical background, behavioral questions and sometimes brain teasers carry much more weight.

Check out my interview prep guide if you are interested: http://www.bankonbanking.com/bankonbanking-survival-guides/

In short, you should be prepared for some technical questions (and be prepared for questioning on all of the basics) and definitely a lot of behavioral with a bit of brain teasers and such mixed in. Good luck.

I wouldn't know about CS, but I recently had a few phone interviews for a FT IBD position at a BB...though it wasn't group specific. One was pretty standard with a few tech/fit; the other was basically just a casual conversation about the bank and industry. Needless to say, I have been studying the M&I interview guide and I'm hoping it prepares me for my upcoming final round. Just study all the tech/fit questions you can beforehand just in case because I think it all depends on the interviewer. Basically, it's always good to be over prepared. M&I = 400 IBD interview Q&A!

I see, I see. What technicals should I know exactly? Also do you think I need to adjust any of my behavioral questions to better suit an IB position or should I just stick with the ones I have prepared for WM positions? Also, I have never had an SA position at an IB. Doesn't this put me at a disadvantage compared to the rest of the analyst class?

I'm going to try my best on the interview, but I feel like I'm technically inept with this stuff no matter how much I cram in the next two days.

GWMbrosef:

I see, I see. What technicals should I know exactly? Also do you think I need to adjust any of my behavioral questions to better suit an IB position or should I just stick with the ones I have prepared for WM positions? Also, I have never had an SA position at an IB. Doesn't this put me at a disadvantage compared to the rest of the analyst class?

I'm going to try my best on the interview, but I feel like I'm technically inept with this stuff no matter how much I cram in the next two days.

They will ask you something about the financial statements (probably how the link together or "explain" each of them); they will ask you how to value a company (three or four major methodologies = comparable companies, precedent transactions, DCF, and LBO); they may ask you to walk through a DCF or LBO model. They might ask you to walk through a Merger model. Outside of that, you probably won't get deep technicals over the phone. Know your story (aka walk me through your resume), know why banking and why that firm specifically.

Go to ibankingfaq.com and study through those technicals, I don't think you'll get any beyond those over the phone.

SF CS Tech is expanding.

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Know why SF and why tech, especially if you are not from the bay area / don't go to Berkeley or Stanford.

showing a deep interest in tech with good knowledge of different companies/subdivisions in tech will go a long way

HR will let you know.

Will they contact me if I didn't get it? and about how long till i hear anything?

...its been 40min since i hung up

are you serious?

you're really worried 40 min after the fact? the earliest you will hear is likely tomorrow morning.

i'm an anxious person, but i figure he wouldn't take the time to actually discuss the position with me after the fact if i wasn't still in the running

It is too late. You are officially denied from CS. Your life is over.

seabird:

It is too late. You are officially denied from CS. Your life is over.

Sometimes they let you know on the call, usually they email within the week. Is this your first time? Did it hurt?

first phone interview and first BB interview...

still walking funny

but would he actually take the time to discuss the position with me after the fact if i wasn't still in the running

they probably wouldnt describe the job if you werent moving on, but there's no guarantees. I know this was the case with all of my interviews where they described the job at the end, but some of them didnt and i moved on anyway. So most likely you did but just be patient and stay hungry

jeez man take a xanax or something. It's out of your control now...

^ this. Seriously WTFFFF is wrong with u man????

call from HR this morning...negative

sucks dude, how it goes sometimes. Keep at it and dont get discouraged. Hone those skills, network, interview prep, give your resume to people you know in the business etc

Have your story down so it doesn't sound rehearsed and know your technicals inside and out. This applies to pretty much every phone interview/in-person interview for every bank.

Thank you for your input, appreciate it!!

SA or FT? anything is fair game on technicals

SA

I am very familiar with the basics; 3 financial statements and their main connections, the basics of a DCF, comps, precedents, and basic finance (capm, beta, npv, etc.)

if you are not a business major and you havent had a lot of finance internship experience i woudlnt stress too much on techincals. be sure to have your story down cold and know why you want the spot (why CS, LA, ibanking). I would put more weight on fit/behavioral. gl

Exit opps from CS LA are very good. Arguably one of the strongest groups for placement on the West Coast. They regularly send kids to top PE funds, and buyside recruitment is encouraged within the group.

I also have a first round SA with CS LA. I do however have prior IB experience. Can anyone else shed some light on their technical interviews?

non-target, had a superday last week for SA. a lot of the technical questions revolved around debt (since the group is basically sponsors/lev fin), but also some pretty basic DCF/valuation stuff.

exit opps are great - cs la is a top group in LA along with moelis; great exits into PE, one of the analysts is going to Apollo in June

with regards to promoting within, not totally sure but I'm sure it's similar to every other BB - if you're a superstar analyst then you can get promoted but probably pretty rare.

hope this helps

cs la culture is horrible. you will hate your life. but exit opps (at least a few years ago - been out of banking for awhile now) are top notch.

CS LA has apparently filled up their summer spots

Warhawk_1:

Hi All,

I'm actually interviewing for equities, but was curious about what's unique about the CS Asia office.

Warhawk_1:

Are there operations different in any way from the rest of CS

Warhawk_1:

or other BB firms?

Warhawk_1:

Thanks,

Sorry, I should have been more exact in explaining what I was looking for. I'm interviewing with the HK office, and I'm curious as to if the equities trading operation there has a different mentality then say the NY office of CS. As for example, there's more of a likelihood of making bets of a a prop nature in equities bc of the narrow spreads(causing people to take on more risk) from what I've heard. Maybe this is even more rampant in HK bc of the markets there?

Basically I'm trying to find the kind of information that I can't find on their website or news sources.

Thanks

"I'm curious as to if the equities trading operation there has a different mentality then say the NY office of CS."

Yes it does. That is more down to the mentality of the region. eg CS HK is more similar to Lehman HK than it is to CS NY.

"As for example, there's more of a likelihood of making bets of a a prop nature in equities bc of the narrow spreads(causing people to take on more risk) from what I've heard"

You think the spread is narrower on Asian stocks than US stocks? You also think that the spread determines the type of prop bets that you can take? Go find the person that told you this and slap them for making a monkey of you.

"Basically I'm trying to find the kind of information that I can't find on their website or news sources."

Then you need to speak to someone that works there. Asking one question at a time is going to take you a while to get the information that you're after - no good unless your interview is in 2010. I'll throw you a freebie - in the middle of the research floor there is a printer that keeps getting jammed.

how was the interview? what did they ask? I know its both fit and technical - any brainteasers?

did you do your first two rounds already? i think most people have not heard from them yet.

Yeah I haven't heard back either. Fatpost does CS HK recruit at your school?

CS HK hasn't let people know about S&T as of yet I think.

did they ask you how to say Credit Suisse in mandarin/cantonese/any other language than english?

We're about to enter a Great Depression. Don't you want a president who's already dressed for it?

damn... in retrospect, i think i really fucked up the reading comprehension test...

bump

im still waiting to hear. im suspecting next week since first round was only officially over a few days ago.

I found out that the friend I referenced in that story was just laid off - so no risk of being asked about names of banks in other languages, at least for now. :)

Anyway not sure about CS HK specifically but following phone interviews sometimes they do take awhile to get back to you... they tend to respond much faster following superday, at least if you're getting an offer.

So I would not panic just yet.

anyone hear back on this yet?