Trending Content
| +147 | The "Not So Obvious" things that get you a return offer? | 18 | 2h | |
| +79 | Is my life over after not getting GS? | 18 | 4h | |
| +57 | Best IB group on the Street | 23 | 3s | |
| +52 | BIG FOUR ARE PARADISE | 13 | 6h | |
| +45 | Thoughts and tips on how to speak like an investment banker. | 23 | 4h | |
| +40 | Tell me one good reason why Jefferies isn’t going to be a top bank in the next 5 years | 20 | 18h | |
| +36 | UBS Outlook | 28 | 19h | |
| +35 | Georgetown Placement for 2024 and 2025 | 21 | 6d | |
| +31 | Highest Paid Bankers in Toronto? | 50 | 1d | |
| +30 | How to deal with egotistical team? | 6 | 2d |
Career Resources
If you contact me a few weeks before the resume drop, seem personable and genuinely interested in the job when speaking with me and have a decent resume (i.e. 3.5 GPA and some sort of demonstrated interest in finance), you are almost guaranteed an interview. Seriously, when I have a stack of 200 resumes and only a handful of those kids have talked to me, I wonder whose resumes I'm going to pull (or at least try to justify pulling)... And if you go to a school where networking is the norm and everyone does it, then you're going to have to do it anyway.
One caveat - networking badly can hurt you. Don't be a jerk or a know it all. All you have to do is have real questions that you are curious about, and it certainly doesn't hurt if you already have some background on the person/firm.
I know this is old, but I like what you said. How do we find out who does the interview/ reviewing of the resume?
Unfortunately, it's not always easy to tell who's doing the resume reviews - it could be anyone from analyst up to VPs who went to your school (assuming your school has a presence at the firm), and occasionally a senior guy would forward a good resume (i.e. kid of a client/family friend, or a student who made a good impression). Sometimes it just came down to whoever had time to do it.
The point is that you can never be sure, so it's best to network with multiple touch points, across both the seniority hierarchy and also across groups. Then, when interview season rolls around and a few weeks before interviews start, make sure to follow up with a note that says something like "thanks for the time again, pleasure speaking with you, really interested, blah blah blah blah blah, what can i do to best position myself for an interview?" usually that works.
How much your personality matters.
Beyond all the normal stuff (3.7+, good work experience and extracurriculars) I want correct responses to the following:
1) What investment banking is. "Investment bankers help companies grow by accessing the equity or debt markets or advise companies on strategic transactions like M&A, divestitures, etc."
2) What an analyst does. "Analysts provide the required analysis that seniors bankers use in presentation materials to help guide their conversations with C-level executives at large corporations. Example analysis includes company profiles, valuation materials, and trading overviews."
3) What publications/blogs/websites do you read to follow X industry (for industry bankers). I want to hear someone read TechCrunch if they want to join a tech group.
4) What deals have you followed in the last twelve months. If you're interviewing for a tech banking job and you can't even mention the potential Dell take private or even the Facebook IPO, you will be dinged.
This is the most important factor to me, although I would add (as a corollary) that it's very important to express realistic expectations about the work. You will not be whispering in the ear of CEOs -- you will be fixing typos at 3am and deleting commas your MD had told you to insert earlier. The absolute worst analysts/summers I've ever working with were the ones that thought they were too good to spend 100 hours a week being a bitch.
This is true and important, but it's also important to note that you do get much more senior executive interaction than any other job. In fact, I probably underestimated the amount of contact that you get with C level executives even if it is only regarding mundane matters of finance/accounting/presentation/diligence.
Also, if you do get taken to meetings with senior executives from a client, be prepared for anything. I was at a management meeting well into a process, and during a break, the #3 or 4 at the client firm came up to me and just started talking to me about the process, and what I thought about it and what he thought about it. This was like a month or two out of training.
The utmost basics from the tech interview guides. I once had to interview a candidate that didn't know what A = L + OE was. How they got through the phone screen, I have no idea?
Sadly, this is true. The number of kids with great resumes that don't properly prepare for recruiting always shocked me.
Don't imagine what characteristics a banking analyst suppose have and use those traits to package yourself, it's fake, it is not effective, it prevents you from showing your true strength and you can't do it forever.
Be yourself, and like Morpheus said to Neo: "Free your mind."
(P.S. This is assuming you are extremely well prepared for your technical questions)
Would you say that, in a 30 min interview, u decide on a candidate within the first 5 min? and the other 25 min is just formality?
Not necessarily, I always started off in the first 10 minutes or so with more fit based questions and had the person walk through their resume. I've seen kids nail this and then bomb the technicals, which would disqualify them. I will say, if I didn't like you in the first 5 minutes, you weren't going to recover.
What do you see candidates do, that make you not like them?
I am interested in the part after the interview during superday. How do you discuss and decide on the candidates who got the offer? When candidates being interviewed by different people, how will the team decided on who will get the offer. Therefore, during superdays, other than nail the first 10 mins and go solid with technical, what else should make/break the interview.
Thanks!
Depends on the interview. Sometimes within a few minutes, you can tell a kid is just very genuine, knowledgeable, interested in the job and your firm, and someone you feel like you'd like to work with. On the other hand, other candidates might start off shaky (due to nerves or whatever) but have solid answers for everything, in which case the whole interview matters.
One thing is for sure though, it's certainly possible for an interview to be over and for you to get dinged within a few minutes, especially if you can't answer basic fit questions ("Why our firm?" or "Why banking?"... you'd be surprised at some of the answers).
What is the most convincing "why investment banking" you've heard?
There isn't a perfect answer to this question, only some really bad ones. As long as you can express both an understanding of what investment bankers do and why that is interesting to you, you'll be fine. If you can't even grasp what a banker does, you're screwed. Telling the interviewer that the prospect of long hours is exciting, makes them want to punch you in the face.
How can a non-target turn a phone interview into a second round/superday? Like the best things he or she can do in the phone interview
wish some people weren't so formal during networking/interviews - having the right attitude and passing the "elevator test" is absolutely essential.
This will be a long response so hopefully you guys can get some serious help from this post. The failure points are generally into four buckets.
Failure to pass technicals. This is one that is more common at the low end. Not going to care if you're unable to do a DCF in your head but if you can't even write out the formula or tell me what EV/EBITDA means you're going to be in a world of hurt and likely will not get through round one. Generally would say this is less of an issue come super days because the normal process is to screen out the bad stuff in the first round with layup technicals and then stress you more in the superday to see how you react. People usually say "Oh I messed up one hard technical and that is why I did not get an offer" that's unlikely the case and it is much more likely one of the 3 pain points below.
Failure to pass understanding of the job. If you do not know what you are signing up for we have a very hard time hiring you. As posted above if you cannot answer "Why Banking or Why this bank" get ready to be burned to the ground quick as well. One candidate came in an explained how much he enjoyed "picking" stocks, this was for an IB interview, so when asked "why don't you do research?" the entire conversation died.
Failure on personality based questions. Two favorites are "Where do you see yourself in five years and are you smart or hard working". The first one is loaded because if you go on and on about how you want to exit into PE, you will be dinged. Seriously. You're interviewing for a bank and you're going to tell them you know for sure you're going to exit in 2 years to some mega shop? Instead would be smarter to phrase along the lines of you know for sure you want to be in wall street and say if you end up liking IB you would stay and if not would like PE/HF etc. But coming out the gate guns blazing and telling me you for sure are going to leave or go to HF/PE shows me you don't really know what 5 years means in the Street.
Second question, if you answer "Smart" you will be grilled. This is similar to "how are your accounting skills?"... Why would you set up HIGH expectations in an interview? This is a bad move. Always veer on the side of being humble. If you tell me you're a "super smart guy" or "know accounting extremely well"... We will ask you harder questions and in addition ding you even harder if you miss any technical questions. You're just a college grad. Set expectations low if possible. Don't tell people you're a "genius" simply say you're hard working and know the "working basics" and are willing to learn. This way you get softer questions, we don't think you're arrogant and we are more willing to give you the benefit of the doubt.
Finally, the superday comment. Honestly this is usually decided upon within 24-48 hours. That fast. Meet up in conference room, put your name up on the chalk board and move accordingly. As always the MD's have more weight, or VP's etc. Some MD's actually don't care who is hired and simply say "I only DIDNT like one person" and that guy gets dinged. Overall your best bet of course is to shine in all groups. When push comes to shove the analysts will keel over. IE: if Ass-->MD all loved you and analysts thought you were "okay" you'll likely get a slot. Not sure how you can mess up an analyst interview though, you just pass technicals and then shoot the shit about anything you have in common from sports to schooling.
That's about it.
This thread should be stickied or something. It's one of the best posts I've read on WSO. Thanks to everyone for the detailed explanations.
That if you can't tell me what EBITDA or Free Cash Flow is, it's very hard to give a candidate a shot, given the abundance of public info on this site and on the internet about what investment banking is, what corporate finance is, and how an income statement works. Once you study enough, the concepts will make sense to you -- just like investment banking itself, it's about putting the time in.
Ipsum qui commodi et consectetur facere. Praesentium nulla nesciunt quo quis quod.
Reiciendis qui consequatur enim perspiciatis unde odit inventore et. Numquam enim nobis ut deserunt blanditiis sint inventore exercitationem.
Quas qui debitis eveniet quasi error et tempora. Consequatur non vitae adipisci adipisci. In distinctio quae et optio placeat. Quas nesciunt modi consectetur.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...
Repellat aut debitis saepe velit maiores adipisci. Et alias facilis esse molestiae enim corrupti.
Quae sit facilis rem impedit cum optio assumenda. Possimus modi aut expedita aut fugit aut commodi provident. Nam et atque laborum nobis quo voluptatem sed.