Extreme Non-Target 1st AC
Hi Guys, I managed to get invited to a top BB AC (GS/MS/JPM) for IBD. I have heard most people do no get offers from their first ACs and I am quite worried, as a Non target I may not get another chance. I just wanted to ask you guys for advice on how I could best approach this.
Strength
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Motivation, I have an underdog story
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Commercial awareness - can speak well about trend and deals well ( need to learn more of the number side though)
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Technical is fairly good for my background but still need to be improved.
Weaknesses
-Tend to freeze at brainteasers, not having done math in a very long time but got an A in high school so not completely dumb - Market sizing questions too.
-Scared not to be able to relate to the interviewer because of my background we may not like the same thing.
-Case study, I know the basic but I have never done one live and also this is litteraly my first AC, did interviews before to get roles but not a full AC.
@French Hardo" @English Hardo" @Pan European Monkey" Do you guys have any advice or tips for me? ( btw, I am the guy with a scholarship, who posted about redirection, - Just wanted to say thank you for encouraging me to try my chance, I have been doing pretty well so far with interviews even at EBs)
big cap there are 0 scheduled for IBD besides for ABL @ JP, GS OPS AC lol
edit: am wrong, but this kid still Ops. Just practice behaviourals and being looked down on
bro please, if you cant help just move on
There are...sry you got rejected
Let’s ask the users of wso what they think.
person with BO spring at GS with guaranteed superday from non-target has the BO AC.
person with no exp from extreme non-target gets GS AC week after HVs out despite ppl from targets with ctv/evr/pwp 2nd and finals not having heard back yet. gg
You will get more interviews with your profile so no this won't be your last chance. Just prepare as much as you can and do your best.
Busy atm but will PM some links to read through
Very busy as well - but will try to find some time today to write some stuff
Ok so - looks like I have 5 minutes free to type this:
At the AC stage, your background doesn't really matter anymore - as in you will not be rejected for it, sure your background ie school, extracurriculars may help you bond more than your interviewer but that should be about it really.
Now what can you prepare for:
- Tell me about you/your exp: you must know this cold - maybe not a set of sentences, but know the flow of your story so that it makes sense and IB sounds like a logical next step.
- Behavioral questions: don't necessarily prepare answers (in fact in most inteviews I bullshitted a credible situ on the spot rather than use a personal one) but understand how to answer these questions (STAR technique - Situation, Task, Action, Result) and what you have to demonstrate through them - ie leadership, initiative, etc. Having been on both sides of the interview table, to this day I am still not yet sure what do people look for in this section.
- Technical questions: Would basically recommend having read the M&I 400Qs, Rosenbaum and Pearl and some the WSO PDFs on DCF/Multiples/LBOs (you can find all of them by googling around I believe). With that you should be equipped with everything. Also your accounting knowledge should be top notch - there is no way to fuck up a simple accounting questions. For technical questions I view them (except maybe ones where we pick your brain to see how far you can get but these are very rare) as only a reason to ding you - you start with a capital of 100points and for every dumb thing you say/mistake you do you loose some.
- Group Case studies (individual case studies fall into the technical questions bucket): often times this is finance related, whilst you do not want to do on the finance side, focus on the social aspect as this is the key part of the assessment - we want to see if you can work in a team. So if there is a person that doesn't really speak up try to include them saying "before we move on to the next point do you (X person) have a view on this?" - basically be socially aware, you don't necessarily have to be the leader and force people to agree with your views even if correct (in fact that c. Not sure how much does this count but it could show some major red flags in terms of lack of teamwork, being stuck with your own views. Note that often times there is no "one best" answers - meaning that all answers are equally as good to spur a good discussion with different view points and see strong thinking/arguments.
- Fit questions/discussion/Q&A: That is only bonus points - basically the more you fit with me the more I want to hire you, simple right? So be aware of some of the news, be able to talk about everything you have on your CV, you say that you are an F1 fan - who won the championship last year, what is your view on this year etc and own your views - if you are a fan of a club in the premier league don't be scared to say it, be fucking proud of it!
- Deals: know 2-3 deals - preferably ones you are interested in, try to understand the deal structure (ie financing, ownership, accetion/dilution, business rationale, anti trust issues?). please pick a deal in your target geography - in this case Europe. My advice is often to have a little less know 2nd or 3rd deal because I once walked into an interview and the MD told me not to speak about X deal as all 3 candidates before me had pick that one. Fortunately I had another good one as a backup!
- Brainteasers/Market sizing: these are not coming up too often for BBs, more so for EBs from my own experience. Basically you have to think outloud, simplify the problem and numbers - if its say 47 use 50 for mental maths and think about 50 as 100/2. We just want to see that you can have a logical structured thought process.
- Other questions: I have been asked econ questions and the impact on rates/LBO activity or economic activity and the impact on some of the Key PnL items of a business (often straight forward - was for a dedicated industry team in my case).
Hope this helps, shoot here if any questions!
Thank you very much. well noted
Hi,
Never done an AC online before but hope the below helps.
Website i use for technicals - http://www.streetofwalls.com/finance-training-courses/
Market sizing - check out consulting case interview preps. Sample questions I would practice is "How many laptops are sold in the UK every year" / "How many people ride the tube in London everyday" / "How many houses are there in London"? Relatively simple but fun to do. Key to being successful is structure and making sure you state your assumptions clearly. Have a piece of paper beside you so that you can draw out the figures.
Background doesn't matter that much in my opinion. Key is to show curiosity (by asking interesting questions) and enthusiasm (knowing about the deals you're taking about - rationale etc)
Tips for ACs - have a calculator ready, excel set up (for those maths questions)
Good luck
Semi agree of a calculator/excel. Unless told to use it would avoid using it, in a video interview it will be very visible that you are using it. Most often the numbers will be sufficiently easy to use simple maths.
My advice for you would be the following:
Technicals
You have to really nail them, you don't want to give the interviewer any reason to think that you don't know your stuff. So you should be very comfortable walking interviewers through a DCF, as well as justifying various aspects such as the length of the forecast or discounting assumptions. Being able to answer fairly simple EV questions is important, i.e. how to bridge Equity Value to Enterprise Value as well as the impact of using EBIT or EBITDA to EV. You should also nail how to do comps analysis, how to select peers and which metrics to use. Finally, knowing the three financial statements and how they link is also important, i.e. how would raising debt affect the three statements. The maths in technical questions is usually very straightforward, i.e. you'd need to work out 5% of 100 in the case of calculating interest on the IS. During any technical calculations, your best bet is to speak your thought process out loud and say as many sure wins as you can. So for example, if an interviewer asks you to calculate the EV of a hypothetical company, I would start by saying the method in which you get to EV; for example by taking EBITDA and multiplying it by x multiple.
Case Study
This links with technicals, you want to know the ways of valuing a company. You should make a firm recommendation and stick with it no matter what. To do this, you need sound logic and reasoning. So I would start by justifying the strategic rationale of the deal, and then say why it makes financial sense too. You may be given a client and a list of targets, so spend time understanding the strategy of your client and then look at financing restrictions (i.e. leverage or cash on hand). Then you could filter out some targets that are too expensive. Then from the remainders see if there is one that makes good strategic sense. Whatever your choice is, you want to be sure that you can justify the deal if they start to grill you on it. You'd also get bonus points for mentioning things like the takeover code if your target is a UK listed company.
Commercial
I think you'll be fine if you can talk about trends. For deals, you'll really want to remember share prices, premium paid, debt raised etc. The most important part of these deals will be your opinion on the rationale of the deal, did it make strategic sense, how did it change their business, has it been successful etc. For my interviews I would remember 2-3 deals from different sectors and hope to god that I got an interviewer in one of them. For example in my last interview I remembered an O&G deal and happened to be interviewed by a director in the NatRes Group and was able to have a great conversation about it.
Brain Teasers
Unfortunately, you can't really prepare for these. Again, I would emphasize the importance of speaking out loud and justifying your reasoning. They don't care about your answer, they want to see your thought process. In this vein, use simple numbers if you're market sizing, don't make it more difficult than it needs to be! If they ask about windows on a building, say a number like 50 for one floor, instead of 45. More than anything, try to enjoy the challenge!
Competency Questions
You want to drive home your drive for performance, ability to overcome challenges, attention to detail, communication, team working etc. Make sure to use the STAR method and have concrete tangible examples to use for each question they may give you. Try not to repeat the same example twice, although it is ok to do so if you can focus on difference aspects of the experience.
Relating to Interviewer
You don't need to be buddies with your interviewer to get an offer. You just want to come across as an interested, committed and smart student that would be a safe pair of hands if working within their team. I think it's always good to smile and laugh in an interview; treat it as a conversation with a peer, instead of an all mighty MD or VP. Therefore, it's important to not be too robotic with answers, take some pauses, smile if something was funny in the situation they ask you about etc.
Overall
This is a great opportunity to see what an AC is like and get to interview under pressure. No matter what, you will learn loads from it! I was super nervous for my first IBD AC and I was absolutely terrible. Just be confident (which comes through preparing technicals and deals well) and treat it like a more formal conversation with a friend. I would be ready to address questions about going to a non target, but you seem like you'd be able to quickly back up why you're a great candidate with your MSc and the cancelled internship. As they say, it's yours to lose, so be confident and just try your best!
p.s. apologies for spelling or grammar mistakes. I found Prospect in CorpDev's comments distasteful so I felt compelled to quickly help in some spare time.
Thank you very much. I will reflect deeply on it.
ps : OP here, I had to change account for a purchase on wso
Regarding to the overall experience, make sure you are polite and enjoyable, dont forget to smile! Fit is very important.
Now focusing on the AC itself some tips
1) If you are in a group case study dont speak too much, try to only speak up when something makes no sense or when you va an educated opinion. Make sure everyone on the team gives its opinion (ask them if they dont participate)
2) Be ready to explain why that bank and why it differentiates (give names, deals, bs from the culture)
3) Know basic ratios and metrics for the case study and try to explain why the strategic rationale makes sense
4) Be ready for mental math (2 of these firms went heavy on that in my ACs some years ago)
These is what I would highlight, other posters have covered most of the important stuff so did not bother to repeat it, but make sure you also prepare it
Thank you very much. well noted
OP - here, My interviews are with 2 MDs. I guess it will be less technical, is there something specific I should be aware of when interviewing with MDs?
Update @LifelessBanker" English Hardo French Hardo Pan European Monkey
Thank you guys again for your help. I didn't get the offer - the official feedback said I didn't work well under pressure during the case study ( I focused on the rational after talking to previous people who did it- It was perfect but got mixed up with the numbers in the presentation - nothing to major since we finished in agreement) - my friend got the offer after doing worse in the case study but its interviewer liked him - bad luck there
Another point though - One of the MD that interviewed me really wasn't having that I was studying pharmacy and wanted to do banking ( He wasn't even European) and seemed to to doubt my motivation or my ability to do banking. I was wondering for my next AC, if I get any - Should I portray myself as if HC banking is the only thing I wanna do, since it is where I can add the most value or be more open minded and broad which I did - but didn't seem to work well.
not one of the users you tagged, but I wouldn't say that you should potray yourself as a hardcore HC banker. You don't want the interviewer to think that you are only gonna do HC and nothing else, and that's why reject you. You can definitely show that with your background and interests, you would like to, given an option, pursue HC banking but you are open to exploring every group.
Would agree with that, explain how you like Pharma companies but don't see yourself doing research, but would rather work on the financial side and getting to learn about many news molecules and stuff hence Pharma/HC IB is the best vs FP&A/CorpDev at a pharma where you'd be focused on your company only rather than the space in general. Hope this makes sense.
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