Ok guys,
So who has been through Goldman 1st rounds IBD...I know you oasisers usually get everything. I have IBD next week through OCR (on-campus recruiting for you newbies).
Insight- how technical? questions to expect? good questions to ask etc.
I always get good advice on this site!
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I had a first round Goldman interview but not for IBD, it was for GIR (research). Their questions were the type that are like.. 'tell me about a time that you...' for like 5 or 6 questions. plus i got the annoying..'walk me through your resume' question. i'm still waiting to hear back from them.. do you go to a target school?
yes i'm at a target- ivy league.
I went through the process early (in the fall) because I'm abroad this semester, yah I'd say the first rounder was very fit based. I got the leadership, teamwork, failure questions and then some basic market questions
how technical it is depends on your resume.
Expect the normal fit questions, but with a twist that makes it a bit more difficult to answer (it's a bit hard to explain). You'll definitely need to have great answers to ALL of the failure questions
Gents, Can you elaborate your failure questions and what example you used. I remember specifically in an interview they asked me about "A time I failed and couldn't recover" and I brought up a lame injury for football that forced me to the sidelines for 5 games my sophomore year.
.
worked in M&A at a bulge bracket last summer doing a sophomore rotational...do you think I will get more fit still with that experience?
With that experience chances are no, you'll get Goldman fit questions to see if you can handle their culture but it might include technicals depending on what you stress.
Goldman loves to test how you handle failure so that's a staple, all my interviews also loved the "Why Goldman, why now". I also got from a number of them market questions.
No. Generally the more relevant the experience on your resume is to the job you're interviewing for, you more you can expect technicals and the less you can expect fit questions. Typically, fit questions are more geared toward people with less industry knowledge and experience, as it wouldn't make any sense to grill them on modelling / accounting if they have no prior knowledge.
It would be like asking an english major to walk you through building an LBO model -- doesn't make much sense. Instead, they would focus on fit, how well you get along with others, etc.
hmmm
Do you know when you typically hear back after 1st rounds OCR?
they usually have superday within 10 days
good luck
Why Goldman was asked of me by all my interviewers. Didn't get any fit questions as such but got some market questions like where is the 10 year T-bill or where is the S&P.
GS-IBD First Round Interview (Originally Posted: 10/02/2009)
Anyone know what first round IBD interviews are like for GS? I've searched and it seems like first rounds are mostly fit-based to just evaluate if you fit the GS mold.
I imagine it's fit and technical, but how technical exactly? Also, do they ask questions that require you to pick a stock or know something weird like where the 3-month libor is at? I'm expecting a massacre...
First rounds are all basically fit at any IBD. People will throw in a few technical questions like "How would you value a company" or "Walk me through a DCF." GS is no different, in fact they tend to be more fit based than most.
Is the interview necessarily more intense, or is that more psychological "i'm interviewing with GS attitude" or because they are more selective in moving to 2nd rounds?
First rounds are mostly fit as others have said, especially for GS when they are recruiting out of undergrad. Exceptions are if they are recruiting for an experienced analyst position.
Interview is not necessarily more intense (arguably more casual than most interviews), I would say though that because it's mostly fit, you need to differentiate yourself on the fronts of why you want to do IBD, and why GS itself is great. Two big points to emphasize which tend to go over well in interviews for "why GS" are:
1) GS is a more teamwork-oriented culture (Most people working at GS tend to notice that collaboration between groups is more common and is one of its unique competitive advantages as a large financial services firm) 2) When you work at Goldman, you know that every single group available is top-notch in quality, whereas if you worked at most other banks there are "strong" vs. "weak" groups to be working in. Especially out of undergrad, your focus is on learning about the industry/finance and so you want to learn from the best. And you can be confident you'll always get that at GS.
Like all interviews, some of this is questionable when comparing reality and the firm's view of itself, but you want to have a bit of the wide-eyed, innocent faith that is expected out of people coming straight from college.
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GS IBD first round: format? (Originally Posted: 10/19/2006)
first round in NY with HR. non-target (minnesota), no banking internship.
Any surprises?
Can't help you out sorry. Congrats on the interview (non-target here as well) and good luck.
Don't come across as arrogant or even particulary confident. They didn't have you come in from MN because they thought you were the shit, they did it because they thought you might not think you were the shit. To put that in English grammar instead of French: they think you might be more humble. If you come in with a big swinging dick, you'll have zero chance.
That's my take, I am sure some others will disagree.
where the fuck is minnesota?
My 1st round interview at Bear was behavior interview. They got a feel for who I was and if I would "fit" in in their bank. Be humble and show excitment for the industry
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