Is it finally my time?! Technical interview help

After months of struggling, I have finally landed an interview with a MM IBD firm. I'm fairly confident with basic technicals and behavioral quetions, but am scared because I think the firm was lookign for experienced hires (1+year in IBD) and all I have is previous IBD internship experience.

Could anyone give examples of some of the harder technicals that can come up in an IBD interview? It is an M&A advisory shop. Thanks for the help.

 
m56:

Look through M&I's 400 question guide, in the advanced M&A section, and the final few pages of the basic M&A section. That should be good prep.

This is good advice. You can also go through some of the advanced modules in BIWS, especially if you're going into a particular group (tech, oil/gas, etc.)
Currently: future neurologist, current psychotherapist Previously: investor relations (top consulting firm), M&A consulting (Big 4), M&A banking (MM)
 
Best Response

Congrats on the interview.

I have always been a proponent of preparing by knowing material, not by learning to answer questions. One is learning how to fish, the other is simply looking at pictures of fish other people have caught. Focus on learning the actual concepts (which, admittedly, can be hard if you didn't do a business undergrad) rather than memorizing guides. That said, here are some of the best resources that I always recommend that I think you can find for an interview.

Vault Guide to Finance interviews (all super elementary, this is the kind of thing you read as a freshman in preparation for coffee chats with people you've networked with).

M&I "Breaking Into Wall Street" guide (the 200-question version was out in my day, there's a 400-question version out now that's even better; as far as I am concerned, this is the best paid guide resource out there).

WSO Technical guide (I don't have the newest version; the one I had was good in terms of information, but for me, it wasn't nearly as organized or comprehensive as the BIWS guide).

ibankingfaq.com (not that comprehensive and doesn't seem to have been updated very recently, so it reflects a time when recruiting wasn't as competitive and therefore isn't remarkably in-depth, but still great for the few questions it has up there).

Macabacus.com (amazing resource that will help you learn the basics [and some complexities] of DCF, merger, and LBO modeling step-by-step; due to them having the spreadsheet plugin directly on the webpage, it isn't exactly as you'd see it in Excel in a real model, but the education is tremendous).

Rosenbaum and Pearl (if you have a lot of time before the interview, go for it, otherwise I think your time is better spent with one of the condensed guides like BIWS or WSO).

Aswath Damodaran (he is the preeminent valuation guru known around the world, all his material [slide decks, Excel templates, etc.] is available for free online at his personal page which you can find on Google).

Good luck.

I am permanently behind on PMs, it's not personal.
 

APAE - respect your opinion, but would be great if you could give another review once you see our updated guides.

We are the only guides that have actual questions from real / recent interviews, organized by bank...we actually have MORE than 400+ questions (and that is growing every week as we add more and more interview insights into the technical and fit guides), but that is besides the point.

In my opinion, it's not the quantity of random advanced questions (that may have been given once in an interview in 2006) that makes a guide a great tool for interview preparation (even though the newest WSO guides have more questions than BIWS), it's the way the guides are organized and how good they are at bringing a candidate along in his or her preparation from the most basic questions concepts to the most advanced. So the quoting of 400+ questions is just a marketing gimmick imo...I honestly think at some point volume of questions becomes a detriment to the guides and prep and that is why in the new section we added, we looked at overall trends at each bank and picked out the most common questions for each position at each bank (link below showing what banks we have included so far).

Since the beginning we've always tried to keep in mind the various skill levels of all our clients... This is why we have structured the guides not only into topic specific segments, but also into Basic, Intermediate and Advanced questions. This allows the student to start at the basics or jump to the appropriate level, all while giving them quality sample responses...

To be able to see sample responses to technical and fit questions, build from basic to advanced AND to get insight into trends at specific banks I think is a much more valuable for interview prep than any resource on the market right now (and our sales numbers over the past 4 months for the IB Prep Pack reflect that candidates agree): //www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/big-change-new-wso-technical-and-behavioral-interview-guides

...oh, and the IB Prep Pack (which is tech, fit and networking guide) is $99, while BIWS is $97 for guide and $97 for networking....so $99 for the WSO product (100% money back if not fully satisfied), or $194 for the equivalent on BIWS? Or if you just want the interview guides, that is $90 for WSO vs. $97, so we are still a lower price for a superior product.

-Patrick

ps - will send you the updated guides now so you can take a look yourself at the progress we've made

pps - this is the same way we approached the Consulting Case Interview Guide (new version just released) and how we are approaching our private equity interview Prep Package which is in the works...we won't stop until we are providing the most value at the most reasonable price

 
explosions09:

Just wanted to say thanks for listing study sources. The 400 question guide was especially helpful (and a confidence booster once I realized I could answer all the questions).

Unfortunately I didn't get past the first round - firm was looking for a 2nd year hire..not quite sure why they brought me in for an interview.

I hear ya..but tbh, I was quite inspired by reading your post. Keep trying...it will be so great to hear your success story!

 

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