I interviewed with someone at a firm and they cut me off multiple times while I was talking and then asked to jump to the technical part--I was just wondering if it is normal for interviewers to start off with a very hard technical? I did not really know it and I am a liberal arts major with no Finance/Accounting major at our school.
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Many reasons for this. The interviewer could just be trying to finish the interview early by trying to weed out candidates. Maybe those are the level of technical questions that the firm expects qualified candidates to know. It could also just be a stress test to see how you react to being asked such a hard question.
Many times, during superday interviews, there will be one or two interviewers who will only ask technical questions. These interviewers are only really trying to see your technical ability because they know the other parts of your candidacy will be evaluated by the other interviewers. This might be why he/she was cutting you off so much.
Also, keep in mind that some interviewers will treat you the same in terms of technicals regardless of your background.
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the reason they cut you off multiple times and then jump to different questions is because they;
and 2. Want to see how you handle stress.
If you are unable to answer some of the questions, it might be by design. For example, whenever I interview a junior person I keep asking technical questions until that person can’t answer. This tells me the depth of their knowledge and ability to think on their feet. So yeah, that’s pretty normal.
OP didn't say that he couldn't answer the question, he said that the interviewer kept cutting him off. There are many reasons that this could happen, some of which are listed in this thread. Other possibilities are: - It was a bad (or inexperienced) interviewer. This happens more than you'd think. - Interviewer is super busy or stressed about something. - Interviewer is a dick.
There's not much you can do if it was any of the above. The other possibility is that you were too long winded or rambling. I wouldn't jump to that conclusion immediately, but it is possible. How have you done on other interviews, mock interviews, etc? If you're experienced and have done well, this was most likely some sort of an interviewer issue. However, if you're inexperienced or have struggled you may want to give some thought to your approach.
Definitely don't beat yourself up over it or get yourself stressed out going forward, but do take the time to be reflective on if there's room for improvement.
He was probably responsible for asking the technical questions and was worried that he would run out of time if he spent too much time upfront on non-technical, resume stuff.
Were you rambling?
I cut people off all the time during interviews.. generally it is once they reply to my question. I am happy and want to move on. A lot of students will start to go on when they don't have to. Keep in mind 30 mins or 45 mins is not a lot of time....
Agreed. Most responses should be about 1-1.5 minutes max for qualitative questions. Maybe 2 minutes for "why IB" and "tell me about yourself". Even most technical questions responses should be short. "walk me through a DCF" for example, can be done in 30-45 seconds. If they want more detail on a particular aspect they will usually ask. You don't need to go into how the WACC is calculated when describing how a DCF works, if they want to know, they will ask.
One time I was asked the typical DCF question and as I started going through the whole shebang the guy cut me off and was like, that's alright, you don't need to walk me through the whole thing, just explain the concept.
Maybe they want to see that you know the concepts but don't necessarily need you to work through every single computation, in detail. I'd think if they're interviewing a bunch of other people they might also want to make sure you can pass some weed-out technicals before they take you seriously in terms of fit/behavioral.
Also possible he was just in a rush or had a headache and wanted to get back to work.
As I believe someone else already mentioned, being cut off could be a sign that the interviewer was satisfied with your answer and simply wanted to move on. In terms of the technical question, they can honestly start you off with anything. I think I would rather have a technical question than the generic, "tell em about yourself."
exactly.. i ask you reply.. lets move on.. keep in mind - the interviewer does it for a living - he knows it up and down... they understand you are a student
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