The hardest Investment Banking interview you've ever done
Personally, as a student without much IBD experience I only have this one to share regarding an an off cycle interview for a M&A boutique.
They closed me in a room without the internet, my phone etc. Then they asked me to develop a FCFF/FCFE --> DCF model from the scratch with only a few details provided.
I failed it, but I learned a lot.
How about you?
That’s not hard at all...it’s actually something you’re expected to know. I guess it comes down to details you are given though that would determine its difficulty.
Well, today I'm sure to be able to do that, but I was at my 2nd year of Uni and haven't did yet corporate finance/finance subjects. I remember it as a sort of adrenaline nightmare
One of my first interviews a few years back was at a PE shop. Thought it would be a standard 30 min interview but was 6 hours long and was grilled for a solid hour from basics to recaps and exits (IPO vs sale, how much to sell in IPO, what multiple). Didn't really get to the techs until 4 hours in or so and was so fried at that point. Really didn't belong in the room. Interviewer eventually started finishing the answers.
Had no fucking clue why they emailed me to come in and chat. Also they failed to mention it was unpaid until the end. Wouldn't have pursued it if I knew that in the first place. Learned a lot and never risked another shit show like that.
LOL, sorry for your suffering but I did get a kick out of this. Sort of thing that would absolutely happen to me.
Wow. Unpaid yet they grilled you as if they were hiring you as an investment director or something. What a fucking joke if you ask me.
As for me, had an interview for an internship position at a boutique, and the guy kept hounding me on technicals, from basic accounting to shell premium calculations etc. None of that was too bad until he wanted me to do an LBO at the top of my head, no paper to work on or anything. Just kinda stared at him blankly for asking me to do something that retarded.
When he said to me towards the end "your grades are pretty shit" I just mentally stopped giving a crap and stopped paying attention for the remainder of the interview. He gave me a verbal offer but then later rescinded it because he felt I "lacked the technical knowledge". Later got an offer from a firm 10x the size of that one, and twice the pay, and all they cared about was "are you good with Excel?"
Funny how things work out.
Gave an offer and then recsinded it... shocking. Some of these interviewers are just total d-bags and don't realize that while you may want the job you still have to be able to tolerate the people you work with, and that goes both ways.
if i didn't care about relationship with HH, i would have gotten up and just left. life is too short to put up with this kind of shit
I find a lot of it depends on who you're with. If someone wants to be a d-bag, then they will, and they will ruin your life for an hour or two...but if you're actually good and have done your homework, you move on and like NotBad said, can get an offer at an even better group.
What a fucking idiot! So you had to calculate the IRR of an LBO starting from entry Enterprise Value and do all the calculations such as debt repayment in your head?
I would have said to him: we've got Excel to do that, you know?
What were your grades if you don't mind?
Sounds brutal...I find it funny how sometimes the companies with the shittiest pay have the hardest PE interviews. Maybe they were trying to cover up some insecurities about their fund performance?
Or the prestige whoring boutique ib guys who ask for "top tier undergrad" and only pay 50k. LOL.
Somehow felt that that has something to do with trying to find the best value candidate for the cheapest possible cost. I mention cost and not salary because they literally treat ppl as a piece of machine, and only care about maximum output but giving minimum input/cost. Had this experience with one firm I've been before who wants the best/solid 3-5 years experience but only willing to fork out a fresh graduate salary, hiding this info once all of that interveiw is over. This is why it's important to ask about salary range in the beginning, esp for a experienced level hiring.
Good God
Wow. You have to question why a firm is wasting 6 hours interviewing someone for an unpaid internship.
I'll add mine: interview for a hedge fund out of undergrad. Consisted of 1 brain teaser, which I couldn't figure out. Interviewer gave no assistance, just looked at me, then got up and told me to take 15 minutes to figure it out. Came back, I still had no clue, so that was the end of the interview. Mind you this was in their office and after a first round. Glad I traveled to NYC for that, waste of time. Guy was weird and after that I had no desire to work there (not like I would've received the offer anyway).
Did they give you a calculator? If so, I think this is a fairly reasonable interview task.
I have a non scientific calc with few data only, but given I was at my 2nd year of Uni without any CF skill I remember that as a nightmare lol. Btw actually I'm able to do it (I guess )
FCF would have been quite easy... I was given 45 mins to read annual report + company profile and prepare a 1-page letter highlighting why a foreign investor should consider investing in that company, and prepare reclassified statements for the firm. It required reading almost 30 pages of reports/statements/notes.
45 minutes.
Maybe not the hardest but the most painful interview ever was actually a non-IB job early in my career lasting 6 hours:
Note that this was not for some amazing job or opportunity. Didn't get the offer and never applied to that company again even years down the road as a result of interview process.
This sounds like Amazon.
Not an ib interview but interiewed with a PE fund last week. I'm a junior so they just asked me brain teasers for an hour.
1) 7x7x7 2) Cube root of 1,000,000 3) What place are you in in a race when you pass the guy in 2nd place 4) You're in the top corner of a cubical room, whats the fastest route to the other corner without jumping? 5) Some perpetuity question where I had to think in an abstract way to find the interest rate
.
Questions weren't hard but I wasn't expecting an hour of brainteasers. But 1 clout token for you!
Maybe the case studies weren't the actual reason you got dinged - your comment makes it seem like talking to you would be an absolute chore
Not exactly a hard interview story, but definitely the weirdest one I've had.
I interviewed with a MM boutique for a SA position, and they set me up for a phone interview with one of their international offices. The phone was supposed to be with senior bankers, so it was 2 VPs, 1 Director and 1 MD (big line-up for a SA interview I know but I guess it's probably because that office is very small)
When I got on the line, one of the VPs has not joined the con call yet, and one of the guys just went "oh just give her a second, she's in Germany at her ex-husband's funeral".
Dead Silence for about 20 seconds on the line. And then she joined the call.
and no she was not in a good mood, and I did not get the job lol.
I was once asked to explain a balance sheet... in Spanish. The catch? It wasn't even for an IB analyst position, it was for an entry-level position at a small accounting firm.
Did you say something about Spanish on your resume?
lol why Spanish?
had an interviewer throw me a technical question about calculating beta for a private firm; didn't necessarily have a great answer. interviewer straight up told me to my face something along the lines of 'yeah i think we're done here, you can leave'. interview lasted 10mins.
I was a sophomore. what sophomore would know how to calculate beta of a private firm?
Lmao read valuation by McKinsey
Thanks, I'll check it out. still relevant in my current role I guess
looking into this now. Thanks
Fair question to ask IMO if you were a junior or senior, but you were a sophomore which does seem tough.
also, it was rude to just be like 'yeah [youre an idiot] this interview is done'.
Hi Real Marcus, may I ask you which boutique was about? Thank you and good luck for the next ;)
Ciao Gio, PJT
Was this PJT? They did the same thing to me last year.
Yes bro
Hardest interview was for a MM boutique. 2-on-1, with an MD and a VP. They kept drilling into my past experience - which was totally fair, until they asked me increasingly specific details about a model I had built for a deal I had listed 18 months prior. They eventually caught me in a mistake ("I think the growth assumption was 3%" / "If the growth assumption was 3% then the deal wouldn't have closed"), at which point they told me to leave.
I made it about a block away until I started crying.
Then they made me the offer.
Turned them down.
Man, that is rough. That's when you gotta call up the boy Gin Rummy and get the party started lol
Damn, that's sad.
which MM this was and did u really turn them down haha
This is probably going to get shit on but some MO roles (quant, risk, etc.) can be some of the toughest.
I have a superday on Friday for a job that I don't want all that much.
Just got an email from HR saying to show up before 7am, at 7am there will be a one-hour written exam. After the written exam we will eat breakfast during a brief presentation about the company. We will begin interviewing after the presentation and conclude at 6pm...No mention of lunch.
How was it?
90% behavioral until the last interview, which was rapid-fire technicals and brainteasers.
Actually, a very smart way to structure it.
great thread from 2012: https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/whats-the-hardest-interview-ques…
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