I was just informed that in 2 weeks I will be the designated Super Day interviewer for my team and interview summer analysts. The Super Day is for my department as a whole and I’ll represent my track.
So what are some of the memorable Super Day interviews you’ve had? What made you feel welcome? I’ve never gone through one (at least not as a student) so I’d like to hear your perspective to help my interview skills.
Obviously it’s easy to be biased and choose an interview where you got the position but I’d like to hear how a company left a positive impression on you as an interviewee.
Can't believe I got crickets on this one . . .
Are you the only one from your team conducting the interviews or are you just responsible for coordinating everything?
Good question. I work in a large department with multiple teams, each with their respective focus. The Super Day is for the entire department and each team needs to designate an interviewer. I am the interviewer for my team. Department has about 10 teams and my particular team is 40+ people. So I’m one of 10-12 interviewers the kids will go through.
I see, thanks for the color. Personally, I've always preferred when I could relate to my interviewer in one way or another. You can do that by either bringing something up from the candidate's resume that you found interesting (ex.: if you were a student athlete and the other person was a student athlete also, fraternity, travelling, etc.) or just by chatting with them about something generic for a few seconds before getting into technicals. I feel like it's important to show the candidates that they are joining a group that consists of normal people who have a life/personality outside of work because that would arguably make them want to hear back after the Super Day even more--at least that's how I felt whenever I interviewed with a team and thought highly of the team culture. From your perspective, I would try to come up with a few questions that might throw the candidate off a bit just to see whether they are who they say they are or if they just memorized all of their answers. This is all I could think of so far, but please feel free to PM if you want me to go into more detail.
I think that it's really as simple as being upbeat and positive. Just like interviewers like to see energy and motivation behind the interviewee, the interviewee also appreciates seeing the same behind the interviewer. Also, I find that a pleasant and interested face has only made me answer with more confidence and determination. I strongly infer a lot of interns might be put off after a sub-par answer when the interviewer loses interest, DESPITE that they might have left a better impression in subsequent questions given the confidence boost.
Whatever you might be getting in terms of hours/work/etc., my best impressions have always come from interviewers that at least seem to be making the best of it and are straight up about the group (no B.S. - "hey I just pulled an 90-hour week but I did...X,Y,Z."). Then again, all my interviews have been for IB and there's no pussyfooting around the rep it has.
I like that, I'm going to use that. Thanks for the great suggestions.
I haven't been through a superday, but have been through many banking interviews.
There was one set I liked the most and I heard it a couple of times in banks in NYC, particularly in one JP Morgan interview. The set included questions like 'how many quarters would it take to stack to the top of this building' or 'how many lightbulbs are in NYC', etc.
The point to me of the exercise is to not only solve the problem, but walk through assumptions with the interviewer to reach an appropriate solution. This is similar to a day on the job, where you don't always have all the information and have to make a decision in a timely manner given the assumptions. For example, when asked the quarter question, I said to the MD, "I didn't even see how many stories this building was in the elevator." He gave me some additional information, then I made a calculation based on quarters in an inch, inches in a floor, top floor to spire, etc., walking through each step.
I think an exercise like this gives you a good amount of insight into the way a person's mind works and also their ease of communicating with management to find a solution.
Good stuff. However, I'm trying to avoid riddle-type questions. Most of them are way past their due-date since they're so common and most people know the answers (the question about the stack of quarters has been asked for at least 20 years, since I was in school). I'm really more concerned about the students feeling welcome (as opposed to overly scrutinized) and walk away with a positive impression of the company.
Sounds good.
The most memorable interviewers for me were the ones who were very welcoming, honest, and friendly to me. They treated the interview like a normal conversation, especially for the behavioral questions. Many times, those interviewers didn't end up asking any technical questions in the first place as the superday interviews were done in such a way that some people would be purely behavioral and some were mainly technical in nature.
Overall, when you're thinking about how to act as an interviewer, think about it from the perspective of the interviewee. If you were interviewing somewhere for a superday, how would you want to feel or what are some things that the interviewer would do that would make you feel great about the company?
Just smile :) and be friendly
It goes a long way to leaving a good impression whether they receive an offer or not
Treat interviewees with respect. At the firms I've worked at, interviewers at Super Days were typically only a few years out of school, so not that far ahead of the interviewees. It's a small world. You will run into people again and it doesn't take long for people to rise in this career track which is one of the reasons it is appealing.
Also, strong candidates who make it to super days will often be interviewing at other banks with decent odds of getting other offers. While you want to make sure you get the best candidates, you also want to make sure you leave a good impression and that the desire to join your firm is mutual. The best candidates will often have multiple offers.
I've seen (and I think it's bad form) for interviewers to beat up on interviewees on technicals or some other aspect. Of course the person on the interviewer side should be more well versed having actually done the job.
Having said that, interviews don't have super high correlation with performance (not very much does) so in the end I try to standardize my questions to at least make it easier to compare candidates at the end of the event.
As a student going through the process, ask different questions. Every bank normally asks the same set of questions and it gets stale.
Can you give me some examples of those "same" questions?
I think he's just referring to those common questions almost every interview will include like Tell me about yourself, What's a DCF, and other common behavioral and technical questions.
Most people are narcissists and love talking about themselves. When framing a behavior question, especially one concerning a past experience they've had, try to make it seem like you're actually interested in them personally.
They'll start talking about themselves more liberally and you'll be able to gather all the information you need when they subconsciously reveal things about themselves.
I'm in the same place, have to conduct a series of interviews for summer interns in 2 weeks, so good luck to you :) Some good advice in here already!
I'm not exactly sure what your department/team/group does or whether you're particularly in IB or something else along the high-finance spectrum. But I'd suggest starting off by asking what they know about what your team does. Obviously, for Super Days, most candidates will have somewhat of a decent grasp of what they're interviewing for, but I'd encourage you to ask that question simply as an exercise to gauge their communication skills. I.e. if they're able to give a brief/succinct description. Conversely, for those that aren't as familiar, it also gives you the chance to fill in some holes for them, and then you can follow up with some broader, open-ended questions about what in particular they find interesting about your group, despite lacking somewhat in familiarity. These are simple exercises but they're effective ways of sifting out folks that are trying to pretend like they know it all, identifying the people who have a great understanding, and the honest folks that might not know, but are willing to admit that, yet are very eager to learn.
good luck, i'm sure it'll go pretty smooth
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