What questions are YOU going to ask kids when you interview them?

I mean, alot of us on here are kids trying to get jobs or are pretty low down in the ranks and probably don't interview alot of people. Besides the obvious technical and fit stuff, anything sweet you want to ask people? I know I've definitely thought about it after I've gotten some really odd questions.

Personally, I'm just going to steal one from Fight Club. First question of any 1-on-1 interview, "If you could fight anyone, who would you fight?"

If they give a sweet answer, interview over. Otherwise, let the technical raping begin.

 

Okay, here's the shot out of the cannon: Oprah, Barbara Walters, your wife. You gotta fuck one, marry one, kill one, go!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I tend to think of myself as a one-man wolfpack Buyside strongside
 
Best Response

I have a few odd ball/unorthodox questions that I would ask a candidate.

  1. Who is your favorite banker/trader (depending on S&T or IBD interview) and why?

The question would set people apart from the rest of the pack. The question is meant to find kids that have a real passion/interest in banking or trading and are not just in it for the money. I would look for a candidate who could give me a decent answer and talk about that person's career/know what deals and trades they have done. It's one thing to be really good at technicals and fit questions, but being able to intelligently talk about some of the history of finance shows the type of passion that I would be looking for in a candidate.

  1. Ask questions about specific excel or Bloomberg shortcuts and key strokes

I know from personal experience that a lot of kids lie about being "Bloomberg certified". If I found that on a resume, I would ask some simple Bloomberg questions to see if they are lying. Same goes for being "proficient in excel"--although I might not test that one as hard as I would Bloomberg

"Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, for knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA."
 
Gekko21:
I have a few odd ball/unorthodox questions that I would ask a candidate.
  1. Who is your favorite banker/trader (depending on S&T or IBD interview) and why?

The question would set people apart from the rest of the pack. The question is meant to find kids that have a real passion/interest in banking or trading and are not just in it for the money. I would look for a candidate who could give me a decent answer and talk about that person's career/know what deals and trades they have done. It's one thing to be really good at technicals and fit questions, but being able to intelligently talk about some of the history of finance shows the type of passion that I would be looking for in a candidate.

  1. Ask questions about specific excel or Bloomberg shortcuts and key strokes

I know from personal experience that a lot of kids lie about being "Bloomberg certified". If I found that on a resume, I would ask some simple Bloomberg questions to see if they are lying. Same goes for being "proficient in excel"--although I might not test that one as hard as I would Bloomberg

Every time I read one of your posts I read it in my head in this horrible Micheal Douglass voice because of that dam picture.

Anyways, that's a great first question, I never thought about that one.

 
Gekko21:
I have a few odd ball/unorthodox questions that I would ask a candidate.
  1. Who is your favorite banker/trader (depending on S&T or IBD interview) and why?

The question would set people apart from the rest of the pack. The question is meant to find kids that have a real passion/interest in banking or trading and are not just in it for the money. I would look for a candidate who could give me a decent answer and talk about that person's career/know what deals and trades they have done. It's one thing to be really good at technicals and fit questions, but being able to intelligently talk about some of the history of finance shows the type of passion that I would be looking for in a candidate.

  1. Ask questions about specific excel or Bloomberg shortcuts and key strokes

I know from personal experience that a lot of kids lie about being "Bloomberg certified". If I found that on a resume, I would ask some simple Bloomberg questions to see if they are lying. Same goes for being "proficient in excel"--although I might not test that one as hard as I would Bloomberg

Favorite trader: Mine is, without question, Paul Tudor Jones. Got his start trading bales of cotton, has an old school style that relies on common sense, intuition, and market intelligence. Predicted the crash in '87 and the most recent crash. He turned down the Harvard Business school because "this is crazy, because for what I'm doing here, they're not going to teach me anything. This skill set is not something that they teach in business school."

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/13/business/13speculate.html?pagewanted=…

I also admire his philanthropic efforts ( he started the Robin Hood fund).

 

I am not one of those assholes who uses interviews to show-off their finance knowledge, those interviewers are gay as hell. I am more interested in whether I like them or not rather than if they can tell me CAPM and Merger models. Anyone can learn that shit. If I were to ask "technical" questions, I'd probably ask more macroeconomic related questions because I think that tells more than if they can memorize an LBO or DCF model.

 
youngblood:
I don't want to be the asshole who uses interviews to show-off their finance knowledge, those interviewers are gay as hell. I am just going to be cool with them and try and actually get to know the kids, I'm more interested in their personality and whether I like them than whether or not they can tell me CAPM and Merger models. Anyone can learn that shit.

The question is meant to get to know them better; I also want to get to know them better. It's not like I'm going to ding you if you don't have a good answer. Although if you give me Soros shorting the Pound, I might be insulted.

Question...I am assuming you like some type of sport, don't you also know some of the history/stats of that sport? HR records, Superbowl MVPs, ect? You didn't learn the history because you had to, you learned it because it genuinely interested you. My favorite trader question follows the same principal. There are plenty of people who will get offers and who do IB/S&T for only the money/prestige. I am giving the interviewee a chance to demonstrate a genuine passion for his career choice.

"Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, for knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA."
 
Gekko21:
youngblood:
I don't want to be the asshole who uses interviews to show-off their finance knowledge, those interviewers are gay as hell. I am just going to be cool with them and try and actually get to know the kids, I'm more interested in their personality and whether I like them than whether or not they can tell me CAPM and Merger models. Anyone can learn that shit.

The question is meant to get to know them better; I also want to get to know them better. It's not like I'm going to ding you if you don't have a good answer. Although if you give me Soros shorting the Pound, I might be insulted.

Question...I am assuming you like some type of sport, don't you also know some of the history/stats of that sport? HR records, Superbowl MVPs, ect? You didn't learn the history because you had to, you learned it because it genuinely interested you. My favorite trader question follows the same principal. There are plenty of people who will get offers and who do IB/S&T for only the money/prestige. I am giving the interviewee a chance to demonstrate a genuine passion for his career choice.

My comment wasn't directed to you; I understand what you're saying. But, I am less interested in getting a finance geek who lives, eats and sleeps investment banking; as long as someone is attracted to finance because it interests them then I'm good. I mean really though, knowing bankers and their rep on the street coming out of college?! I'd rather have the kid who likes wakeboarding when he's not learning as opposed to the kid who idolizes George Soros. But that's just me.

 
Gekko21:
youngblood:
I don't want to be the asshole who uses interviews to show-off their finance knowledge, those interviewers are gay as hell. I am just going to be cool with them and try and actually get to know the kids, I'm more interested in their personality and whether I like them than whether or not they can tell me CAPM and Merger models. Anyone can learn that shit.

The question is meant to get to know them better; I also want to get to know them better. It's not like I'm going to ding you if you don't have a good answer. Although if you give me Soros shorting the Pound, I might be insulted.

Question...I am assuming you like some type of sport, don't you also know some of the history/stats of that sport? HR records, Superbowl MVPs, ect? You didn't learn the history because you had to, you learned it because it genuinely interested you. My favorite trader question follows the same principal. There are plenty of people who will get offers and who do IB/S&T for only the money/prestige. I am giving the interviewee a chance to demonstrate a genuine passion for his career choice.

The highest ranking analysts in my class were the ones who were obsessed with doing quality work and wanted the respect of their co-workers (the "do what it takes" attitude). We had a few guys who were real banking buffs, thought they were ballers cause they were on the career path. These are the folks who knew all about the "big shot" bankers you reference. They are also the folks that are no longer working in financial services.

After two years as an analyst and a year in PE, I still couldn't come close to speaking to the career of the names thrown around on this website. I'm much more interested in the careers of my co-workers that I respect and look up to.

CompBanker’s Career Guidance Services: https://www.rossettiadvisors.com/
 
Banker88:
Some questions I would actually ask are: 1) Why did you go to undergrad business / why did you study finance (if applicable) 2) WHAT IS investment banking? 3) What does an Analyst's work involve?

Those answers would show what the person's true motives are and whether he really knows what he's getting into.

Reading a book like Market Wizards or The Partnership would give you a few. Also, general wikipedia/internet searches could give you some results. I did not know who Sandy Weill was until I did a search on JPM, which led to Jamie Dimon, which led to Sandy....I'm not looking for a biography, just some facts about the person's career. If you could actively talk about the books that you have read or trades that you have done on your PA, that would also go a long way into showing genuine passion and would easily substitute.

While I would also ask those questions, the ones you mentioned are pretty standard and any decent interview candidate would have answers prepared. I could go into excruciating detail about what investment banking is and what an analyst does on a day to day basis, but knowing those answers does not tell you anything about me as a person, or if I really want the job. Everyone has some canned and rehearsed answers. The best interview questions (from an interviewer stand point, not interviewee) are ones that require the candidate to work through a problem, show knowledge that he could not have/would not have memorized the night before, and lets you see how they react under pressure.

I think people are focusing too much on my question as a deal breaker. The question is meant to be a check mark for passion/genuine interest. The other areas that I would check for are technical knowledge, some teamwork/fit type questions, and just some random general talk to get the know the person better.

"Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, for knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA."
 

This is actually something I'm looking forward to next year/year after next. Keep in mind I'll mostly be interviewing engineering, math, and quant types :

technical: 1.) I would also make sure they understand the theories that form the foundation of all the experiences they claim on their resumes. This tells a lot about how thorough someone is about their work. 2.) Ask them to convince me that they're quick learners. 3.) Know basic finance concepts (the finance part itself can be learnt on the fly I feel ... hence q2.)

fit: 1.) Life outside academics. 2.) Something passionate about (bonus points for common sports team :D .. j/k). 3.) Make sure they're actually motivated to work in finance, and have shown some personal initiative to learn about financial stuff (read books, follow markets, finance club).

monty09:
i use the following 1. what do you like to do in spare time 2. have you ever made a bet on something? 3. whats the lowest grade you made in college? (gs used this one on me) 4. who is your fave team, sport, city?

Really like q2 and 3. I actually don't care too much about gpa (as long as they're high in area of concentration), but I feel q3 would help separate the slackers from the ppl who were just much better at some area than another.

 
unqwertyfied:
This is actually something I'm looking forward to next year/year after next. Keep in mind I'll mostly be interviewing engineering, math, and quant types :

technical: 1.) I would also make sure they understand the theories that form the foundation of all the experiences they claim on their resumes. This tells a lot about how thorough someone is about their work. 2.) Ask them to convince me that they're quick learners. 3.) Know basic finance concepts (the finance part itself can be learnt on the fly I feel ... hence q2.)

fit: 1.) Life outside academics. 2.) Something passionate about (bonus points for common sports team :D .. j/k). 3.) Make sure they're actually motivated to work in finance, and have shown some personal initiative to learn about financial stuff (read books, follow markets, finance club).

monty09:
i use the following 1. what do you like to do in spare time 2. have you ever made a bet on something? 3. whats the lowest grade you made in college? (gs used this one on me) 4. who is your fave team, sport, city?

Really like q2 and 3. I actually don't care too much about gpa (as long as they're high in area of concentration), but I feel q3 would help separate the slackers from the ppl who were just much better at some area than another.

when asked number 3 i got into how I bombed a project but think I got screwed. guy kept drilling me and I ended up saying" fucking asshole professor screwed me on my grade" which he said " why?" so i got into it again and he was like " yeah sounds like he did screw you"

 

@gekko: I consider myself to be fairly financially savvy and read up quite a lot about finance on internet / Financial Times etc and I am unable to talk about a specific M&A banker and about the specifics deal that he participated in. I can probably mention a few names and would know the banks he's working in etc but expecting people to know deal specifics about your "favourite" banker seems foolish. I agree with someone who said above that a kid who could actually answer this well will be a bit of a tool...

 
beatallica:
@gekko: I consider myself to be fairly financially savvy and read up quite a lot about finance on internet / Financial Times etc and I am unable to talk about a specific M&A banker and about the specifics deal that he participated in. I can probably mention a few names and would know the banks he's working in etc but expecting people to know deal specifics about your "favourite" banker seems foolish. I agree with someone who said above that a kid who could actually answer this well will be a bit of a tool...

I agree. What kind of knobjockey has a favourite banker.

 

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