What To Do When You Don't Know During an Interview
What do you do if an interviewer asks you a technical question and you literally have no idea what the answer is?
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I would be honest and say I don't know the answer. I feel like you're wasting the interviewers time if you make up some BS with no knowledge. If you know some of the steps list them out but otherwise just be honest
Has this ever happened to you?
Yea I had a multi part M & A accounting question (they thought we learned that in class), I knew how it flowed for one part but not the other and explained what I knew and that we did not have a M & A Accn class. Otherwise you're wasting their time.
well you should be honest with that, if you don't know the answer just say you don't know about it, do not blabber about anything because your selection is not depend on that single question. also read this article here : Career Guidance Tips for Informational Interview Questions
I once started with what I knew, and said, this is the issue that I am facing, I don't know about X, the interviewer kindly explained it to me, and I followed on (ability to land back on your feet). Got an offer, in Europe (at least, not sure about the US), as long as you can show a bit of knowledge and show that you can grasp stuff quickly you will be fine. You will have to grasp knowledge even faster on the jobs.
I usually say "To be honest, I don't know how to answer that; however, as I'm a quick learner, I would be happy to get back to you once I learn about xyz"
Some may say to mention you don't know but attempt to explain it via logic and hopefully you get it right. The issue with this is that it can be a double-edge sword; on the one hand you may get it through logic (or close enough) and show you are smart which may impress them, on the other if you are very off track it risks saying your logic thought process is shit.
I think if you can show your knowledge during the interview then it should not be a problem if you tell the interviewer that you do not know the answer to this one question.
bankers can easily detect BS so I think just be honest that you don't know the answer.
Agreed, be transparent and candid about it. The caveat to that is you can walk through the answer at a high level while gauging the interviewer at the same time. Make sure you're both on the right path. If the answer is completely off though then yeah you're fucked on that one but at least you tried!
The technical questions in IB interviews are in general pretty cut to dry. They're not like consulting where you can just put together a pretty framework and eventually BS some answer. You either know what the formula for WACC is or you don't. I couldn't stand when I interviewed kids and they would try to give me some BS answer as if they're somehow going to trick me into thinking they're correct. On the other hand, I had a lot of respect when they said, "I don't know the answer to that, but this is how I'd think about it" and then try to explain it given their limited knowledge base.
This shows self-awareness, humility, and respect for the interviewer's intelligence (interviewers love thinking they're the ish, so pandering to that subtly is usually a good move).
It's really best if you know the answer, but if you don't know... be humble / gracious and try to position yourself for another at bat:
"Unfortunately, I don't have a good sense for that question. Would you mind walking me through it quickly. Also, I would be happy to try and answer another question."
Guess depends on the question. If it's a simple one word answer question, e.g. name 3+ ways to value a company or where can you find depreciation on the financial statements, just submit you don't know. If it's a more complicated question or hypothetical, try to at least walk the interviewer through your thought process on how you would go about solving the problem. Sometimes interviewers will intentionally ask questions that the candidate likely doesn't know the answer to see if how he/she responds.
I had a mock interview as an intern with a VP. Got asked back to back questions that I did not cover in my internship or in the classroom so I answered it with the little amount of information I knew and said I do not know the rest...At the end, I expected the VP to ding me hard for those two questions but what he said sticks with me. The person you are interviewing remembers those answers that they spend the most time with so maximize the amount spent on the interviewer probing deeper into questions you do know opposed to rambling about ones you do not.
You should be honest and say that you don't now the answer for the question.If you know some point related to that answer than you can tell that points and say this is what I know about the question. Don't act as if you know the answer but you cant remember it right now or don't act dumb in front of the interviewers as they know all the answer better than you.
"I don't know, but this is how I think it might be done..." Then build your answer from first principles.
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