Hey all,
I cold called a boutique investment bank in my area and managed to get a phone interview for an internship a few weeks ago. Didn't hear anything for a while but they just emailed me to invite me to come over to the office to "have some coffee and chat". I take it this is basically like a meet and greet so the other guys there can get a chance to veto me before they offer me anything (there's only about 15 bankers in the whole firm, so they don't have a structured application process for interns).
You can never go wrong wearing a suit to meet with a banker.
Always, ALWAYS, wear a suit for a finance job. You can not go wrong with one but you can go wrong by not wearing one.
You probably want to project a serious image of yourself. Unless the banker is at an analyst level, please go in a suit.
Thanks for the advice guys, I'll definitely wear a suit. Would it be too risky to go without a tie and the top button undone? They did describe it as just "coffee and a chat".
Wear a tie also. I'm a 40 yr old MD who doesn't like wearing ties and I don't wear them in the office on a regular basis but I almost always put one on when I meet people for the first time, especially if I'm making an ask for something. You don't want to look casual, you want to look professional so even if they're not wearing ties, you should. You're interviewing for this position so don't let the casual sounding nature of this meeting or that it's a boutique rather than a huge firm throw you off. If you want this position, treat it like you would if you were interviewing for the Goldman. Good luck.
A massive thank you to everyone in this thread.
"Coffee and a chat" turned out to be three rounds of interviews in their conference room with an analyst, then a VP and finally an MD. They were all in a full suit and tie, so if I had showed up in anything less than that I would of probably been laughed out the door. I definitely would of blown this if you guys hadn't convinced me to go formal, if I could SB you all I would.
Hope it turns out as an internship for you!
Same thing with me after I read this post - a "meeting" was really 3 rounds of interviews. I think in banking if someone finds a good candidate, they'd rather get through the interviews and make a decision than mess around with "coffee chats".
Awesome. Glad to hear your story. So did you get the gig?
How did it go? Hope you got it!
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chats are actually interviews. thus applies.
What city are y'all in?
Where I'm at, pretty much nobody wears a suit to a "coffee chat". Even at an interview most of the senior guys doing the interviewing would be just tie, or jacket and open collar.
... but then again, where I'm at walking around in a suit all day would probably give you heat stroke, so. Y'know. Apples and oranges. Or mangoes and pineapples, as may be more applicable for this climate.
depends on how serious the guys want to have the jobs, right? first impression bias can be a huge difference maker.
Wow, I was going to write to go business casual and that its fine not to wear a tie for coffee. I guess I would have been giving bad advice. Props to you for the interviews!
What's wrong with a miniskirt and Jimmy Choos ?
Hey guys, Sorry for dropping off the map and not updating y'all on the results.
That was my second round interview for an SA spot at a local boutique IB. I ended up not getting it (I'm a sophomore and they decided they wanted a junior or senior for the role). However, it was my first time doing a face-to-face interview with a bank and gave me some really valuable experience about how to prepare and handle them.
I just had a final round interview with a BB for a summer analyst position in Asia (GS/MS/JPM) and I felt like I killed it. Haven't heard the final result on that yet, but my interviewer commented by email after that I performed really well for a sophomore and I'm still in the running for the spot. Definitely wouldn't have done well if I hadn't had the previous interview experience.
Thanks again for all the advice, you guys are great.
Congrats man - best of luck on your upcoming interviews!
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