What They’re Looking for

Your interviewers will be trying to learn three basic things about you.

1. First, they want to learn about your personality, and whether you’d fit in with the people you’d be working with. Expect questions that get at your strengths, weaknesses, leadership skills, ability to work in a team, professionalism, and work ethic (see Behavior Interview section)
2. Second, your interviewers will be looking for evidence that you have an abiding interest in investment banking and the markets. They’ll do this by asking you about your internships, if you’ve done any, or about what department you’d like to work in, or about your career goals.

   You can help yourself answer these questions intelligently by studying up on business and finance news, by learning the lingo of investment banking (and the particular department you want to work in), and by understanding what the different departments of an investment bank do and how they work together.

3. Finally, investment banks want to know how strong candidates’ quantitative, economics, logic, and financial-theory skills are. Expect your interviews to include plenty of questions designed to show what you know about accounting concepts (such as gross margins), financial ratios (such as liquidity ratios) and concepts (such as beta), investment models (such as the capital asset pricing model), business theory (such as Porter’s Five Forces), and company valuation techniques.

   You’ll be expected to display your knowledge and understanding on the fly. Questions of this type include: “What’s your favorite stock,” “What’s your outlook for the market,” “What are the essential elements of a good company,” and, “If a company’s revenues are constant, how can its gross margin decline?”

Like this content? Why not share it?