IB Behavioral
How would your best friend describe you?
A similar question is: "How would your previous employer describe you?" We went over the recommended answer earlier, but your response should differ for this question. When answering this question, you want to focus on the traits that show you're extroverted and a reliable friend. State examples of how you had an enjoyable time with your friends socially or when you helped a friend in need. To wrap up your answer, you can conclude by speaking on what friendship means to you personally, which is a chance to show that you're someone who values loyalty
Are you good at multi-tasking
As we mentioned in an earlier section, avoid merely stating that you're good at multi-tasking. Instead, provide specific examples of when you had a significant workload and how you managed your time. Talk about how you first took a step back to organize your schedule for the day, listed each task based on its priority, and then how you completed all the tasks well while meeting the deadlines. This shows you know how to prioritize and manage multiple tasks without becoming stressed and losing focus because there are so many tasks.
What do you like to do for fun? Any interesting hobbies?
Be genuine and discuss what you enjoy doing in your free time (e.g., follow sports, fitness, and health). The interests and hobbies you list matter far less than how you talk about them, so show some enthusiasm in your response. Even if finance is your obsession, show that you're someone with interesting hobbies and try to avoid answers such as "reading the WSJ" when you have spare time. Mentioning something that has an aspect of self-improvement, such as reading or working out, can leave a positive impression on the interviewer and suggest you value progress and pursue continuous improvement, which is a goal most people admire.
Past Experiences & Situational Questions
Considering the interviewer will have your resume on hand, expect to be asked to expand upon your past work and leadership experiences. However, you're not being asked to regurgitate the bullet points on your resume. The interviewer knows how to read. Instead, this series of questions is based on two core questions: How have your experiences prepared you for this position? Does this candidate have the right personality and decision-making skills required to perform well? The interviewer doesn't want a laundry list of tasks you have done, as he/she can already see the type of work involved in your internships/leadership experience. Instead, the question is asked to understand better why you believe that your past experiences apply to the position you're interviewing for and how this will make you a more suitable candidate. Included in this section are situational questions, which are an extension of the questions regarding your experiences. But rather than asking what you did in the past, these questions are asked in a more hypothetical format to see how you would react in specific situations. However, you should still try your best to tie your responses back to a past (or similar) experience. For example, if you're asked how you would react to a rude, passive-aggressive employee - most likely, you'll not have a direct experience that you can bring up as an example. Instead, you can talk about non-work related past interactions with these people and how you reacted and connect the similarities. These types of questions allow the interviewer to gain insight into how you would react in specific circumstances on the job (e.g., stress, workplace conflict) and how you approach problem-solving.
Walk me through your resume.
First impressions last; thus, this very first question is the single most important question for that reason. Your resume states the name of the school you're attending, your major, your past internships, and your GPA. So when you're asked by the interviewer to "Walk me through your resume" or similarly "Tell me about yourself," you should approach it as answering a series of "Why?" questions because it's the rationale behind each of your personal decisions they want to hear. We recommend structuring your response based on answering these questions in this order: 1. "Why did you decide to attend the [insert university name]?" 2. "Why did you choose to major in [insert major]?" 3. "Why are you qualified for this position?" (e.g., internship experiences, extracurricular activities) 4. "Why are you sitting across from them right now?" Then, following this general framework, tell your personal narrative that ties everything together and brings to life your past decisions and personal ambitions (and maybe even the detours along the way). Remind yourself that you're telling your own "story" - the delivery is just as important as the substance. Thus, ensure that your story is engaging, contains just the right amount of emotion, and is intriguing to the listener. The last thing you want to do is sound as if you're reading off a script and bore the interviewer. Sample Response "After graduating from high school in Basking Ridge, NJ, I decided to attend the University of Notre Dame. I chose Notre Dame because of the school's strong academics and strong athletics. Having lettered in three sports in high school all four years, I wanted a school where students pack the stadiums but also take academics seriously. Notre Dame was the perfect choice for me. At Notre Dame, I majored in finance and was actively involved in student government as a Class Council Rep and as a Class Senator. I chose finance because I knew it would lead me to a career that was both quantitative in nature and involved significant interaction with people. After my freshman year, I decided to enter the corporate world over the summer by starting my career at General Electric. I was an intern in GE's FP&A group, where I learned to apply the basics of accounting and valuation by helping update short-term and long-term rolling forecast models to assess profitability and risk. The next summer, I worked at Goldman Sachs and the following summer at BAML. Such experiences were invaluable because I got a taste for what M&A is like and confirmed it was what I want to pursue after graduating. Throughout each summer analyst role, I gained experience in performing in-depth company and industry research, preparing presentation decks and other marketing materials for clients, and had the opportunity to learn how to create more complex financial models by the analysts I was tasked under. So having been a summer analyst both at Goldman and BAML, I know for certain that investment banking is the right career path for me, and I would very much like to work for [firm name]."
Let's say we hired you as an analyst, and you noticed some processes within your group that you believed were inefficient. What would you do?
First, understand the work processes involved in the front office of an investment bank have not changed all too much over the past two decades, while back-office operations and many other divisions of an investment bank have become more streamlined and more efficient. Therefore, begin your answer by stating that you understand how each firm has gradually developed processes that have become standard. Afterward, you could say that in a hypothetical scenario of this occurring - you would bring it up with your superiors to open up a discussion about why it's being done this way for you to learn more about the bank, rather than telling them to change it because it's inefficient from your perspective. There is usually a good reason work is completed a certain way, and it's best to take an approach assuming that there's something that you have neglected. Your role as a summer analyst or analyst is to follow instructions and get work done correctly and on-time, not to provide your inputs on how the organizational structure and workflow of the bank should be run.
How do you deal with stressful situations in life?
First, you might start your answer by mentioning specific strategies you have used to manage stress in the past, such as organizing a list of tasks based on the priority, meditation, or taking the time to take care of your health by exercising. But you need to bring up an example of a time that you dealt with a very stressful situation and how you handled it. Honestly, there's no solution to eliminate stress from your life. Often, the only option is to accept it, not complain, and continue working - this is the idea the example you provide should reflect.
What is your ideal work environment?
For most firms, your answer should be along the lines of finding a place where you'll be given many responsibilities under pressure and opportunities to learn. You could mention how you want to find mentors and people to learn from in the workplace - then discuss how much you value learning from the experience and guidance of others. You can also bring up how you want to fit in well with the other hires and build longlasting friendships. The key trait that you want to focus on is your desire to learn and be placed where others rely on you to be productive and submit high-quality work on time. But try your best to tailor your response to what you have heard about the firm's culture. For example, if you know the investment bank has a reputation for being a "sweatshop," discuss how you heard this type of environment is more on the challenging end of the investment banking spectrum, but you feel well prepared.
What types of activities are you involved in on-campus?
Ideally, have some level of involvement in a student-run organization on campus. If not, you're at a clear disadvantage as many campus recruiting teams gun specifically for the executive board, especially at nontargets. The reason is that recruitment teams will attempt to maintain close relations with universities, and connections to the executive board are useful for the firm's future recruiting efforts and marketability. Often, the recruiting teams will reach out to campus representatives specifically for the executive board's resumes (or a handful of recommended active members). At a bare minimum, you should at least be an active member of one finance-related club, even if you're not on the executive board or actively participating. Regardless, portray yourself as having responsibilities other than your personal life and classes. This means that if you're not too involved with a student organization, just claim that you're a member but not too active and then quickly change the question you're answering to: What activities do you do outside of school and your personal life? Then you can open up the conversation to internships you have held throughout the academic school year (this would be the ideal response if it's an option) or jobs that you work to help support yourself financially. If a question cannot be answered in a way that makes you stand out as a candidate, change the topic and adjust the question that you're answering. You should have noticed by now that this is a recurring theme in how we recommend approaching fit questions. Remember, this is a conversation, so minor deviations from the initial question are normal. You can (and should) use this to your advantage in behavioral questions, as unlike technical questions, there's no "right" answer per se.
What are some of your weaknesses?
If asked to state your weaknesses, be careful not to disqualify yourself as a candidate. For example, don't state that you have an anxiety disorder, ADHD, or insomnia. Those are medical conditions - instead, provide examples of fixable weaknesses that can be improved upon with enough effort. Then, follow this up with how you have taken steps to improve this weakness of yours and speak on how you have made positive progress. Good examples of weaknesses that can be improved include learning to prioritize better, learning to communicate with your superiors more often to keep them in the loop on your progress on projects, and learning to take care of your physical health - you should easily be able to recognize a pattern. Just be sure that the weakness you state is not too personal, as that has the potential to make the interviewer feel uncomfortable and possibly even feel sorry for asking the question.
How would your previous employer describe you?
If you were to go around to different firms and ask the employees: What would you look for in the ideal candidate? Their answers would be very similar to one another. That being said, some qualities valued most by employers are being intelligent, reliable, detail-oriented, hardworking, and well-organized. So tailor your response to what they want to hear, and then as always - provide examples of you exhibiting this sort of quality.
Why did you choose your major?
If you're studying finance or accounting, your response should be relatively straight-forward and it's rather unlikely you'll be asked this question (more likely to receive the question right above). Given the applicability to the career path you're pursuing, it shouldn't require much explanation of how you decided on your major. Easily, you can point towards how you were aware you would receive the base knowledge required for this position of financial accounting and basic valuation concepts. Then, follow with how you understand that most of what you do will be learned while on the job, but what you have learned in your classes still applies to the job (and then point towards specific concepts you learned during your courses). But if you're majoring in a study unrelated to business, your response will require greater creativity. Ideally, the major should have some relevance to the role that you're pursuing. For example, if you're studying biology, you can state that you're pursuing healthcare investment banking and felt confident that you could learn what you needed on your own through self-study efforts. The focus shouldn't be on why you're majoring in a certain field, but your answer should shift towards: "Despite not majoring in finance or accounting like most, why are you still just as qualified?" The point that you understand the necessary technical knowledge should be shown through your answers to the interview's technical portion. Not being in the business school, unless it prevents you from participating in investment organizations on campus, is rarely viewed negatively. Instead, view it as a differentiating factor that you can leverage to craft a memorable narrative unique to yourself. If you do well on the technical interview and show industry knowledge, you'll be at a clear advantage against your peers that all have similar profiles and blend in together. A follow-up question is often: "Are you majoring in [field of study] because the business school admissions rejected you?" This question will only be asked if you've shown regret in your major, and the decision was out of your control. Hence, this is the precise reason you should express no negativity when discussing your chosen major, as this is a tough question if you were rejected (i.e., putting you in a defensive position). In this situation, it's best to admit that you were not accepted and then move the conversation to how you didn't allow this temporary failure to demotivate you or lessen your passion for this career path. Instead, it motivated you even further as it meant that you would have to learn the material on your own and put in more effort.
What traits do you believe make for a successful analyst?
In reality, this question is unlikely to be directly asked. However, it's still useful to have a response prepared to reference when answering questions such as "Why should we hire you?" or "What are some of your strengths?" As you could probably tell, this question is embedded within those questions, as you have to understand what makes for a successful analyst to have good responses. Some examples of positive traits include: Confidence: Firms pursue candidates that come across as confident, but confidence should come from past accomplishments and be something you've earned. So let your achievements speak for themselves, and focus more on giving off the impression that you're someone with humility that can be easily taught. Detail-Oriented: The recommendations given while advising clients are based on numbers and data; hence, extreme attention-to-detail is required to ensure models/deliverables contain no mistakes. Being attentive is especially important during periods of high deal flow, as this usually means all-nighters and barely getting ~2-3 hours of sleep each night (making one prone to mistakes). Extroverted: Given the hours spent together, most people want to work alongside those they can be friendly around, rather than being uncomfortable to even run into. While you don't have to be the most outgoing person in the room, you should at least be easy to converse with. Conscientious/Accountability: Conscientiousness can be best described as feeling responsible for a particular project's outcome. Thus, an employee with high conscientiousness will be thorough and diligent when completing their tasks, as they feel an obligation to do so. High-Energy: The best performing, top-bucket analysts are very high-energy and take on more workload. This is typically associated with being competitive, wanting to prove themselves to the rest of the team, or wanting to gain as much experience as possible to move to the buy-side.
What have you been up to as of late?
In reality, you have most likely been hyper-focused on the interview preparation. But similar to the question above, you want to steer clear from finance-related answers. While you should mention, you have been prioritizing your interview preparation but try to talk about some interesting past events or more tasks you have on the horizon. For example, you could talk about an upcoming event (e.g., a sporting event, a new TV show episode) that you're looking forward to or any interesting plans with friends.
What is the biggest mistake that you have made?
Investment bankers are constantly dealing with several projects simultaneously in a high stress environment. Given the sheer number of hours worked each week, mistakes are bound to happen. What matters is how you react and handle the mistake. Have a story prepared on how you made a minor mistake, owned up to it, and learned from it. Ideally, the mistake shouldn't be too material to detract from your candidacy. The trait that you want to show in your response is that you rarely make mistakes, but when you do - you take full responsibility without hesitation and use it as a learning experience for the future. Everybody makes mistakes, but certain people will use it as a wake-up call and constant reminder to be attentive to details, whereas others will attempt to place the blame elsewhere.
How are your presentation skills?
Investment bankers are typically on the higher end of extroversion. High extroversion becomes far more important for more senior levels, but you still need to demonstrate some sociability and assertiveness even at the junior levels so that the interviewer doesn't have a hard time imagining you fitting in socially. Provide an example of a time when you gave a presentation in front of an audience. Ideally, this would be a finance-related case competition or something of that nature. Instead of talking about how much confidence you have in being a presenter, talk about how much you enjoyed participating in the case competition (or the event you chose), what the presentation was about, and the result. As you describe your pitch, try to present a portion of the presentation to the interviewer right there. Doing this implicitly proves that you have good presentation skills and sociability without directly stating it.
Tell me what you were like in high school.
It is fine and recommended to be a bit on the humorous side in your response, as nobody was perfect in high school. Just tell them what you were like in high school, what activities you were involved in, how you spent your time back then, and then change the conversation to answering: Name a few examples of how you have changed since your days as a high school student. Again, the focus is on the progress you have made since being a young high school student to the present day and the lessons you have gathered along the way.
Do you have questions you want to ask?
Just like the first question of the interview ("Walk me through your resume" or "Tell me about yourself"), this question is a near certainty and will usually conclude the interview. It would also not be a stretch to say that this question is up there in the list of most important behavioral questions. We can categorize examples of good, open-ended questions to ask into three buckets: 1. Background Questions Could you tell me more about your career path, and how your time in investment banking has been? What tasks or responsibilities of your job do you enjoy the most? What are some goals you hope to achieve while working at this firm? 2. Experience & Insight Questions Could you tell me about the first deal you were tasked on? Do you have any unique predictions for the [industry focus] that not everyone shares? How has deal flow been for the firm since COVID? 3. Career Advice Questions If you could go back to when you were completing your undergraduate, what advice would you give yourself? What is the most valuable lesson you have learned since joining this firm? What do you credit your past achievements to? These questions show an interest in the interviewer and are phrased in positive ways to bring up nostalgia or pride in their accomplishments. Just as important, ask thoughtful follow-ups that show you paid attention as they spoke, rather than trying to come up with the next question to ask. Try to avoid generic, non-personal questions such as "What qualities do you look for in a potential candidate?" as their answer will be very bland, and it'll be difficult to ask follow-up questions that can begin a conversation. Also, try not to ask questions that can be answered with a simple "Yes" or "No." Don't view this as an opportunity to ask the interviewer questions about the position or role (i.e., anything that could easily be Googled). Instead, view this as a chance to have an informal chat with the person and learn more about who they're personally. When the dialogue for this final question is brief, or if the interviewer cuts you off after one question following a quick answer, this usually a negative sign. There are exceptions to this rule, such as the interviewer having another call coming up or a busy schedule, but you can typically gauge how your interview went based on this question's duration. People have a tendency to best recall the earlier parts and ending parts of a conversation or meeting. Thus, the interviewer's initial impression of when you first introduced yourself and how the interview ended will be two of the most important points in the interview. In closing, try your best to end the interview on a high note. The way you achieve this is by not just leaving a good impression of yourself, but by making the interviewer feel good about themselves and their career. Without coming across as disingenuous or desperate, show genuine interest in their past achievements and perspectives, and ask for guidance as you progress through your career.
Tell me about a time you worked with someone difficult.
Not everyone you meet will be friendly to you, nor will they be easy to work alongside. You cannot please everyone in life, so your response should show your understanding of this and that you would not take this type of behavior personally or let it affect the quality of your work. But rather than explaining how you went out of your way constantly to please this person, talk more about how you prioritized getting the job done and didn't allow this to distract you or hinder your performance.
Tell me something interesting about yourself.
Try not to overthink this question and state something that's not on your resume that someone would find interesting. If you can't think of anything, simply bring up something humorous that happened recently. The only way you could answer this badly is by struggling to say any words and then stating that you're not sure. You'll react this way if you have irrationally high expectations of what the interviewer wants to hear.
How would you react if you're in the middle of a client meeting and notice a minor error?
Right away, recognize this a high-stakes situation with a client right in front of you. This is not a matter of integrity, but not embarrassing the team type ordeal. Notice in the question, it specifically says it's a minor error, so the correct answer is to not bring attention to it and fix it later discretely without the client noticing. If you point out the error in the middle of the presentation, the client will not be impressed by your level of transparency; instead, they'll view your team as being under-prepared for the meeting. Effectively, you have thrown the team under the bus and potentially damaged the client's perception of your firm.
Name one concern that you have about investment banking
Similar to the question about your weaknesses, the concern you list should be minor and one that all new hires should somewhat be concerned about. For example, stating that one of your concerns is lacking the industry knowledge required would be a good response. If you're interviewing to join as a summer analyst or first-year analyst, you aren't expected to have much industry knowledge. And regardless of how much industry knowledge you believe you have, it's minuscule compared to those that have been working at the firm and have more deal experience under their belt. While financial modeling experience and technical knowledge are expected in the candidate, most of the industry knowledge will be learned during the job. Thus, your response should make it clear that you're thinking ahead into the future and also gives you the chance to state that if you receive an offer, you intend to learn more about the industry the group specializes in on your own. While this may give the impression that you're a bit of a "try-hard," this is not necessarily a negative trait to have in investment banking. In contrast, examples of sub-par responses would be how you're concerned that you might be overwhelmed by the workload, unable to handle the stress of lack of sleep, or that you'll make mistakes while on the job. Although these are legitimate concerns in the back of everyone's mind, these types of responses show your lack of confidence in being able to adapt.
Tell me about a time that you resolved a conflict with a co-worker.
The answer to this question should differ from the question about working with a difficult co-worker - as this is specifically asking about a time you resolved a conflict, so the answer is not that you prioritized the end project before your relationships. Since it's rather unlikely that you, especially if an undergraduate student, have had to deal with a situation where you had a real conflict with a co-worker. You may have worked with rude people, but this is rarely about a conflict that you have to step in and resolve. Therefore, it's best to first provide a hypothetical example of how you would approach resolving a conflict and then provide a real example of this in action in your personal life (rather than work). What the interviewer is looking for is that you're respectful when handling sensitive situations and capable of identifying the source of conflict and fixing problems with others.
What has been your favorite class in university?
The class you choose should ideally be related to finance or accounting - it's recommended to play it safe this way as saying your favorite class was entirely unrelated to investment banking can raise some eyebrows. But if you decide to be creative and take the risk because you have an interesting story about a professor or perhaps you learned a valuable lesson that applies to investment banking in an unrelated class, hedge your answer by saying that you enjoyed all the business courses you took (and mention self-study courses you took).
Personal Background Questions
The first category entails questions regarding your "story." These questions are received right at the beginning of an interview and are an opportunity for you to introduce yourself formally. These types of questions are predictable, yet arguably, the most important part of the interview, as your answers to these questions will set the tone for the rest of the interview. What interviewers are looking for are candidates that appear hardworking and more importantly, have a track record of success. This is the purpose of your resume and why it's so important for recruiting. Your resume should highlight your list of past accomplishments because they're proof that you're capable of doing the job and have been committed to working towards this goal for a long period.
Tell me about a time you demonstrated leadership.
The interviewer is looking for an example that demonstrates that you can take the lead on a project. But be careful and balance showing confidence and knowing when to take a step back - as, on the job, you'll be taking orders, not giving them. The message you want to convey is, you enjoy being a leader and can be one, but you understand there's a hierarchy in investment banking, and your superiors have been doing this for much longer than you. Therefore, you're in the mindset of learning from their experiences.
Elevator Test Questions
The last category of questions refers to your interviewer trying to determine whether you're someone they could see themselves working alongside for 60+ hours each week. These types of questions test your soft skills more than anything and your ability to find a mutual connection or interest with the interviewer, or at the very least, casually converse with them. From the perspective of the interviewer, they're asking themselves: If I ran into this person on the elevator, would it be a conversational or an awkward encounter? Would I want to grab a drink with this person outside of work hours? Does this person have an interesting life outside of work?
You have found out that one of your close co-workers in your analyst group has been leaking confidential information about a client to their peers. What would you do?
The leaking of confidential information is illegal with serious monetary and reputational repercussions, regardless of how close the relationship is between the two of you. Loyalty is an important trait that interviewers look for; however, this type of behavior would cross the line and must be reported immediately to the firm. The message you're trying to convey is that you prioritize the firm's interests and its clients above all else with no hesitation, despite your close relationship with the co-worker.
Tell me about a time that you set a goal and achieved it.
The mistake most interviewees will make with this question is to overthink it because they believe the accomplishment has to be grand, or else the interviewer would mock it. Take the needless pressure off yourself and lower the bar. It can be a simple goal that you successfully achieved. Just break the goal down into the steps that you followed to reach it and show that you're genuinely proud of the accomplishment. Following the step-by-step breakdown of the process, explain the lessons you learned from this experience to connect it to how it applies to this job.
Tell me about a time you had to work with a group to accomplish an important goal.
The most common mistake is to focus on your individual contribution and base your answer on how you led the team to show your leadership. Without sounding pompous, illustrate the positive impact you had on the team and your responsibilities to a reasonable extent. Then shift the conversation to how your group worked well together and explain how the work was successfully distributed. You should make it clear that it was a group effort and that it was the contribution from each member that led to the positive outcome - not just one person. It doesn't matter if youled the group and took on most of the workload in reality. The takeaway for the interviewer is that you understand effective teamwork and enjoy working with others.
Firm Specific Questions
The next category of questions should convey your interest in joining the specific firm. The interviewer wants to assess how much you know about the firm and what they do and understand why you want to join this firm. There are two types of candidates: those that understand the role they're applying for (and the firm's background) and those who applied to every firm they could find. It should go without saying which type you need to be. Not understanding the tasks you'll be responsible for on a day-to-day basis and not even knowing the firm's basic background is one of the fastest ways to remove yourself from the list of potential candidates
Tell me about a time you had to work with a group and one member was not contributing.
The purpose of this question is not for you to bash this group member that was not contributing. It can be tempting to say something condescending such as "some people just don't have the work ethic," given how common of an occurrence it's for there to be a "freeloader." Instead, speak on how you respectfully pulled the group member aside and told them how the group felt about his/her minimal amount of contribution. If it worked, great. If it didn't, say that while you understood it would be preferable if this group member contributed more, completing this project was the priority. You could also mention that you and the other group members took on the extra workload and ended up receiving a high grade. However, this doesn't mean you should say that you neglected the group member completely. State that you attempted to resolve the conflict, and once it didn't work, you re-focused on the end goal. In addition, say that you understood that there might have been personal circumstances preventing him/her from contributing - this shows maturity and understanding of others' personal lives.
Tell me about a failure in your life.
This question is not asking for a sob story, so instead, re-frame this question: "Tell me about a time you failed and overcame it?" it's the lesson that you gained from the experience that the interviewer is asking to hear. If you state a failure of yours and ramble on about how awful it was, it shows you didn't reflect upon the painful experience, nor did you use it as a learning experience. Your answer should show that when you face a challenge or failure, you can learn from what went wrong and adjust accordingly.
How do you usually spend your time on the weekends?
This question is very similar to the previous one, and the gist of how to approach it's the same. The only minor difference is that since it's specifically asking what you do on the weekend, it's best to mention social activities such as spending time with friends and going out, rather than discussing hobbies and interests.
Why should we hire you?
The way you should interpret this question is: "Given all the qualified candidates we are interviewing, why should we hire you specifically?" Imagine how the typical candidate, your competition, would respond to this question and avoid answering in that same generic manner. For example, if you're attending a non-target school, you can point towards the fact that you understood that it would be tough for you to receive looks from firms, and therefore you took the extra initiative to find relevant positions on your own. To get to the same opportunity as many other candidates, there were more hurdles that you have to pass and more work that you had to put in - and then you can discuss how you learned there'll always be times when there are more qualified people than you, but all that you can do is put your head down and create your own opportunities rather than waiting for them to be handed to you. But you have to be careful that you don't come across as suggesting that other students from target schools didn't put in the same amount of effort as you (e.g., the interviewer may be a graduate from NYU/Wharton). Then, you can provide specific examples of how you creatively became a more qualified candidate. This question is a chance to differentiate yourself from the rest of the candidate pool, so make it count. Focus more on the value that you can provide to the firm and your passion for wanting to prove yourself instead of listing your qualifications. Remember, there are many people just as qualified as you (if not more), so it's better to appeal to their emotions in addition to logic for some questions.
What motivates you?
This question is an opportunity to discuss your values, and your answer should ideally align with the interviewer's personal motivations to an extent. A few examples of good responses would include how you enjoy the process of personal growth, continually meeting new people and friends, creating new experiences and challenging yourself, and making your family proud. Try to avoid bringing up monetary goals or saying that you view investment banking as a stepping stone for other career paths. Your answer to this question should be what gets you out of bed each morning and what will keep you moving forward when times get challenging. So the question you should answer is: "When times get tough and you're exhausted, what will keep you going?"
How did you first become interested in finance?
This question should be unique to your own experience, so you need to make your answer as personal to your experience as possible. How you first heard about finance doesn't have to be extraordinary, and truthfully, most stories for how people initially became interested in the field will be generic (e.g., interest in investing, running a business, entrepreneurship, recommendation of friends). The more important part you need to emphasize is that you not only became interested in finance, but you actually went out to confirm this could be a viable career path for you through gaining relevant internship experience and joining relevant student organizations. The amount of effort shown to confirm this is the right career path for you is what matters, as opposed to how you initially became interested. You can become interested in something quickly as those emotions come and go, but actionable steps to pursue this interest further is tangible proof of interest. Thus, change the question you're answering: "How did you become interested in finance initially, and then how did you confirm this is a viable career for your interests?" Most of your response should be based on discussing the internship positions at which you worked, networking with upperclassmen or alumni, and how you determined this is the right career path for you.
How has your undergraduate experience been so far?
This should be a straightforward question to answer and a bit of a softball. Start by stating how you have enjoyed your time in university and mention all the positives of attending the educational institution in which you're currently enrolled. Try to bring up what distinguishes the school, what you have learned since first entering as a freshman, and how you look forward to the future. Base your answer around answering the question of: What will you remember most about your time as an undergraduate student? Avoid over-thinking the question. If you have nothing notable to talk about - just bring up classes you enjoyed to date, the professors you connected very well with, the friends you have made through your involvement in student activities on campus, or anything somewhat memorable.
What has been your least favorite class in university?
This should go without saying, but avoid saying a class remotely near the field of finance or accounting. Pick a class that has very little relevance to investment banking. While you should touch on the reason, since it was your least favorite course, the more important point that you need to make is that you still received a high grade in that class. Maybe you had realized you just weren't that interested in this field of study or weren't a fan of the instruction style, but emphasize that you put in the extra time to do well.
Let's say you just submitted a deliverable through email and immediately spotted a mistake. What would you do next?
This situation is of lower-stakes, and the question assesses if you would let your ego impede your decision making. The mistake will inevitably be uncovered, so the earlier the better. Thus, your response should be that you would immediately send a follow-up email with the corrected file. Following this event, the lesson you took away was that you should print the file and review the numbers on-hand before submitting a file, as it's easier to spot errors this way.
Tell me about a time you dealt with an unmanageable workload
Time management is an essential skill required to succeed in investment banking. Given the long hours and the seemingly endless workload, your interviewer is looking for you to provide examples demonstrating your ability to manage your time through an organization (and effective communication skills). Most interviewees will respond by talking about a time that they had many tasks to complete, which is not wrong, and we recommend you begin your answer this way. But after providing this example, humbly state that you understand this is nowhere close to the workload and stress involved in investment banking. Stating this shows that you understand the difficulty of the job - and coming across as bragging about managing your time well in school when there's such little pressure compared to banking may rub the interviewer the wrong way. A continuous theme for many of these answers is the firm's interests come before yours.
What is the most recent book that you have read?
To answer this question, avoid bringing up a finance-related book such as Rosenbaum & Pearl and The Intelligent Investor. While these are great resources to learn about investment banking and value investing, this type of response lacks personality. One option is to pick non-fiction books that provide useful knowledge that applies to on-the-job performance, such as books on logical decision-making, mental models, thinking about uncertainty and risk, workplace culture, and stress management. The books listed below are widely read amongst professionals and can lead to a good conversation about self-growth and life lessons. Examples of Good Responses Principles by Ray Dalio Skin in the Game by Nassim Nicholas Taleb Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker Alternatively, you can bring up a book related to recent events. The ideal book should be related to a controversial, uncommon event, as this has a higher likelihood of leading to an interesting conversation. Examples of Other Good Responses Billion Dollar Whale by Tom Wright and Bradley Hope Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou No Filter: The Inside Story of Instagram by Sarah Frier Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber by Mike Isaac Billion Dollar Loser: The Epic Rise and Fall of WeWork by Reeves Wiedeman The books listed above cover the controversial 1MDB scandal, the fraud involving blood-testing startup Theranos, the origin story of Instagram, the creation of Uber, and the failed IPO and downfall of WeWork. These are all recent events that most people have heard about on the news, but they most likely don't know all the details - which is where you have the chance to tell an interesting story
What are your short-term and long-term goals in this position?
What are your short-term and long-term goals in this position? For your short-term goal, state your sole objective is to absorb as much information as possible and understand how the workflow is conducted at this firm. To support this statement, provide an example of when you caught on quickly and added value immediately. The interviewer is searching for someone that appears to be a quick learner and can "hit the ground running." For your long-term goal, you have more room for how you can respond and personalize it as everyone has different ambitions. There are various goals you can list, but most of them should be centered on the idea of learning as much as you can and progressing further in your long-term career, whatever that may be
Tell me more about your internship at [insert firm name].
When answering questions about your past work experiences, the purpose should be to tie your answer to how this internship experience prepared you for this specific role. The common tendency is to rephrase what you wrote on your resume with some added details. The interviewer is already aware of what you worked on and will ask questions about a specific project you worked on if they want you to elaborate on a certain bullet point (and they undoubtedly will). Focus on how this experience applies to the position you're interviewing for right now and shaped you into a better candidate. This question is more of a test of your understanding of what would be expected of you on the job, how the skills and the knowledge you gained are applicable, and why you're qualified. Besides the commentary above, be prepared to have detailed discussions about each bullet point on your resume. Most of the questions related to your experience will be straight from your resume, so be prepared and anticipate the follow-up questions.
Why investment banking?
When answering the question of why you're pursuing a career in investment banking, there are some key points that you should make very clear to the interviewer: Your decision is not based on following the group consensus because it seems to be a popular career path, prestige (i.e., status symbol, bragging rights), or just in it for the money. You clearly understand what the investment banking occupation entails and the type of responsibilities you'll be getting on a day-to-day basis (e.g., financial modeling, transaction support, updating deliverables). You believe the skills you'll get from your experience in banking are well-worth the trade-off of challenging work weeks and all the required sacrifices. The ideal approach to answering this question is to focus on the amount of personal growth you'll achieve in terms of skill-building and the relationships you'll make with your fellow analysts while in the trenches. This shows you not only understand this is a difficult challenge but that you embrace it. Sample Response "Throughout my undergraduate studies, I have noticed my interests have shifted towards more analytically challenging pursuits. This past year, I have taken more quantitative classes such as Computer Science, Economics, and Accounting, and I believe that investment banking is an exciting challenge that combines my interests in critical thinking with quantitative analysis. Specifically, banking interests me most because it presents an opportunity to develop substantive analytical skills while developing a close network of colleagues. While I understand the long hours will be difficult, it's strangely exciting to me as I look forward to the challenge and self-growth I'll get out of this experience. I have a very strong work ethic, and I am enthusiastic about this opportunity to join this firm and be involved in work that helps companies be better off strategically and financially. While I know I won't be involved in the commercial and strategic aspects of deal negotiations, being able to support that process by producing great presentations and analysis would be an incredibly rewarding experience professionally
What are some of your strengths?
When asked what some of your strengths are, state a general quality that practically anyone might possess and then list a specific example that portrays this strength in a way that most can't. For example, you can state that you're "ambitious." Then immediately, follow this with a story that shows you're ambitious to an extent that far exceeds that of an ordinary person who claims to be "ambitious." The adjective you choose is not what is important; instead, it's the follow-up story that you say that matters. The reason we recommend starting with a vague adjective is that it allows you to tell a more comprehensive story. In the example that you'll provide, you can bring up many more of your strengths, such as being detail-oriented, communicating well, and managing your time well. If you had started with a specific adjective such as "organized," the story's depth will be a bit restricted, and the content will be a bit bland.
Why did you choose your university?
When providing the reason you picked the university you're attending, walk the interviewer through your thought process and the specific factors you considered when making your decision. If you attend a non-target, you need to be more creative and not appear to be attending a less prestigious school because you didn't receive acceptance to a better one. Instead, you can say that you wanted to graduate with as little debt as possible as affordability was a key determinant in your final decision. You can then follow up by saying that you believed you would receive a great education at this university and make the most out of it. Because of attending this less prestigious university, you understood that you would have to put in more time and effort to have a chance at certain careers (and this should be evident in your resume). This shows your decision was well-reasoned (i.e., reduced debt burden post-graduation), and you understood that you get out of life what you put in. The last thing you want to do is to say anything negative about your university and make excuses about how breaking into the banking industry is much more challenging as a non-target school graduate. Despite this being true, you want to show you were still confident you could accomplish your goal if you put in more time and effort. After doing so, you want to shift the question that you're answering to: "What do you enjoy most about attending your university?" Avoid just explaining your reasoning for attending your university. Instead, explain how your decision was correct, and you got what you wanted from your time in your undergraduate (e.g., relationships with friends, professors, investment club involvement, classes).
What feedback did you receive in your past internship?
While it may be tempting for you to state that all the feedback you received was positive, the question is implicitly asking for what negative feedback you received (i.e., constructive feedback). So after stating that most of the feedback was positive with an example, change the topic to one negative piece of feedback you received - and how you have worked to improve it with tangible proof to show how you have changed. The ability to admit that you received negative feedback and show that you have grown as a result shows maturity. It also demonstrates that you value negative feedback and take it into serious consideration to better yourself and improve. Negative feedback is far more valuable than positive feedback. Just be sure the negative feedback you bring up was a fault that's fixable with effort.
If we hired you and the workload became too much to handle all by yourself, what would you do?
You can talk about how you would approach this situation and communicate with your superiors. Being able to admit that you may require help shows you don't let your ego impede your decision making. It's better for you to get a portion of the work delegated to another analyst so that all the firm's deadlines are met. The last thing you want is to miss the deadline and for the quality of all the work to deteriorate because you were too prideful to admit that you had too many projects at once. Not everyone in the office knows your schedule for the day and projects will come from many people - one of them may have accidentally given you a project unaware that you already had more than enough on your plate.
Where do you see yourself in five years?
Your answer shouldn't only outline where you want to be in five years but also identify the variables that might change your decisions. This shows you have taken the time to consider your plans for the future and what you want to achieve throughout your professional career, even though there's much uncertainty at this early stage. It should go without saying that your response should show a commitment to finance/business. The most common response is, "I can't accurately say where I'll be five years since I am beginning my career, but I know I want to remain in a finance-related role. Regardless of whether I stay in investment banking for the long-term or not, I know it'll be an incomparable learning experience, and many doors would open in terms of potential career paths if I decide not to remain in banking." There is nothing inherently wrong with this response, but it's a generic response that everyone rehearses, and there's a lack of specificity with no mention of which variables would affect your decision. This type of generic response doesn't reflect that you have spent a considerable amount of time thinking about your future, but instead shows you memorized an answer from an interview guide. Thus, one side question you should answer in your response should be: "If you were to end up leaving investment banking after 1 to 2 years, specifically, what would have made it a worthwhile career decision?"
What makes you believe that you're the right candidate for this position?
Your answers to the behavioral and technical questions should speak for themselves. Thus, the real question is: "What makes you think you can handle the grunt work?" Most candidates, even the ones that fail to receive an offer at a Superday, are "intelligent" enough to learn to model and complete many of the mundane tasks handed off to summer analysts and analysts. But the analysts that struggle in investment banking are the ones that cannot handle the stress involved and will break-down physically. That being said, it's best to structure your response around how passionate you're about this role and how you're someone who will not crumble under stress. Your response needs to include examples of how you handled a high workload in the past and that you understand how demanding this occupation can be. After hearing your response, the interviewer should know that you not only understand how challenging this line of work can be, but you're expecting it. For this question, it's perfectly acceptable to exaggerate a bit to portray how enthusiastic you're about potentially joining this firm.
How would you react if you were struggling with your work/life balance?
Your response should demonstrate that you know what is expected of you and how your job responsibilities come before your personal life. An understanding of the amount of sacrifice required should be clear to the interviewer to avoid coming across as being naı̈ve. Even the most ambitious, hardworking people can have difficulty coping with the demands of investment banking, so suggesting you can do it because you're motivated makes you seem simple-minded and lacking real work experience. For this reason, bring up an example of actually struggling with your work/life balance. Too many candidates make the mistake of using an example of minor stress and talking about how they managed through it. Talking about a time you faced true difficulty shows you expect to face some real difficulty in banking (nearly everyone does initially), but the point you want to make clear is that you still endured it while finishing all the tasks you had to do. Again, you want to mention how you understand this experience, while it was difficult, will pale in comparison to what you may encounter in investment banking. You do, however, believe you can handle the stress of investment banking and expect a challenging experience.
What do you hope to get out of this internship/job?
Your response should focus on the learning experience that you would receive throughout the specific internship/job. The bank's representatives should have pitched these points during their recruiting information sessions and listed them in their listings. Explain how you understand the demanding workload and how the responsibilities will be challenging, but you know how much you'll gain from this experience, not just in technical knowledge but also in skills such as discipline, time management, and attention-to-detail. There are very few career paths that offer the same amount of workload, well-rounded education in business, and responsibilities to new graduates as investment banking. In addition, emphasize your desire to learn to build complex financial models, break businesses down and analyze them, and develop an understanding of M&A in a specific industry. Notice these are all mutually beneficial as you can contribute more to the firm as you become more experienced. You can also discuss how you desire to work in a job with the highest amount of pressure because those are the situations that you can thrive. Then, as always, follow-up with what you got out of past internships (ideally similar roles) and discuss how you look forward to learning even more at the current firm with greater responsibilities and deal flow. Lastly, it's beneficial to show your willingness to do unglamorous and tedious grunt work.
If you had to choose, would you say that you're smart or hardworking?
Your response should state that if you were forced to decide between either of those, you would choose hardworking. The reason is that your work ethic is within your control, whereas your intelligence is arguably determined by genetics. Then, follow up your answer with an example that displays your work ethic as any person can claim that they're hardworking (or state they can be if given an opportunity). The interviewer wants to listen to tangible proof that confirms that you're a hard-worker. The quality of being hardworking in investment banking recruiting has become a given and assumed by the interviewer. Given how over-saturated investment banking has become over the last decade (and continues to be the career of choice for most top business students), firms are no longer just looking for motivated candidates they can teach during the first few weeks of onboarding.
