The 3 Most Important Questions You Need to Ace Your Interviews and the 1 You’re Probably Getting Wrong
Pop quiz: which of the following 3 questions is most important in acing your interviews?
A. What’s the difference between Chapter 7 and Chapter 11 bankruptcy in a restructuring?
B. How do you decide to finance a company with debt vs. equity?
C. How do you take into account the competitive advantage of a firm in a valuation?
Got it? 30 seconds more to think if you’re still struggling…
Ok, time’s up.
The answer: Unless you made up your own response and said, “D. None of the above,” you were wrong.
That’s not to say that the questions above are unimportant. It’s just that none of them will make or break your chances of getting an offer.
Any interview comes down to 3 key questions about yourself: Are you smart, can you do the work, and do I like you? (no, not me – the interviewer)
And chances are, you’re getting 1 of these questions wrong – but it’s not the 1 you think you’re getting wrong.
But No One Has Ever Asked Me If I’m Smart Before!
Are you sure?
If you’ve ever been asked, “Why we should we hire you?” you’ve heard these questions – only they’ve been 1 big question rather than 3 smaller ones.
But even if you’ve made it through interviews without getting that specific question, the 3 points above come across in everything you say.
Are You Smart?
This one comes across in where you went to school and what your grades were (not as applicable for senior-level hires).
But outside that, your “intelligence” comes across in how well-informed you are on current events and how articulate you are when explaining yourself.
There’s not much you can do to change your interviewer’s perception of your academics, but you can always polish your presentation skills.
You need to know something about current events, the stock market, and recent deals – there’s no need to read the Deal Journal for 2 hours every day (though it is quite good), but if you can’t explain the subprime crisis or 1-2 recent deals you’ve heard about, you’re in trouble.
But almost everyone knows all this – and the dirty little secret that few tell you is that investment banking is not rocket science. You need to have some proficiency with Excel, but most of what you do is grade school-level math.
Can You Do the Work?
Here’s where it gets trickier, and where those who haven’t had banking experience sometimes struggle. You need to show evidence of being able to “burn the midnight oil” over extended periods, as well as all the other “banker-like” qualities (attention to detail, interest in business, analytical skills, etc.).
You need to think about everything on your resume/CV and how it ties back to these core requirements. And when you get a question on what you’ve done previously, you have to do a “soft-sell” of how your experience relates to what’s required in finance.
Let’s say you get asked about why you should be hired over everyone else there, even though you’ve had no finance experience and have spent most of your time on music-related activities.
You would point out that you had to pull long hours over months to prepare for competitions and that you had to be really attentive to detail because you were presenting to hundreds or thousands of people.
I’ve seen some interviewees stumble on this point, but most candidates “get” that you need to spin your experience into sounding relevant.
The final question is what gives many well-qualified interviewees the most amount of trouble.
Do I Like You?
If you already have solid experience, this is the question you’re probably getting wrong.
It goes back to what we saw before with Superday Zen and how less is often more when preparing for interviews.
Anyone who has interviewed people for an entire day is usually exhausted by the end – and the last thing he/she wants to hear is a boring story about how you’re a “finance guru” and this is your lifelong dream.
Here are the most common mistakes I’ve seen:
- Going through your “story” just focusing on your work experience without saying anything unique about your background.
- Trying to make yourself sound like a finance guru even if you’re from a completely different background.
- Not having a good answer to what you do outside of school/work.
Not Just Interviews, Resumes As Well
This doesn’t just come up in interviews, of course. Anyone reviewing your resume/CV is also trying to answer those 3 questions: Are you smart, can you do the work, and do I like you?
That’s why I recommend the 3-part Education/Work Experience/Skills, Activities & Interests structure that you see on my sample resumes. Each section addresses one of those questions.
Oh, and (Business) School As Well
A friend who worked at Morgan Stanley a few years back was telling me about his plans to go to business school after working at a hedge fund for a few years – but then explained the problem he had:
“The problem is that everyone is applying to b-school from investment banking / finance backgrounds – sure I have a brand-name, but I don’t know how to make myself stand out.”
And that’s exactly what admissions committees may think, too – especially with a rising number of applicants in this recession, the “likability” factor is more critical than ever.
Just take a look at Alex Chu’s latest article on MBA Apply on diversity in business school applicants:
“If you come across as a traditional PE dude in terms of profile *and* orientation (everything about you screams “I’m a finance guy through and through” no matter what you say in your applications), it can become more random simply because there’s other people who have such similar profiles as you will. And they are NOT going to take all of you in, especially since there’s a lot more applicants with PE background now than there was 5-10 years ago (simply because the industry has grown — more headcount overall means more potential applicants).”
He’s discussing some broader themes there on diversity, but on a micro-level the same point applies: if you come across as “standard” you are at a disadvantage, even if you’ve worked at Goldman Sachs and KKR.
How to Make Them Like You
Ok, so how do you find what’s interesting about yourself and present it effectively? It’s different for everyone, but here are a few specific suggestions:
1. Make sure you incorporate your real background into your “story” – not what you think they want to hear.
If you worked for the CIA and your local congressman, talk about how your interest in politics and free trade issues or your exposure to conflicts in the developing world has made you more interested in finance; if you were in a non-profit group that merged with another one, talk about how that piqued your interest in M&A.
Don’t pretend that you wanted to be Gordon Gekko since the dawn of time.
2. Include at least 1 point that’s not related to work/school in your “story” – that missionary trip to Turkey, your miniature race car collection, or how you became a Shaolin monk one summer at the temple.
Too many people miss this one and take themselves way too seriously – which is exactly what they don’t want to hear.
Especially after 8 hours of non-stop interviews.
You don’t want to make your kung fu training the highlight of your “story,” but touching on it briefly can be a huge help.
3. Make some new friends… no, seriously.
It goes back to what we said in Superday Zen – if you’ve been practicing interviews with your friends or anyone in the industry, chances are that you’ve focused too much on technical questions.
But those can be learned independently - having coaching helps, but I would argue that 1-on-1 training helps far more with the qualitative parts.
Ask them to assess whether or not you sound formulaic and whether or not you could pass the “airport test.”
And if you can’t, learn the basic skills needed to make others interested in you – focus your questions on them and make yourself approachable, to start with. For more, read up on some Dale Carnegie.
If they invite you to have a beer with them afterward – or get stuck with them at an airport for 8 hours – you’re good.
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This is pretty random but I self published a fantasy novel (big waste of time) when I was around 11 years old. Do you think it’s worth bringing up in an interview even though it’s irrelevant and happened a long time ago just for the quirky factor?
I would only bring up facts from at least high school / college-age
Hi I have a question about the interests section:
One of my hobbies is cosmetology, and I was wondering if I should mention that in either the resume or the interview? Some people told me that I may come off too high-maintenance or a “girly-girl” that’s too weak for i-banking. What do you think?
I don’t think it matters one way or another, you an leave it off if you’re worried.
Does video gaming count as an interest?
No, seems too nerdy
I was about to ask the same questions… I like video games; in particular, I only play FPS (First-Person Shooter) games, such as Halo, Call of Duty or Eliminate Pro. Actually, I like the challenge of those games, where you interact with the world’s best players online. It’s all about the challenge and be the best in the world’s leaderboard. It’s not about violence or whatever (I’m not American Psycho, though my gamer username is frenchpsycho lol…). But I consider FPS like a sport, with its own rules, and its own federation, namely MLG (Major League Gaming), and its competitions (but I’m not such a hard-core gamers – or nerdy – to get involved so far; I only play for fun with my friends). And anyone knows that all sports, such as football, rugby or basketball are simulations of war, with two armies, each one trying to conquer the land of the other…
So I was wondering whether it was worth bringing it up in an interview – in the case I was asked about my hobbies of course. I think it’s original and it would demonstrate a competitive spirit as well as a cool attitude.
Could you please tell me if it works?
There is a big difference between appearance and reality. Reality = you might be right and video games may help to build teamwork. Appearance = video games are extremely nerdy and sports are much better because they require athleticism and social skills. People judge you based on appearance.
So no, please do not say video games in an interview unless you have nothing else.
We can bank-ify resume to improve the chance of getting first-round, and after that it’s all about how you perform in interviews. But the interview itself revolves around candidates’ experience and background etc, so one with different finance experience and excellent background would have a lot more to talk about than one with less even if his resume is bank-ified. Obviously the second one would be at a disadvantage. So, how can everyone be on equal footing?
@Senior: Who said anything about equal footing?
The point of this article and the others on the M&I site is to help those who are on very unequal footing gain some ground on the born-and-bred finance guys who’ve always been destined to be bankers.
Those who have no relevant experience and come from a vastly different background will be at an initial disadvantage, but if they can answer these three questions with an affirmative, then they at least have a fighting chance of being asked in for another interview.
What he just said. I didn’t understand the original question here at all actually.
M&I, placed me in top 2 of IBD.. hoping for that job, this site actually works!
I read below about video games not being a good way to bring up a conversation. But I have played a video game that integrates a market system. In this, you can buy and sell through the market system just like stocks (bulk orders as well). Since I was 15, I kept track of the trends as well as the fundamental analysis (events in-game) that affect the prices. As I came to college, I started to see the Economics-side to it and I feel that it’s really correlated.
Recently, I won competition for trading futures (simulator in real-time markets), and my past experiences really helped me succeed.
Is it still a good topic to bring up ?
Personally I would not mention it unless real dollars were at stake. Video games are still perceived as nerdy no matter how much they resemble trading.
Would spending a summer studying abroad (like, China) be a story that’s interesting enough?
Sure
Great article!
I have a question about target schools. Would UCLA be counted as a target or a semi-target? (cuz I heard that UC San Diego is definitely not a target, and UCLA is not a whole lot better in terms of prestige). Thanks in advance.
UCLA would be a target
Would you recommend bringing up poker as a hobby in my interview?
There are many similarities between poker and trading, and both require a proficient level of numerical knowledge, but I am worried that it may also be perceived as nerdy and anti-social.
Thoughts?
As long as you play with other people it’s fine
If you had managed a five figure amount of personal investments on the stock market for the past 4 years and earned a decent return (15+% p.a.) would you bring it up for IBD or is it not relevant/too boring?
Yes that’s fine but still related to business/finance so not exactly an “interesting” fact.
Sir I have an experience of one and half years in stock market as a relationship manager cum dealer.Will it help me becoming investment banker.
Not really. You might find this article useful http://www.mergersandinquisitions.com/get-a-banking-job/
I graduated from High School one year early because I wanted to start college and work early so I can support my parents early. Will this be distinguishable? But is it “interesting” to bring up?
Yes you can bring it up if you want. If you can pitch a good story and impress your interviewers go for it.
I graduated from a target school 5 years ago, worked in accounting/auditing field (not big 4), and now planning to go MBA and switch to IB. I’m sure they’ll ask me why now and why not before. I can’t think of a good reason except to say that I wanted before but didn’t try hard and give up. Now I want to do it again. Any suggestions?
Just tell them that you really wanted to work in the accounting firm before because of xyz reasons. However, after your gig in accounting you have learned xyz but you realize you wanted to do more but unsure of what. Then you applied to bschool. through bschool, you got more exposure to IBs in info sessions/through classmates etc, and you finally realize that you want to work for an IB because of deal exposure, environment etc etc. Try to make your intended “transition” as logical and as smooth as possible
http://www.mergersandinquisitions.com/why-investment-banking/
Is the london school of business management a target school and is it recognised by banks when applying for an analyst position?
Don’t know if its a target school. I haven’t heard of it so perhaps not though I’m sure LSBM has some alumni in the banking sector
I read abt LSBM on the internet but I’m still uncertain if I should go to the college because I’m scared that it won’t be recognised in some banks.could u give me possible websites where I can get extra information of banks that do recruit students from the LSBM college.do you think top banks worldwide recognise the LSBM qualification?
I think you should contact the career center at LSBM and ask. I did a search for you online ; it doesn’t seem like there are websites where you can get extra info of banks that recruit students from the LSBM college. I don’t think so.
I read about LSBM on the internet but I’m still uncertain if I should go to the college because I’m scared that it won’t be recognised in some banks. could u give me possible websites where I can get extra information of banks that do recruit students from the LSBM college. do you think top banks worldwide recognise the LSBM qualification?
pls refer to my answer that I posted just now
I’m really into european trance/electronic music -would it be weird to list this on my resume’s Interests section?
No, go ahead