Superday Zen: Why Less Is More When It Comes to Interview Preparation
“Help! I have an upcoming Superday at CS, how do I prepare? Should I try to learn LBO modeling in a day?”
“What should I focus on for my Superday at MS? Should I write out my entire ’story’ in Word and memorize it along with all my other answers?”
“Should I stay up all night memorizing finance questions to prepare?”
No, no, and no.
With Superday interviews, less is more.
You might think this is shocking given that I do significant business conducting mock interviews and selling interview guides.
To see why this counter-intuitive conclusion is true, let’s look at the differences between 1st round and Superday interviews at banks.
Superday Interviews – Technical vs. Fit
This may be my most common question – “I have a Superday coming up, will it be more fit or technical?”
Having been on both sides of the interview table and having now advised many customers on their own interviews, I’ve seen it go both ways.
It depends heavily on your background and the group you’re interviewing with.
Here are 2 examples from this past fall:
- One acquaintance had interned at a bulge bracket M&A group and shopped his offer around elsewhere. He got tons of obscure technical questions, especially at some of the top boutiques (he was interested in Restructuring as well).
- Another friend had worked in a non-finance field for years and was coming into banking at the Associate level. Despite having an MBA, he received relatively few technical questions in Superday interviews – they were more concerned with his background and interests. He did receive technical questions in the 1st round, but those were more for screening purposes.
If you’ve had substantial previous experience, expect to get tested on it.
But even if you’ve had 2 internships with Goldman Sachs and your father is Steve Schwarzman, keep in mind that you never get hired on the basis of your technical knowledge.
You get hired because your interviewers like you.
Other Differences
Everyone knows that you’ll go through more rounds of interviews for Superday (usually at least 4 interviews and sometimes more than that).
Generally the interviewers will be more senior, though you’ll speak with Analysts and Associates in most cases.
The actual content of the interview doesn’t differ dramatically, though technical questions may be more in-depth.
This takes us to a surprising conclusion: in terms of length, interviewers, and question types, there is not an obvious or consistent difference between 1st round and Superday interviews.
The Real Difference Between 1st Round and Superday Interviews
Ok, so what can we say about consistent differences?
In the 1st round they’re assessing whether or not you’re smart and can do the work.
In the 2nd round, they’re assessing whether or not they like you.
In the 1st round bankers find out who is capable of working for them and in the 2nd round they find out who they want to work for them.
What This Means for You
You need to do 2 things to prepare for Superday interviews:
- Improve upon your weaknesses.
- Make yourself interesting and likable.
On the technical side, your weaknesses should be obvious: are there any categories of questions you know nothing about? Is there anything you still struggle with or can’t answer effortlessly in interviews?
Focus on those areas… but don’t go overboard pulling all-nighters or asking friends to help you with 30 mock interviews.
On the fit side, your weaknesses may be harder to pinpoint and it helps to have someone who’s gone through the process before tell you what you might be doing wrong.
For #2, it’s hard to change your personality over the span of a few days.
So I’d recommend a more gradual approach: insert what’s interesting about yourself into your answers, and pretend that you’re having a conversation with a friend rather than going through a formal interview.
How to Be Interesting
You don’t have to have lived in 63 countries and won an international beat boxing competition to come across as “interesting.”
When I interviewed my angle was working abroad in Asia – which isn’t even uncommon. But if you properly position such experience (“We climbed Mt. Fuji, learned dragon boating in China, and learned traditional Korean cooking” vs. “It was a cool experience”), you have no choice but to stand out.
I was speaking with a customer earlier who felt she had “nothing interesting about herself.”
But I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone with nothing interesting to say.
Think about when you’re meeting someone new or playing one of those ice-breaking games where you have to tell everyone else a fact about yourself – what do you usually say? What are you known for?
A few months ago when I was interviewing readers to ask about their experiences breaking into the industry, I noticed one common trend: each one had a unique angle or a certain aspect of their backgrounds they highlighted that made them stand out – whether it was their interest in photography, scuba diving adventures, or theatrical productions.
How Being Interesting Helps You to Avoid the Most Common Superday Interview Mistake
With 1st round interviews, many people are unprepared or don’t know what they’re getting into.
For the 2nd round, you see the opposite problem: many interviewees are over-prepared.
As a result, they give scripted answers to everything – and that’s the biggest mistake with these interviews.
Do not write down exact responses for interview questions – it’s better to have a rough idea and take it from there. That’s one of the reasons I never give anyone scripted answers – just ideas and suggestions for what to say.
Think about how many other people have had private wealth management, operations, or even investment banking internships… after awhile, everyone starts to sound the same.
The experience itself is not bad, but failing to differentiate yourself from everyone else definitely is bad.
Interview Preparation Zen: Less Is More
Given that I offer mock interviews on this site and have conducted a record number of interviews over this past month, you might be surprised that I’m writing this.
But over-preparation for interviews can be as big a mistake as under-preparation.
Over-preparation makes you sound scripted and boring.
There are diminishing returns to each hour you spend on interview practice once you reach a certain proficiency level – if you have a reasonable handle on the technical side, have your “story” down, and have anecdotes in mind for each fit question, you’re in good shape.
But you still may not be getting offers – and that’s most likely because you’ve been through too one too many interviews, written out everything in too much detail, and/or memorized all your answers.
In other words, you’re telling them what you think they want to hear rather than being yourself.
Figure out what your unique angle is – what makes you different from everyone else interviewing – and focus on that.
Less Is More… But You Still Need Something There
It’s not that you shouldn’t prepare for interviews.
It’s just that the preparation you need is probably not what you’ve been doing up to this point.
Going out and making 10 new friends, or thinking about your background and what stands out are both better approaches than sitting down to memorize questions on LBO models (if you’ve gotten past the 1st round, you’ve already proven that you have what it takes to do the work).
What Should You Say to Be Interesting?
I get a lot of questions on this topic: what exactly you should write in emails, what you should say to bankers at information sessions, and what you should mention to come across as likable.
But there’s no blueprint.
There are no scripted questions or answers you can always use in every situation.
So stop looking for a template, and be yourself instead.
Like this article? Subscribe via RSS and start understanding investment banking.Get Into Investment Banking via Email:
Follow M&I on Twitter
Tags: investment banking, investment banking interviews, Superday, superday interviews, understanding investment banking
Other readers who liked this article also liked these: