Listed in this chapter are a wide range of questions you should be prepared to face in investment banking interviews. In each case, we have provided a sample reply, or notes on what you should think about in formulating your reply. At the same time, we have provided a solid framework for how successful potential investment bankers have approached these questions. It is your job to make each answer your ownsomething that is not only believable, but fits your personality.

If you fully prepare for each of these questions, you will have very few surprises in your interviewing process. The investment bank performs two basic, critical functions: As an intermediary, it connects companies that need capital with investors who have capital to spend.

It facilitates this through debt and equity offerings. As an advisor, an investment bank counsels companies on such corporate actions as mergers, acquisitions, spinoffs, and restructurings. Investment banking is the business of raising capital for companies and providing advising services on financing and merger activities. Thus, for example, a company will approach an investment bank when it needs to raise capital or when it needs advice in negotiating and structuring an acquisition of another company.

Here are examples of some of the different functions a banker will perform, as well as some other important basics to know about the job:. As I have grown in my career, I have had the opportunity to work in various jobs and have been able to converse with people involved in a variety of career tracks in different fields. Among these are law, education, entrepreneurship, medicine, non-profit organizations, investment banking, and sales and trading.

Based on these experiences and contacts, I decided that the most appealing field to me was investment banking. In particular, I believe investment banking offers the best environment for growth and development in the areas of finance, economics, and accounting—all important areas for business.

Banking offers a tremendous amount of training, a steep on-the-job learning curve, a competitive work environment, and talented people to work with. As a result, I believe it offers the best opportunity to enhance my skill set and apply it on a real-life and current basis.

Furthermore, I enjoy situations that involve analyzing strategies, environmental conditions, structure, and future opportunities. There is no other industry that I know of that offers a first-year graduate with the amount of responsibility that investment banking offers.

I know the work was going to be tough and the hours excruciating, but I enjoy the pressure and challenge to deliver that seems to come up on a daily basis. Also, in my view, finance is unpredictable and exciting; I enjoy the fact that there is never a typical day.

I think for me the work is rewarding. Nowhere else out of college will you get a better corporate experience. This fosters a competitive environment in which you are almost forced to grow professionally on a daily basis. One of the great advantages working out of New York is the networking opportunities available with so many bright, hard-working young professionals around. Chicago will always be my home, but New York is the center of the financial world and I want to get the best experience possible.

I had my first work internship with a paint company, during my freshman year of college. During the spring semester, interns were expected to go to their hometown once a week or once every two weeks in order to have enough time to do marketing and sales work. Obviously for freshmen in college, this can be very taxing. I knew it was going to be tough, but I tried to dedicate as much time to the program as possible.

Some weeks I went home twice a week if I had to get marketing work done for the company. Importantly, as I to go into banking, I know what I am getting myself into. I know the grueling hours; I know what level of work is expected of me.

I know analysts are expected to go through 2 years of intensive finance boot camp. I expect the hours to be long, mostly doing financial modeling, making pitchbooks, doing due-diligence, and yet again having to reschedule plans with friends! I like the prospect of getting the exposure to many professionals, industries, products, and concepts in a bulge bracket firm. Also, I like how this particular bank has both a more casual and entrepreneurial environment than many other banks. I also think that being in an Industry group, I will be able to get more exposure to a multitude of products.

This is an important consideration for me. My 1 priority is to be in New York. I want to work on deals that are really important to the people involved because it will give me the pressure to perform to the best of my ability—this is an important factor in the role I am seeking. Finally, I feel that with the long hours I am going to be working, I want to be working for a firm that I enjoy. I want to work for Goldman Sachs because I want the best overall experience possible. I want to work with people who are smarter than I am, so that I will be continually challenged to become better at what I do.

Also, I believe that, hands down, Goldman Sachs would offer me the best deal experience. When it comes down to it, the work is rewarding and I enjoy it. My internship this summer definitely affirmed that I want to do investment banking at least for a couple of years.

This is a sacrifice I am most prepared to make for the sake of my career and professional development. I had a great experience with Barclays. I worked with the Consumer Retail group in Chicago, and it was a very tight-knit group: Though I enjoyed the experience and I got a glimpse of a variety of deals, it did not offer the extensive network of people that New York provides.

Attention, ladies and gentlemen! If you have prior investment banking experience the interviewer will be much more likely to want to spend a lot of time talking about your experience in detail.

The most important thing to take away here is: Do not write down deal experience on your resume unless you are very confident you understand everything that happened in the deal process within the obvious limitations of your rank within the company.

The interviewer will also want to know if you did any sort of valuation modeling for the deal. Make sure you know why the company wanted to sell itself, raise debt or equity, acquire companies, or be bought by other companies.

Be able to connect corporate valuation with corporate strategy. I think one of my best attributes is the ability to learn quickly and to be efficient with my time. Currently, I have a 3. Honestly, my biggest concern with investment banking is the politics that come along with the business world. I definitely had a first-hand experience with this problem during my internship.

It was complicated by the fact that I had to move locations and, on top of that, change groups. One concern I have about investment banking is the balance between work life and family life. Family and friends are an important part of my life because they have shaped the person that I am today.

That is why my 1 priority is to stay in New York. They are at the bottom of the Investment Banking hierarchy, which is very rigid. Like in the military, there is a chain of command that you need to fall into to be successful. Analyst responsibilities can vary from running financial models or pitch books independently, to the most minuscule of duties including making copies and setting up conference calls.

A typical day for a highly-sought analyst can be simply categorized as: Personally, I would prefer an industry group, simply because I think it would give me more exposure to all types of deals and investment banking products. Also, in particular I enjoyed the Technology, Media, and Telecommunications space that I worked in this summer. I chose this college mainly because it was in-state and had lower tuition. Being from a non-core school, I have a bit of a chip on my shoulder.

I know I have to prove myself. I intend to use this as motivation to work hard and demonstrate my ability. I think my track record speaks for itself, moving from a regional office to the best group at [insert bank]. Be careful of how you come off when saying this. Be humble but confident. I am currently only interviewing at investment banks; I am not interested in any other field at the moment.

At the moment I am only interviewing at 2 other investment banks. If the interviewer finds out you are evaluating other fields, he may question how serious you are about banking.

Also, if you can name the other firms you are interviewing with, feel free to do so. But make sure not to fabricate any other interviews. Wall Street is a small place and bankers have friends at almost every other bank.

There is a very good chance your lie will be caught, and it will be an embarrassing end for your chances with that bank. No I would not. I firmly believe in loyalty and I plan on committing to the firm for my full two year program. I think investment banking will give me a great platform if I were to choose to join the buyside, but I definitely would not leave early. Suggest one bank that you admire in the industry and state a good quality it possesses.

Then counter that with saying the bank you are interviewing at also has this great quality, and might even be better.

You should really know this question well, it is guaranteed to be asked. When you answer this question, your goals should be: This is a situation in which you can talk about your background, and also use an opportunity to make your case for why you want to be a banker. Give the interviewer a story that shows your achievements and how everything fits together for you to be a successful investment banker.

Above, I recommend that you start with where you grew up. However, make sure to spend a majority of your time talking about your most recent job experience and the classes you are taking in college. You should avoid pointing to or verbally referencing your resume when answering this question—the story should stand on its own entirely without the resume. This is your first impression, and this is difficult to do properly, so make sure to practice this repeatedly until you get it right!

Plan to spend about three minutes or so on this story no more than five minutes. Upon graduating high school, I was accepted to 8 schools, among which were UNC and IU. Relative to other schools I visited, the combination of business curriculum, research facilities, specific professors, atmosphere on campus and personal fit allowed me to make this decision and I felt without a doubt that [insert school] was the school I wanted to attend. I knew going in that I would have to work extremely hard to differentiate myself not only from my classmates, but also from the candidates I would be facing in the banking interviews.

I have pressed myself to learn as much as possible about the banking industry. While I understand that I have an indian stock market live nse long journey ahead of me, I believe that my personal, professional and academic accomplishments to date have positioned me for success in the banking world.

If you attended the school for some sort of scholarship academic, sports, musical, etc. If you are a business major try to discuss your interests in that field.

If you are a non-business major, express that you are always interested in a challenge and that you chose 60 seconds binary option youtube strategies c major because you have difference between a stockbroker and a stock trader real interest in the field at the time you picked it.

If there is a logical connection between your major and banking, this is the perfect opportunity to illustrate it eloquently. What most candidates fail to do is to actually give real strengths and weaknesses. This might sound counter-intuitive but this is a chance for you to be honest and focus on the qualities interviewers are looking for when answering the question.

When listing your weaknesses, make sure to list real weaknesses, but make sure you can demonstrate that you are aware of them and explain how you can improve upon them. I worked in a bunch of small groups during my senior year internship within Financial Management. This helped to balance workload and work quality for the group.

In the same situation, there was a person in the group that was not doing his work. I helped to solve the problem by helping him discover his strength and letting him focus on his strengths while the others helped to fill the gap.

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During my sophomore and junior years of college, I was juggling schoolwork while essentially working full-time and trying to balance this with internship recruiting, making phone calls, setting up meetings and doing interviews. I was able to successfully balance all of this by keeping very organized priority sheets and setting daily goals for items to be completed. It was a difficult process, but it enhanced my overall sense of being able to do whatever was necessary to accomplish my goals.

The best way to answer this is give specific examples of times what stock to buy today asx you demonstrated attention to detail, willingness to work harder than everyone else, or a time when you helped add value to the group.

Tell the truth here. If you did, then great. If not, then say you did not receive an offer. There are plenty of potential reasons why a company might not hire you back: Your group was simply not hiring full-time, the poor economy forced cutbacks in the hiring program, etc. During my first semester of freshman year, I joined the college ROTC how much money does jon gosselin make. It was a grueling program wherein I was going to bed at 9p.

I was very thankful that I had a very considerate and patient roommate! At some points I definitely wanted to quit, but in the end it was worth it. Lic market plus 1 stock price were only 3 out of 10 freshmen who made it through the program, and I was one of them.

Talk about teamwork or something you are really involved with, especially if how to earn money on neopets fast involves working with others.

During my last internship I had to help out another intern. I taught him some concepts incorrectly because I was rushed, and I made the incorrect assumption that he would figure it out.

We were very close, and it was devastating. From that experience, I learned that I had to take being a leader much more seriously, and that my example was crucial for others to succeed. I also learned that I must show better attention to detail and not assume everything is running well without my input. Really think this one out and give a truthful answer.

Five years is a long way down the road, but I know that finance will always have a grip on me. I could see myself in investment banking for the long-term, but that would have to depend on my performance and my family junior stock broker interview questions. Be sure, however, to mention that you are very excited about becoming an analyst and that you want to learn as much as possible, get as much transaction experience as possible, etc.

I would say no to this. What drives me the most is competition. I always want to be the best in everything I do, whether it is academics, sports, or even poker. Another example is golf: Once I decide I want something, it becomes all I think about and strive for. This can be a tuition answer for some people, i. While I found all of my business courses interesting, the most interesting class I took was Psychology. I believe you should hire me because as a diligent, organized, and goal-oriented person, I will work hard in any task presented no matter how difficult or time consuming it might be.

I always strive to perform the best that I can. Schoolwork is a good example— when assigned a task, I organize myself and my materials in order to work efficiently, junior stock broker interview questions then set to work on the task. I perform the necessary research in order to ensure that no mistakes are made, and I check my finished work repeatedly to ensure that it is high quality.

I believe my 3. Compared to other bulge bracket firms, [bank] seems to have a better culture from my perspective. Most recently, Where are corn futures traded had to work as part of a team for my Management and Organizational Analysis class.

We organized the teams at the beginning of the semester and were required to create a business idea. From there, we issued various reports on strategy, structure, and culture, and developed a presentation and final report encompassing the development plan for this business.

I discovered that working in a group can be challenging due to differences in working styles and personalities. Conflicts can arise and team dynamics are hard to manage. As a team member, I sometimes would take lead roles of organizing research assignments, meeting times, and the production of a final product.

However, I helped others and received help in return. Each how much money does an mri technician make contributed in his or her own manner—someone would invariably step up when the need arose—and there was always a system of checks and balances.

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I am conservative and risk-averse by nature. That does not mean I do not take my chances.

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Any challenging situation motivates me to put forth my best effort. I want to succeed, and I futures broker turtle islands accomplishing goals and overcoming difficult obstacles.

When I face a challenge, I strive to overcome it by working hard and going the extra mile so that I can make good things happen. In the short term I see myself contributing my energy, enthusiasm, hard work and willingness to learn. In the long term, if the opportunity arises, I would continue working with JPMorgan and contributing to its growth and success. I find other parts dead frontier money making class the world very interesting from a cultural and geographic perspective, and would love to travel much more later on in my life.

I also participate in club hockey. But I have met some really nice friends through the local program and I hope one day to get better at it. I thought their argument for this was very interesting. My club hockey team in college recently won the nationwide club championship that competes with 80 other colleges. This was a big success not only for the team but also for myself, because I have been successfully balancing a tremendous amount of schoolwork with interviews and practice.

The Glass-Steagall Act was a law that separated commercial and investment banks because of the belief that the two businesses created conflicts of interest.

Banks were essentially blamed for the Stock Crash of and the start of the Great Depression. A fairness opinion is an independent assessment issued from an investment bank regarding the price offered in a forex broker web design or acquisition. It is provided for a ato daily foreign exchange rates 2012 fee, typically by an institution not involved in the transaction.

The primary arms are Sales and Trading, Corporate Finance also known as Investment Bankingand Research Equity and other Instruments. Exchange rates south african rand to pound the interviews last between thirty minutes and one hour, the interviewers like to get straight to the point. Besides knowing your resume thoroughly, prepare concise answers to standard forex trading platform for blackberry bank interview questions.

Listed below are questions how to get money in plants vs zombies using cheat engine 6.2 are frequently asked in the interviews. These questions are important because it shows the banker your interest not only in the firm, but also in the conversation with forecasting volatility and option prices of the s p 500 index engle interviewer.

Investment bankers care greatly about efficiency, and they are there to interview a bunch of people quickly. Jump straight into questions being asked. Be direct and concise, but courteous and affable. Be confident with your answers. All it means is that you need to make your answers memorable. To make your response interesting, try giving some context for what was going on that night.

Maybe your colleagues were passing out at their desks but somehow you persevered. The stories need to be precise, have an introduction, and be easy to follow. But they also should be call options generally sell at a price greater than their exercise value, and adding just a little bit of colorful detail around the margins in the story can help make you much more interesting to the interviewer.

Articles Investment Banking Hedge Fund Private Equity Training. Investment Banking Interview Questions of Investment Banking Interview Training Listed in this chapter are a wide range of questions you should be prepared to face in investment banking interviews. What is investment banking?

What exactly do investment bankers do? Here are examples of some of the different functions a banker will perform, as well as some other important basics to know about the job: These securities can come in the form of equity IPO, secondary equity issuance or debt high-grade debt, high yield bonds, government securities, etc.

Investment Banking Job Hierarchy: Created by the bankers and used to guide introductions and presentations during a sales pitch. Why do you want to be an investment banker? What qualities do you think would make you successful investment banker? Other important qualities for a banking analyst: What do you think an analyst does on a typical day?

Why do you want to work for this Bulge Bracket Bank? Why do you want to work for a Middle Market bank? Why do you want to work for Goldman Sachs? How was your internship experience at Barclays? Why do you believe you would be a good investment banker? What is one concern you have about investment banking? Would you prefer a product or industry group? Why should I pick you instead of someone from Harvard? What are skills that you think are essential for banking?

Strong work ethic Positive, courteous attitude Strong attention to detail Ability to learn quickly Not afraid to ask questions when stuck Q: Where else are you interviewing? Are you interviewing outside of banking? If we gave you an offer right now would you accept? I will sign right now! What other investment banks do you like the most? Walk me through your resume i.

Why did you attend [insert school] college? What are your 3 greatest strengths? I am a very hard worker—I like to do what it takes to get the job done. I have a positive attitude. I enjoy working with other people and am courteous and fun to be around. I try to build my network of business contacts every time I have the chance.

What are your 3 greatest weaknesses? One of my criticisms this summer was that I concentrated too much on getting my work done quickly without sometimes taking a step back and thinking about the rationale behind everything. This can be advantageous for getting individual tasks done, but I realize this limitation will hinder my professional development down the line, and it is something I will need to improve as I gain more responsibility.

I knew that communication skills are an essential skill no matter what field you go into, so I took initiative last semester and joined a class focused on helping students prepare for public speaking. This forced me to speak in front of groups that put me out of my comfort zone. It has helped quite a bit but I know that I will constantly want to improve my communication skills.

I think my greatest weakness would have to be networking. Initially, I am soft-spoken with people. I like to concentrate on my work, so much that it often hinders me from developing relationships. Give an example in which you encountered a difficult situation while working in a group. Give an example of a time you had to work hard, and how you got through it. What kind of feedback did you receive from your previous internship?

Did you receive an offer from your previous internship? Give an example of when you failed or made a mistake. Where do you see yourself professionally in five years? Are you interviewing for jobs outside of investment banking? What is your greatest accomplishment? What was your favorite class in college?

Why should we hire you? Why are you applying to this firm? Give me an example of a time you worked as part of a team. What is the biggest risk you have taken in your life? What motivates you to put forth your best effort?

What type of work environment brings out your best effort? What do you see yourself contributing to our organization, both in the short term and in the long term? What do you do for fun? What is your favorite book? Tell me something about yourself that is not on your resume. Finance Industry Interview Questions Q: What is the Glass-Steagall Act? What is a fairness opinion? What are the different arms of an investment bank? Top 10 Associate-level Interview Questions: Walk me through the highlights of your resume.

How do you value a company? Why did you choose Kellogg? What other firms are you interviewing with and why? Are you interviewing with consulting firms also? What career opportunities are you exploring other than investment banking? What were your grades in college?

What were your grades for the first semester at [Kellogg]? What was your GMAT score? Be ready to explain any weak points. What qualities would you consider most important for a career in investment banking?

What are your greatest strengths? What are your weaknesses? Describe an important current or recent event in the market? What questions do you have for me? Always have at least two questions prepared per bank. Questions for the Interviewer These questions are important because it shows the banker your interest not only in the firm, but also in the conversation with the interviewer.

Basic Questions to ask the Interviewer How long have you been with the bank and how has your experience been? How do you compare working here with other banks at which you have worked? What differentiates a good Analyst from a great Analyst? Can you tell me about your Associate training program?

On what types of deals are you currently working? How is the deal flow at the bank? What kind of qualities do you look for when inviting Analysts to stay on board for a third year? What makes them stand out? What qualities do you have that helped you succeed in investment banking?

Are they looking to overtake Goldman or Morgan Stanley in some area, or are they content with simply doing business the way they have? How do you distinguish yourself from other bulge bracket firms? Where do you want to be 5 years from now? Why did you choose this career path?

On a typical day in this position, what do you do? With whom do you interact? How do you manage work, family, and community involvement? Describe your typical first-year assignments.

What is the most effective way to find employment in this field? Has the work changed recently due to technology, the marketplace, or competition, etc.? How did you find your job? How do you see this job changing in the future? What is the demand for people in this occupation? What are the basic prerequisites for a job in this field? In your opinion, what would assist me in preparing for this career?

What are the opportunities for advancement within the bank? What personal qualities or abilities are important to be successful in this job? What part of this job do you find most satisfying? Are there other sources of information you might suggest to students interested in this field? What advice do you have for students who are considering this career path?

What impact does the state of the economy have on your job, workload, and deal flow? What is the most valuable lesson you have learned since coming out of school? Which are offered in your office? How is it different now than it has been in the past? What announced deals are have you worked on?

What are some of the key considerations in these deals? What attracted you to investment banking originally? How much responsibility will I take on when I join the bank? What are some of the exit opportunities from banking? Ask Analysts, they very aware of this issue. This question only applies to individuals interviewing for analyst positions.

Additional Question Types Resume and personality questions Be ready to explain any line on your resume. Are you a leader or a follower? Give me an example of your being successful in each role. What was your favorite class so far? What classes are you currently taking to get ready for the summer?

What are your year long-term career plans? What are your proudest accomplishments? What was your most challenging professional experience?

What do you do to relax? Tell me a joke. Who has influenced you the most, besides family members? Say you are at a meeting with a client and your Managing Director is giving a presentation.

You suddenly notice a mistake in some of the calculations, which you have prepared. Do you mention it? What do you say? What is one skill that you think is most relevant to investment banking? Based on your course load and work experience, you seem to like marketing. Why are you interested in finance? What is one word that describes you the best? How would your classmates describe you? How would you characterize yourself in a group dynamic?

Highlight your quantitative accomplishments. Describe an ethical decision you had to make. If you were a vegetable, what vegetable would you be and why? This is not a joke! This question actually gets asked. As an Associate, what tasks would you like to spend most of your time doing? What percent of each day do you see yourself spending on those tasks? Describe a time that you failed. Why did you fail, and what did you learn?

Questions on Investment Banking as a Career Why investment banking rather than consulting? What do you hope to accomplish over the summer? Which group do you want to work for inside investment banking and why? Rank the investment banking firms on Wall Street in your mind.

What criteria are you using and why? Where do we fit? Who is our competition in the major categories? What differentiates our firm? If you were the CEO of our firm, what major changes would you implement? Describe a typical day of an investment banking analyst. Do you understand the lifestyle issues associated with this profession? What is your greatest concern about investment banking?

How do you come to that estimate? Which of your college achievements are you most proud of? What did you get out of each of those classes and which classes did you like best? How do you feel about the long hours in investment banking? When did you discover that you wanted to be an investment banker? Do you understand the level of commitment an investment banking job dictates? Give me an example wherein you had a lot of responsibility. Can I trust you with a critical project? Can you think of a time when you came up with a creative solution to a difficult problem?

How did you handle the situation? Discuss a difficult ethical decision you recently faced. What is your most challenging professional experience? What is the one thing that you wish you knew before working in investment banking? Give an example that demonstrates your analytical skills.

Random Questions that are occasionally asked! Tell me something about you that is not on your resume. Suppose I were going to rank you and 30 of your peers on one quality, with the winner receiving something very desirable, such as one million dollars. If you are allowed to determine that quality, what would it be? What did you eat for lunch? How do you like Chicago?

Think of the team you worked with, and give me a word that describes each team member. Are you more risk-averse or risk-seeking? What would you say?