1- What‘s is the hardest thing you have ever done?
2- Can u give an example of a time when u came up with a creative solution?
3- Why do u want to work for this industry?
Very specific;based on what company one is interviewing with. This
gives the candidate an opportunity to show why is he interested in this
company above all others in the same industry. It reflects how much
research did the candidate do on the company before coming here and
that is an indicator good enough to measure his interest.
4- Why do you want to work in investment banking?
This was asked in all the interviews I gave till date. They wanted
to know why one would prefer working for an investment bank and not a
completely "tech" firm. I guess they expect the candidate to have some
interest in finance even if he is going to the technical end though
they don‘t expect any formal course work or previous experience in
finance.
5- What exactly do investment managers do?
6- Present a chapter from ur favorite finance book.
This looks like a tough birdie
7- Walk me through ur resume?
Two of my interviews started with this question. They don‘t expect
us to memorize our resumes but give us an opportunity to highlight the
points of the resume we want to and choose the tentative topics for
further questions. Effectively they say, "the ball is in your court".
8-Why should we hire u?
An indirect question that asks your strengths directly.
9-what types of activities where you involved in college?
10- Why this firm?
Same as question 3 above.
11- An example of a project that involved heavy analytical thinking?
12- If made CEO what changes will u make?
13- Favorite website?
14- Example of teamwork where the team was successful. One example
where the team was unsuccessful. Why? What lesson did you learn from
it.
Two of my behavorial interviews were centered most of the time
around this question. I was first asked to go through the objective of
the team and then how it worked or how didn‘t work right.
15- The most striking article in wall street journal
16- Project you enjoyed most.
Again they are asking you " From where do you want to me to ask the
next question". Make sure you mention a project through which
illustrates teamwork, self-initiative or something that you can stress
upon later because after this the next question will be why did u enjoy
this one most. And for investment banks , jut saying that you liked it
because of the extensive coding it required won‘t get you anywhere. It
is indirectly measuring that you really meant the reasons you gave for
Question 4 or not.
17- Given internship, if not hired finally, give 3 reasons why this could happen and how can u prevent this.
18- If I call a person who knows you well, what will he say about you?
19- What motivates you?
20- An example of experience of failure.
21- You don‘t seem like a driven person. how will you handle a job in banking?
22- An accomplishment you are proud of?
23- favorite course, least favorite.why? grades in each.
24- how have u modeled qith equations in the past.
25- Can you tell me a time when u handled many things at the same time?
26- Example of leadership. (Any academic or non-academic examples are equally good)
27- Example where you were not the leader of the team but you took some major initiative?
28- Questions for the firm.
This is a very important part of the interview and usually has the
last 5 minutes devoted to it. The person on the other side of the table
always give you a chance to ask questions partly to clear your doubts
and partly to again give you an opportunity to show your interest and
zest for internship in the company. Preparing for this merely requires
15-20 minutes reading the profile of the company and the dept. you are
applying to.
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