Question 1 · p. 7
Walk me through your resume / Why are you here today? / Tell me about yourself.
Question 2 · p. 8
Why investment banking?
Question 3 · p. 8
Why our bank?
Question 4 · p. 9
What are your strengths and weaknesses?
Question 5 · p. 10
Explain or justify your [Real Weakness.]
Question 6 · p. 10
Can you talk about a team project or group activity you’ve worked on?
Question 7 · p. 11
Can you describe a situation where a team did not work as intended?
Question 8 · p. 11
Can you tell me about a time you faced an ethical dilemma in a team or with a co-worker?
Question 9 · p. 12
What was the most difficult situation you faced as a leader, and how did you respond?
Question 10 · p. 13
Can you tell me about a time when you stepped up and demonstrated leadership even when you were not in an official leadership role?
Question 11 · p. 13
What are your strengths and weaknesses?
Question 12 · p. 14
What’s your greatest strength?
Question 13 · p. 15
What’s your greatest weakness?
Question 14 · p. 15
What’s your biggest failure?
Question 15 · p. 16
What feedback did you receive from your most recent internship or job?
Question 16 · p. 16
Why are your grades so low?
Question 17 · p. 17
Why haven’t you taken any accounting or finance classes before? Do you really know the material?
Question 18 · p. 17
Other candidates for our London office speak 3 – 4 European languages fluently. Why don’t you?
Question 19 · p. 18
You’ve never worked in investment banking before. Why do you think you have skills that are relevant to this industry?
Question 20 · p. 19
How committed are you to investment banking? You’ve already done a private equity internship, so how do I know you won’t just leave and return to private equity in a few years?
Question 21 · p. 19
You’ve had several work experience gaps where you weren’t working for 3 – 4 months at a time. What were you doing?
Question 22 · p. 20
You went to business school in Los Angeles but want to work in investment banking. Why didn’t you go to school in or near New York City instead?
Question 23 · p. 21
The person in the other room has perfect grades from Harvard/Oxford. Why should I hire you over him?
Question 24 · p. 22
You completed an investment banking internship but then accepted a full-time role in Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A) in corporate finance after graduation. Why? Did you fail to get a return offer from your internship?
Question 25 · p. 22
Which other investment banks are you applying to?
Question 26 · p. 23
Which groups within investment banking are you most interested in?
Question 27 · p. 23
Have you received offers from any other firms? Where are you in the interview process?
Question 28 · p. 23
You applied to our investment banking rotational program last year. Why didn’t you win an offer, and what has changed since then?
Question 29 · p. 24
Do you have any questions for me? [at the end of the interview]
Question 30 · p. 25
What are the three most impressive entries on your resume?
Question 31 · p. 25
What did you learn in your most recent internship at [Firm Name]?
Question 32 · p. 26
Why did you quit your job in the [Company Name] [Group Name] team after you were promoted twice?
Question 33 · p. 26
Why did you attend your university?
Question 34 · p. 27
Why did you attend an MBA program after you already had 2-3 years of work experience?
Question 35 · p. 28
How do companies select the investment banks and bankers they work with?
Question 36 · p. 28
Let’s say I’m working on an Initial Public Offering (IPO) for a client. Can you briefly describe what I would do?
Question 37 · p. 29
Walk me through the process of a typical sell-side M&A deal.
Question 38 · p. 30
Walk me through the process of a typical buy-side M&A deal.
Question 39 · p. 30
Walk me through a debt issuance deal.
Question 40 · p. 31
Can you describe a Leveraged Buyout (LBO) and how the process works?
Question 41 · p. 31
What’s in a pitch book?
Question 42 · p. 32
Can you tell me about the different groups at an investment bank?
Question 43 · p. 33
Let’s say you become an investment banker, and you’re hired as the financial advisor for a company to help it expand its business. How would you approach this task, and how would you add value as an advisor?
Question 44 · p. 33
A client approaches you and asks whether it should go public or sell to another company. How would you help the management team think through this decision?
Question 45 · p. 34
What are your long-term plans? Where do you see yourself in 5 – 10 years, and are you committed to investment banking?
Question 46 · p. 34
You said you want to work at our firm to gain exposure to bigger, more complex deals. But what if an even bigger bank comes calling next year – would you move again?
Question 47 · p. 34
Why do you prefer the [Industry Name] group to other industry groups at our firm?
Question 48 · p. 35
Why are you moving from a larger bank to a smaller bank? Did you not receive a return offer at the larger bank?
Question 49 · p. 36
Why do you want to work in M&A rather than an industry group?
Question 50 · p. 36
Tell me something interesting about you that is NOT listed on your resume. One strategy here is to pick an experience from when you were a young child.
Question 51 · p. 37
You have $1 million, but you are NOT allowed to invest it or use it to make more money. How would you spend the money?
Question 52 · p. 37
What’s your “personal Beta”?
Question 53 · p. 38
In 30 years, your name turns up on the front page of a major newspaper. What would the headline be, and what would the story be about?
Question 54 · p. 39
If you were an animal, which one would you be?
Question 55 · p. 40
Tell me about a recent deal in the news.
Question 56 · p. 41
Can you expand on your opinion of this deal? Would you have done the deal if you were the buyer or investors? Why / why not?
Question 57 · p. 41
Were there any unusual deal terms?
Question 58 · p. 41
What were the main risk factors in this deal?
Question 59 · p. 42
Can you tell me about one of the deals from your most recent internship or full-time job?
Question 60 · p. 42
What type of process did you use to find potential buyers or target companies? Why?
Question 61 · p. 43
How did you think about valuation for the client company?
Question 62 · p. 43
What were your unique contributions to this deal? How did you move the process forward?
Question 63 · p. 44
If you were the buyer(s) or investor(s), would you have done this deal?
Question 64 · p. 44
What is the status of this deal? Has it closed?