Investment Banking Interviews - First Round Interviews Decoded

First of all, we are talking about formal, "Give me a job" type of the first round of talks here. No information about the investment banking interview, which is simply a meet and greet.

First Rounders, where your life really start banking and its importance is reduced to the simple fact that if you mess up here your banking life is DOA - dead on the spot !

to target school children in the first round of investment banking interviews will often take place on campus, when the bank roll in the city and will often be the analyst or other junior banker who is a pupil at his school.

In other countries it would be held at the headquarters of the bank and be a representative from the IB's HR department -. Or junior banker

for non-target school children who fail to obtain a formal interview recruiting can take place near the school or in the bank. It is more likely to start with informal interviews over coffee - also known as investment banking informative talks - due to your network, which can then lead to formal talks in the headquarters of the bank , but the place is the least of our worries, so let's move on.

It is more important for you to recognize that the purpose of the first round of talks is to act as a mechanism of quality control. Junior bankers are simply intended to allocate enough students, so the final circuit (so-called Super Saturday or just Superday) can take place without the bustle of 10,000 students storming the offices of the bank.

and so the only test you on

1) your track record, as stated in your resume,

2) his personality and
3) their basic technical skills.

Fortunately you will be summarily grilled about these issues, because the first round of interviews banking does not go so long. Think about 20-30 minutes.

As you can sail through the first round of talks?

Well, if you managed to 'get along' with the interviewer, then you are probably over.

that is, if you can talk about your resume in a few minutes to get the banker smiling and answer some basic questions like Ben Stiller on the financial statements and Finance 101 valuation techniques will most likely get the green light for a second interview.

and if you can show that you have a serious passion for banking in talking about his journey over the years, how has led to the banking and made ​​him want more than ever before, you're almost home. increasingly important in today's employment environment, although your ability to handle some basic technical investment banking interview questions and puzzles in the first round. Banks are loaded on interviews with more than before, because it is the fastest and most objective way to remove a large piece of the candidate pool (an important point when supply and demand is as out of whack as it is now ).

At the end of the day, even though those first round of talks, only the removal of Ben Stiller tip slows down - ie, "basic intelligence" section. Or with more panache, and interviews are easy to remove and-rans, not about picking the stars. So do not stress.