Interest and commitment
What concerns you about this job?
Do you like New York? Could you live there?
Who have you talked to at the firm? What have you learned from him or her? What would they say about you?
What other firms are you talking to? What are your impressions of other firms? Do you have an offer from any other
firms?
Why do you want to work at this firm?.
What group do you see yourself working in? (This question may be asked to see if you have done your homework
since some firms hire into a generalist pool. Alternately, they may want to judge your interest in different areas.)
What is our stock price? What is our ticker? What is our market cap?
How do you think the banking industry is structured? Where do you think the banking industry is headed? What do
you think of the recent mergers?
Who are our competitors? What are your impressions of other firms? What differentiates our firm from our
competitors? What are some difference among different banks that you have noticed? Which differences are important
to you?
How will you make a choice among firms?
Do you see yourself in banking over the long-term?
If we gave you an offer right now, would you take it?
If you had all the money in the world, what would you do besides banking?
Can you name some of our recent marquee transactions?
What will you do if you do not get an offer from us?
What is stopping you from doing any other job or running off to a start-up?
Where do you see yourself in five or ten years?
Why do you want this job?
Team questions
What would the members of your xxxx teams say about you? What would they say is your biggest weakness?
What are some examples of teams you have participated on? Tell me about an experience that you had working as part
of a team.
Do you prefer to work on a team or individually?
Describe a difficult team situation and how it was resolved.
Few people get along with everyone. How do you handle conflict? How do you handle working with someone you
dislike? Give some examples.
Skills oriented
What skills do you bring to the job? I see many qualified candidates, why should I hire you? Why do you think that
you would be successful at this job?
Give me an example of your leadership abilities?
What is the biggest risk you have ever taken?
What qualities do you think are important to this job? What makes people successful in this area?
Tell me about a time when you were creative.
Explain a project where you did the analysis from beginning to end?
Give me some example of doing more than is required in the course or job.
How would you describe your leadership and/or management style?
What stocks and/or industries do you follow and why? Did you buy any stocks lately? Why? (You will definitely get
this in an S&T interview.)
What business publications do you read?
What do you think of ______ article in that days WSJ or NYT? What recent deals have you been following?
If I gave you a million dollars, how would you invest your money?
How would you manage an analyst who was underperforming? Would you fire him or her if there were no
improvement?
If you were a managing director and the client told you that he wanted to move his stock price up, what would you
suggest as potential strategies?
How will your background add to your ability to contribute at the firm?
How would you rank yourself from one to ten? Why?
Do you work well under pressure?
Your weaknesses and strengths
What are some of your weaknesses? What are some of your strengths?
What is your greatest accomplishment?
From your resume, what are the two (three) biggest concerns we should have in hiring you?
Discuss a recent or large failure, professional or personal. How did you react?
Imagine we are reviewing your performance at our firm after working with us for six months or a year. What do you
think our criticisms of you would be?
Why would we not hire you? What risks do you incur for us?
What is the biggest mistake you ever made and didn't get caught? What is the biggest mistake you ever made and did
get caught?
Personality
What motivates you?
What do you do in your spare time?
What do you do for fun? What did you do this past weekend?
What is the last book you read?
Tell me about a time when you found it necessary to break the rules.
What are you goals for the next five years; personal and professional?
What would you change about your past?
What was your worst decision, personal or professional, one you would take back.
How would your friends and/or teammates describe you? If I were to call your last boss, what would he or she say
about you?
Can you tell me a joke?
What are you passionate about?
What makes you nervous?
What was the best day of your life?
What is your favorite book? What was the last book you read? Why did you like it?
If you could have lunch with any three people who would they be and why?
What don't you like about other people?
What is important to you about the place that you work?
If you could change anything in your life that you have ever done, what would it be and why?
Why do you want to work for XYZ?
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
What contributions could you make to our organization?
What's your greatest asset (liability)?
What's your greatest strength (weakness)?
Of what accomplishment are you most (least) proud?
What was your best (worst) subject in school?
Describe a difficult team situation.
Give an example of leadership / team skills.
What kinds of people do you have trouble getting along with?
How do you get people to do things they don't like to do?
On what grounds would you dismiss someone?
Do you like working with people? Is it an important factor?
Why did you decide to go to SOM?
What's your major, why did you choose your major?
What do you expect from a job with us?
If you were an interviewer, what do you think are the three most important criteria for
hiring someone for this position?
How would you handle an angry client if the complaint were against the organization's
policy?
Would you consider relocating?
Could you travel three days a week?
How much do you think you'll be earning in 10 years?
What is the lowest salary you'd consider?
If we hired you, what is the top position you see yourself holding?
Is there anything that could potentially interfere with your performance?
Could you make a commitment now?
Who else are you interviewing with? What do you think of those
organizations?
Venture Capital/Private Equity questions (Anything listed under Investment Banking is game.)
What types of things do you look for when reviewing a business plan?
What types of attributes do you think make a start-up poised for success?
What is the typical structure of a term sheet? What aspects of a term sheet would you be most concerned about as an
entrepreneur? As a venture capitalist?
How is a venture capital firm/private equity concern structured? How do they make money?
What are the different types of private equity a company would access given different stages of their growth?
Sales and Trading specific questions
Why Sales and Trading versus Investment Banking?
Are you interested in Sales or Trading? Why?
What does a Trader do? What does a Salesperson do?
Do you want to sell or trade equity or debt instruments? Why?
What makes you think that you can sell?
How do you measure success in your life?
What about your personality will make you a good Trader or Salesperson?
If interest rates rise, what will happen to bond prices? Why?
Have you followed any stocks lately? Did you decide to buy it? Why? (You will definitely get this question in S&T
interviews.)
Be prepared to convince them that you have transferable skill sets which will enable you to succeed in this field - for
example, if you worked in a risky, high pressure environment with limited information, but had to make decisions (for
trading).
What do you know about the bond market?
Is there any are in fixed income that you are particularly interested in (you don not have to have a preference).
Firm's stock ticker, price, etc.
What do you know about my firm?
Equity Research specific questions
Why are you interested in Equity Research as opposed to Sales and Trading or Investment Banking?
Why sell-side as opposed to buy-side research?
Tell me about your favorite stock?
What are some of the most important skills sets for Equity Research?
Provide an example of your entrepreneurial spirit and creativity.
Corporate Finance specific questions
Be prepared to answer cases.
