Before the Interview - Know How to Prepare job search

Soft Skills Questions - How to Excel

Before the Interview - Know How to Prepare

The basis of a successful preparation is a well structured plan

- Understand which characteristics the banks are looking for
- Carefully analyse your CV and past experiences to
identify items useful to demonstrate the required skill set
- Create a list of potential questions you might be confronted with (examples provided on the next slides) and understand the type of questions you can expect
- Apply the items identified in your CV to answers the potential questions
- Write down answers as this allows to build a clear storyline. This will serve as a good reference throughout the preparation process
- Be sure your answers are consistent and be careful with stretching the truth

Know your CV inside out and be prepared to comment on each and every line item

Be absolutely sure to know as much about the firm and the position you are seeking as possible

- Read websites, annual reports, press articles etc.
- Talk to people from the industry

During the Interview - Know How to Handle It

There is nothing easier than telling about a real life experience

- use examples whenever you can

You should remember that it is through these examples that one candidate will differentiate himself from the next

Listen to the questions carefully

Take your time and think about each question - it gives you time to gather your thoughts and makes a good impression

If confronted with a question you have prepared in advance, make sure to pretend you are thinking about the answer

Don't fall into the trap of giving prepared answers to questions which are only similar to the one you prepared

While demonstrating enthusiasm is great, don't stretch it too far

- Nobody will believe that you enjoy working all night or on weekends
- Rather demonstrate that you want the job and are prepared to make sacrifices

Prove That You Want the Job

Why do you want to work in investment banking?

You are very likely to receive this question or a similar one (e.g. Why do you want to work in M&A?) in at least one of your interviews. With this question, the interviewer generally tries to find out whether you have given much thought to your career choice and if you are really up for the challenge of working long hours in a challenging, analytical and stressful environment. There is no single correct answer to this however the following will usually do the trick:

Be informed about the job you are applying for and have some arguments ready to support why you like that kind of work. As always, it is helpful to have real life examples. Don't forget to integrate into your answers the fact that you possess the 5 key characteristics relevant for a job in investment banking. Below are some examples:

(A) "I know that investment banking is very analytical and that as an analyst I would spend quite some time doing financial analyses and models in Excel. I really enjoy doing quantitative analyses and already had the chance to build various models in college....."
(B) "I am looking for a challenging job with a steep learning curve. Investment banking would give me the opportunity to work in a challenging environment with a lot of smart individuals on continuously changing projects..."
(C) "I especially like the fact that investment banking is characterized by a lot of teamwork. In college we had to work in groups a lot and I really enjoyed to be part of a team to solve problems..."
(D) "I have done an internship in consulting and I found out that while I enjoyed the team work, I was disappointed by the fact, that I only had very little exposure working with a company's financials. I talked about this with a colleague of yours at the recruiting fair at my school last month and his description about his typical work day really appealed to me..."