Great question! A CFA Level 2 is a strong start, but IB interviews are challenging and intense and require a dozen different skills from Excel to business judgment to mental math. Realistically, to be a top-tier candidate, you'll need to spend 200+ hours building these skills, and they fall in three main buckets:
- Networking (80 hours): Before the interview even starts, make sure that you've reached out to and talked with as many people as possible at the firm. Learn about what they care about and what they're learning for in a candidate. Build advocates. Flex your cold emailing and "coffee chat" muscles.
- Behaviorals (30 hours): Then, get started on your behavioral prep. Work on your behaviorals "trifecta"--tell me about yourself, why banking, why this bank, and then create a stories-based approach for other behavioral questions. Do practice mock interviews and write everything out. Build your ability to talk effectively about yourself and deals.
- Technicals (100 hours): Finally, once you get past the first round (usually behavioral) it's time to really hone in on technicals. Start with the 400 Question Guide and then it gets more advanced from there across modeling tests, paper LBOs, and online courseware like Wall Street Oasis's courses. This will build your skills in Excel, accounting, modeling, and more.
These are the basics, but let's talk about what you're doing on each of these aras and we can figure out how to improve your approach--please reach out for a free intro session and let's talk about how to get you into the role you're looking for!
