How do you prepare for an investment banking interview as a beginner?

Question

I’ve got my first interview for an entry-level investment banking role coming up, and I’m feeling pretty nervous because I’m not sure what to expect. What kind of questions are typically asked in these interviews, especially for someone just starting out? Should I be focusing more on technical questions, or are the behavioral ones just as important? If anyone has tips or resources that could help me prepare, I’d be really grateful!

Answer 1

Great question! Investment banking interviews are challenging and intense and you need to make sure you're 100% prepared for anything they throw your way. Here are the three things you need to do:

Networking: 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.
Behaviorals: 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.
Technicals: 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.

There are 10,000 other things we need to discuss on each of these pieces--please reach out for a free intro session and let's talk about how to get you into the industry!

Answer 2

Hello Anonymous,

I'm a bit late to the party, but maybe my answer will still be helpful. First of all, it's totally normal to feel nervous before your first interviews, so don't worry.

Typically, entry-level interviews cover both technical and behavioral questions. On the technical side, expect questions about basic finance concepts like valuation methods (e.g., DCF, comparables), financial statements, market trends etc., so make sure to brush up your technical finance knowledge. Mock interviews can also help to be prepared and you should make sure to check the news about recent deals or market trends as you could be asked about your perspective on these as well.

For the fit interviews, you can expect typical questions like “Why investment banking?” or “Tell me about a time you worked on a challenging project.” You can easily prepare for that by googeling the question types and think of your stories ahead.

Good luck!