Thread by @FabiusMercurius

📋Common Finance Interview Questions📋
(and How To Nail Them)

Bankers/traders/PMs have attention spans of 🪰s.
Trip on your tongue & there's 50,000 hungrier candidates behind you.

Spinoff 🧵 of @SahilBloom's 20 questions (bit.ly/3kvqzfY) but tailored to Wall Street.
👇

1/ “Why this company?”

"3 reasons."
Start here. It shows (a) ur organized (b) u've done ur homework.

Example:
#1: "Ur the best at [restructuring/techM&A/derivatives]!"
#2: "I read about X deal & I wanna help on the next one!"
#3: "My buddy X from LevFin says culture is great."

Why was that a good answer?
#1 strokes ur interviewer's ego; s/he will like u more & whatever u say next will sound 2x better
#2 shows ur excited! (i'm convinced half the reason banks hire undergrad interns is for their energy)
#3 - shows ur an insider/ already 'one of the guys'

2/ “Tell me about yourself.”

DON'T ramble >30 seconds.
Start w/ a hook. Most interesting thing about u. Or a joke.

Best answer I've heard "Well it all started with my mom, dad, and a bed..."

OK, maybe that's too risky. But u get my point; this is ur chance to be memorable.

3/ “Why you?”

3 reasons.
#1: [You'll be a Swiss army knife to ur new team cuz of XX prior experience]
#2: [You have a network or some key industry insight nobody else has. Give an example]
#3: [X character trait; then 30 sec spiel about a time u saved the day, demonstrating X."

4/ "What are your strengths?"

Pick 3 things. Then tell a 30-sec story to prove it.
What u should pick depends on seniority.

For entry & mid level:
- autonomy
- speed (esp @ modeling)
- meticulousness
- ability to prioritize

For MD-track:
- turning clients into friends fast

5/ "What's your greatest success?"

Approach this question 1 of 2 ways:

a) "I won a gold medal at IMO 2010."
Ok, even getting to IMO is hella hard! They should hire u on the spot for mere bragging rights.

b) Got nothing IMO-level epic?
Just show ur human -- e.g. a team player

6/ "What are your weaknesses?" / "Tell me about a time you failed."

Ur answer should focus on what matters:
- how did you recover the situation?
- what strengths offset the weakness? (eg. ur resourcefulness)
- what r u doing to improve ur weakness / prevent future incidents?

7/ "Where do you see yourself in 10 years?"

"Right next to you, bro, as we rock the [M&A / tech infra LBO / muni bonds / etc.] world together!!!"

Truth is u don't fucking know. But don't say that.
Any answer short of unwavering commitment is decidedly worse than that above.

8/ "What do you do outside of work?"

Some interviews will think this is the most important question.
Not kidding.

If ur not directly revenue generating (not an MD or PM), then ur greatest value is to culture (i.e. keeping the team happy/efficient at collective hamster-wheeling)

Some hobbies that really resonate/ inspire buddy-feels w/ finance folks:
- "I fly planes"
- "I coach my [son/nephew]'s Little League team"
- "I do competitive open-water swimming" (or some other interesting sport)

Some bad answers:
- "I golf" (trying too hard)
- "I read" (duh)

9/ “If you can't be a [banker/trader/PM], what would you be?”

Ok if you're interviewing as a banker, DON'T say trader/private equity/etc. Same goes for the others.

It makes u look like u only want the job for the prestige but actually have no idea what the actual work is like.

10/ "Any questions for me?"

"Yes. Let's start with 3."
Say no & ur dead.

#1: about the role
#2: about team
#3: about the interviewer themselves
(e.g. "What's ur favorite project so far?" This forces him/her to brag & pitch to you, thus ending the interview on an up beat.)
🎶 😃

End/

If u want to ace TECHNICAL interview questions & are wondering where to start learning the basics of trading & financial analysis, have a read through my earlier pieces.

Each week I teach at least 1 finance/tech topic via Twitter threads:

ALSO, if you have a question u didn't know how to answer (technical or behavioral), DM or ...

🚀🚀Should I host an AMA about how to ace finance interviews?

If so, what should the focus be?
🤓🤓And who are other finance/fintech experts that I should ask to join me? Plz tag them.