As the application season kicks off, several of my peers have approached me asking for advice on how to do well in their upcoming interviews.
Because of this, I have chosen to write a blog post, in which I will do my best to share what has proved useful for me and what I have learned about the interview process.
Please take my advice with a pinch of salt, for I am still very young and my experience applying for jobs is somewhat limited, given that I am only an undergraduate. Balancing my advice with those of others is the best way to develop your own understanding of the process.
With that cleared, let us get started.
Be Yourself
The first step is to gather the courage to be yourself in the interview. For those for whom this comes unnaturally, a good solution is to frequently practice articulating yourself in front of friends and family until you are able to speak without even thinking!
I cannot stress enough the importance of being genuine in the interview. Firms are looking to hire people from as wide a variety of backgrounds as possible. There is truly no 'ideal' person for the job.
Let us suppose that you are not yourself in the interview, and even suppose that you secure an internship. When the internship begins, you cannot help but being yourself, and this will show clearly to your supervisor, who will recognise the discrepancy. This will only work against you.
Once one is prepared to act genuinely in the interview, the advice in this post should serve to be of immense value. Before reading on, please take a moment to appreciate the need to just be yourself in the interview.
What Interviewers Look For
Having established the absolute need to be genuine in the interview, one must make a conscious effort to understand what interviewers are actually looking for in a candidate.
Those who overlook this simple, yet highly important, point often fail to perform at their very best in their interviews.
To understand what interviewers are looking for, one should do research online, and complement this research with questions directed at HR or representatives of the firm to which one is apply, either in person or via email.
In my view, interviewers are looking for four things, three of which I will explore in greater depth.
1. Clear Motivation
2. Demonstrated Interest
3. Personality and Broader Interests
4. Ability to Do the Job Well
I will not examine the fourth part, simply because the ability to do the job well will only reveal itself over a long period of time, namely on the internship itself. There is no way that the interviewer can ascertain whether a candidate can deliver solid work results in 30 minutes or less.
My focus on the remaining three parts will be tailored to Investment Banking, since it is where my experience lies. The same principles can be applied to similar corporate professions.
1. Clear Motivation
To display clear motivation for Investment Banking, one must be able to clearly articulate what bankers actually do, at a fundamental level. This is quite tricky to figure out, but let me share my understanding of the topic.
Investment Banking Analysts perform due diligence on deals, value target companies and prepare pitch-books for meetings and presentations.
Managing Directors source new clients and develop relationships with existing ones. They are responsible for bringing in deal flow for the firm.
What links banking Analysts, MDs, and everyone in between, together, at a fundamental level, is that they are all advisors.
To be a great advisor, one must be able to understand the client and his or her needs. To do the latter, the advisor should be an outstanding listener.
To sum, in brief, clear motivation for banking is shown through:
A. An intrinsic desire to serve as an advisor - giving past examples of where you have understood the needs of your 'client' and given honest advice to the best of your ability will be useful.
B. An understanding of the characteristics of a great junior banker - you need not have all the skills of a junior banker, but it is important to know what they are and what you are getting yourself into!
For other professions, follow a similar procedure. For example, academics are researchers, PE professionals are investors (in companies), traders are, funnily enough, traders, and consultants are also advisors, though in a slightly different way from bankers.
2. Demonstrated Interest
Let us further segment demonstrated interest into its three parts, starting broad then narrowing down.
i. The Industry
ii. The Firm
iii. The Division
For the industry, the advice is obvious. Follow the news day in, day out and develop your own view.
Professionals in a client facing role get paid for having a differentiated view, one which usually helps clients make better decisions, whether that involves hedging FX risk or financing an acquisition.
Narrowing down a bit more leads us to demonstrated interest in the Firm.
Do NOT say that you wish to work at Firm X because of its unique culture. That answer is utter nonsense. One will only understand the culture of a workplace by actually working there.
It is better to elaborate on the people you have met from the firm, how well you get along with them, and other exposure you have had to the company.
Make sure that you explore the firm's website, read the profiles of its employees, comment on recent press releases and follow the firm on LinkedIn. There is no excuse to perform poorly on this account!
Finally, interest in the division. For Investment Banking, understand how the IBD is structured at your firm, because it varies from one to another.
At Goldman, for example, IBD is split into IBD Classic and the Financing Group. At Morgan Stanley, IBD is divided into M&A and Global Capital Markets. The two subdivisions perform EXACTLY the same functions, but knowing the specific names will impress the interviewer.
You may also wish to express an interest in a certain industry or product team. If so, be sure to have evidence to back up your interests.
3. Personality and Broader Interests
For professions that are team orientated and client facing, this aspect is where some exceptionally talented candidates fail to make their mark.
Whether you get the internship offer depends, above all else, on how far your interviewers are convinced that you will add value to your future team, and consequently, the firm for which you will work. To add value to the team, one must first be able to get along well with the team members.
To convince your interviewers that you are capable of doing so, it is important to be comfortable talking about yourself personally, as well as professionally.
The ability to confidently articulate your personal interests, what motivates you, and what is important to you in life, shows two things:
A. That you are able to devote yourself to something about which you are passionate, and excel at it. This is know as grit.
B. That you are someone other people enjoy spending time with, and therefore, someone a senior person is willing to mentor.
Let me reiterate that, when a firm hands out an internship offer, it is effectively making an investment. The firm will be using its time, people, and money to invest in YOU.
Your job in the interview is to portray yourself as a worthy investment. How you do that is not a question for me to answer, but rather one to which you should devote a lot of time. I certainly did.
Concluding Thoughts
Those who succeed in securing internships are those who are able to give strong responses on all the three areas covered, in each and every interview they attend.
I wish to end this post by sharing one final tip.
Think of the interview process as a privilege.
Few are privileged to receive an interview invitation, and even fewer are fortunate enough to receive an internship offer.
Seeing that one is likely to devote a tremendous amount of time and effort in securing an interview, it would be a great shame if one chooses not to approach the interview, a huge privilege, with great enthusiasm, confidence, and energy.
Seeing your interview as a privilege should help motivate you to prepare yourself as well as possible. Once you feel that you are prepared to the best of ability, the execution part is less of an issue.
Good luck!
