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Congratulations, you’ve landed a sales & trading summer intern interview at an investment bank!
This guide will hopefully provide some value along the process, and hopefully assist you in getting an offer.
I’ve had my fair share of struggles entering the industry, so do message me in the contact section if there is anyway I can help.
The interview process usually looks something like below:
- Round 1 interview – Someone junior (probably my level) will interview you and make sure you know the basics of role you’re applying for. They basically want to make sure you’re not a complete idiot.
- Round 2 to N– You’ll likely have a series of follow ups with people of increasing seniorities (Vice Presidents to Managing Directors). This will likely focus on different topics (e.g. behavioral, market knowledge, product knowledge).
- Superday – a multi-hour interview at the firms headquarters (or Zoom), where you will meet the recruiting team, other candidates, and be inundated with a series of interviews & written tests.
The interview is very important, and there are definitely many ways to prepare and obtain a huge edge in the process.
The following posts will give more details on the process and how you can prepare. A good impression can be a game-changer, considering interviewers only get to speak to you for 30-60 minutes at best.
For the interview, there isn’t a specific weighting per se, but I’d split each component (behavioral, technical etc) as the following:
- Behavioral (70% )
- Technical (20% )
- Others (personality, extracurricular) (10%)
Although people tend to worry about the technical portion, the behavioral questions are by far the most important, and will often decide whether you get another interview or an offer.
For entry-level positions, the interviewer will often assume the applicant knows close to nothing (unless you claim to be an expert in your resume, in which case prepared to be challenged), so will instead try to assess whether you are someone the bank wants to work with & train.
You might get a basic question on your view on the market or what stock you might like, but again, these types of questions can be easily prepared.
The behavioral part gives interviewers a rough sense of the type of person you are, and whether you have the qualities to become a good Sales or Trader.
However, do understand that interviewers are also human, and have their own preferences towards the type of people they like, which is why I left 10% to Others. You can call it randomness as well if preferred.
For example, if your interviewer happens to be a top Managing Director and you both share a passion for kayaking, then getting a offer will just that bit easier.
However, decision-making often isn’t rarely delegated to one person, so you’ll likely speak to a group of people who will then debate, and the process will not be left to the whims of some random person who might be having a particularly bad day (unless it’s the Group head, in which case too bad)
I will go into more detail about the behavioral interview in the next post, so stay in tuned.