Investment banking interviews may seem daunting at first, but with proper preparation, students can enter them with poise and confidence. This section contains sample interview questions. It is by no means an exhaustive list, nor does it intend to be; we intend only to provide students with an idea of what to expect in interviews. Below you will find a compilation of general, technical and brain teaser questions individuals have encountered in interviews.
Helpful resources that prepare students for investment banking interviews include mock interviews and individuals who have had successful interview experience.
General/Behavioral Questions:
-
Tell me about yourself.
-
Walk me through your resume.
-
What is investment banking?
-
What will you be doing on a day-day basis?
-
What product or industry groups are you interested in?
-
Do you invest? If so, in what?
-
Who have you spoken to within our firm?
-
Why should we hire you?
-
What do you know about this group?
-
Why our company?
-
Where do you think the economy is headed?
-
Describe your ideal work environment.
-
Tell me a joke.
-
What do you do outside of school?
-
What are your strengths and weaknesses?
-
Where do you see yourself in five years?
-
How did you decide on UCLA and your major?
-
What do you think are the most important qualities an analyst should have?
-
What do you understand about the lifestyle of an analyst?
-
What are the qualities of a good leader? When have you demonstrated leadership?
-
Why should we hire you? How are you different from others?
-
What is your favorite subject in school? Tell me about it.
-
When deciding to invest in a company, what do you look at?
-
What was your role in XYZ committee?
-
What is the biggest adversity you have faced in your life?
-
Do you have any questions for me?
-
Give me a time when you have been in a team situation where people had conflicting interests?
-
What do you think you will enjoy most about investment banking and why? What will you enjoy the least?
-
What accomplishment are you most proud of?
-
When have you demonstrated leadership?
Technical Questions:
- Walk me through a DCF.
- What is valuation?
- What are different methods of valuing a company?
- Walk me through the financial statements. How do they tie together?
- How would a change in depreciation expense flow through the financial statements?
- How would a change in LIFO/FIFO flow through the financial statements?
- Walk me through an increase in depreciation expense of 10mm?
- What happens if capital expenditure increases by 10mm?
- Walk me through the purchase of a truck for 10 mm
- When would you issue debt and when would you issue equity?
- How would you normalize a $20m restructuring charge?
- Given such a change in interest rates, what will happen to bond prices?
- What is EBITDA? EBIT? Why are they important? When would you use EBIT vs. EBITDA?
- What is WACC? How do you calculate the growth rate for WACC?
- Where do you get the risk free rate?
- What are multiples? How do you know which ones to use?
- What is 15 x 17?
- Enterprise Value is 100, Equity value if 150, what is net debt?
- For Acquisition vs. Public Comparables, which would be greater and why?
- What are the drawbacks of using WACC in valuing companies?
- What multiples would a company use?
- When would a company issue debt? How about equity?
- What is cheaper, debt or equity?
- What is an LBO?
- What are some measures of cash flow for a company?
- How do you get FCF from EBITDA?
- What would happen to net change in working capital if receivables went up?
- What is our company’s stock price? Is it fairly valued or over-valued?
- You buy an investment for $100m, you sell it for $100m, how would you make a profit?
- What are the different types of debt? How do they differ?
- If interest rates increase, what happens to bond prices?
Brain Teasers:
-
What is the present value of a zero-coupon perpetuity?
-
It’s 9:45 pm, how would you go about finding the angle between the minute and hour hand?
-
Two boats are going at 10miles/hour. They are 5 miles from one another. How long before they hit?
-
What is the sum of all the numbers between one and one hundred?
-
If this table was full of pennies, do you think they could stack up to measure this building?
July 18, 2007 at 1:50 pm
Do you have some sort of prepared answer key to the above questions? Most are fairly easy, however I would not mind an explanation of Brain Teaser #1.
October 12, 2007 at 4:13 pm
Brain Teaser 1:
The present value of a bond is always equal to the present value of all future cash flows. Since a zero-coupon bond does not pay interest, the PV would be the present value of the cash flow an investor would get in the year that bond matures. However, a perpetual zero-coupon implies that there is no maturity date. Thus, an investor would never get any cash flow from this – not in or form of interest or increased value. The PV would thus be 0.