Bank on Banking

The resume gets you in the door, but it is the interview that closes the deal. It’s time to be a closer. Presenting BankonBanking’s Interviewing 101. Below is a list of 7 introductory interview strategies that, if followed and executed properly, will definitely get you on your way to landing a job in banking. A lot of these strategies are going to seem obvious, but, in my experience, it is often the obvious things that slip away from us first when put on the spot. Nothing comes over night, but through practice, you’ll be nailing interviews in no time. Without further ado, let’s kick this list off.

Be on time

10-15 minutes early is on time; 40-60 minutes early and you’re a stalker. Essentially, the potential employer wants to make sure that you are 1) punctual and respectful of their time and 2) that the position is important to you and that you are eager to make a good impression. 10-15 minutes early articulates both of these points, 45 minutes early has essentially the same effect as being 20 minutes late – you are not respectful of their time (you are pretty much squatting in their office for nearly an hour, while everyone tries to go about their business), and you are either not interested in making a great impression, or are completely oblivious to office courtesy – either way, not a good move. Note: if you’re coming from far away, and you happen to arrive 45 minutes or so early, don’t check in, instead, grab a cup of coffee or grab a seat nearby to kill some time – study crib notes, read a book, or just relax.

STAR Method

Situation, Task, Action, Resolution – the STAR method for answering behavioral-based interview questions.

I generally like to stick to this method when it comes to answering case study/behavioral interview questions for the simple reason that it is, well, simple. By following this formulaic approach to answering questions, you avoid the common trap of chronologically skipping around the story, leaving out key details, and often, failing to answer the question entirely. When asked a behavioral question, begin by briefly going through the background situation as whole, and then describe the task that you specifically had to, or volunteered to, complete. Continue by describing the actions that you took in order to complete the task, and close with the resolution – as in, what was the result of your actions, and lessons learned (would you have approached it differently if given the opportunity to do it again, did you learn something about the job, or the task that made you a stronger employee/student, etc.). The trick here is to remember that although the approach is formulaic, your response shouldn’t be – you should not natural and relaxed, not rehearsed and mechanical.

Short and sweet

Another aspect of your answers during an interview that you want to be mindful of is the length of your answers, in other words, how long you spend on each question that the interviewer asks. There is by no means a science to this thing, but in general, stick to the question that is asked, and answer it in a straightforward manner. Don’t speed through your words and blurt out half a sentence, but, at the same time, don’t ramble on and on chewing up minutes of interview time when you were simply asked “would you be willing to relocate?” It is important to practice interviewing and run some mock interviews, even if just in the mirror to try to find that happy medium between being curt and rambling like a fool. Remember, everything that you say in an interview is being evaluated, so less is often more. The more detail that you offer, the more you are providing ammo to the interviewer for questions, and the more red flags that you could potentially raise.

Be honest, but don’t give away the farm

Honesty is the best policy, in general, but remember, you are being analyzed and scrutinized on every word that comes out of your mouth. Interviewers often like to ask loaded questions, which means that they are asking questions with the intention of receiving the answer that they want to hear. If, for example, a company asks you whether you would be fine relocate to Chicago in the future, knowing that the company’s headquarters is in Chicago, and you say no, I don’t like Chicago, I only want to be in D.C, then, needless to say, you are not exactly giving off a very great impression, nor are you appearing to be a team player, in this case. There are many types of questions like this, and in these situations, it is important to remember your surroundings – you are in an interview, trying to secure a job in an ultra-competitive marketplace. Do not blatantly lie, by any means, but you do not have to share every secret and every detail either. Again, less is more, so whether you are answering a loaded question, or just being asked a hypothetical, remember, honesty is the best policy, but then again, since when does business, or the government for that matter, always abide by the “best” of policies.

Take a minute, think, and then speak

You’ll probably notice that many of these helpful tips tie together, but that’s simply because the best interview answers come from joining a combination of these tricks, not just following one, and forgetting about the rest. Many times throughout your interview career you will find that you are put on the spot to answer a case study question, a brain teaser, a question that seems to be loaded, or just a question that seems like it should merit a bit of a longer response than usual. In any of these instances, and many others for that matter, it is important to stop, take a minute to think (some people like to almost repeat the question in declarative format as they begin to answer to ensure that they are about to answer what was actually asked of them) and then begin your answer. So many very well-qualified candidates blow the interview because they are asked a question that they have been asked before and immediately start running off at the mouth before thinking it through. The common result is a garbled mush of words and phrases that, whether they answer the question or not, are so poorly laced together that the answer itself is almost irrelevant. By taking a few minutes to reflect on the question and then delivering your response, you drastically cut down your propensity to stutter, garble words, and, worst of all, ramble on without ultimately answering the question itself.

Know your profile, know yourself and know your resume

This one should go without saying, but, I’ll say it anyway. In an interview, everything on your resume is fair game, so while you should be very aware of your candidacy in general, and be able to speak articulately to your past employment experiences and notable projects (I mean if you can’t, then who can, no one should know you better than, well, you), you should absolutely know your resume backwards and forwards. I have been asked every question that one could possibly ask about my resume, from major work experiences, to licenses, to volunteer projects, to the smallest hobby at the bottom of the page (ultimate Frisbee, for example, “when do you find time to play it,” “describe the game to me, I’ve never played,” “when did you first start playing it,” “what is the ideal number of players and field size,” and so forth). Like I said, if it’s on your resume, it’s fair game, so be ready and simply, know yourself.

Familiarize yourself with the basics (finance and accounting)

Before walking into an interview for banking, please take a little bit of time the day or two before and just revisit some of the basics of finance (DCF, Required Return, WACC, what ratios to look at when valuing a company) and accounting (3 financial statements and their parts should cover it), just to avoid being tripped up on some of the basic technical questions. It’s ok to be tripped up later in the technical questions (as there is often a series of questions asked each drilling further into your knowledge of a particular equation or principle until you get stumped), but you do not want to stumble on the first question. If, for example, I ask you, “what are the three financial statements,” then follow up with, “if you had to pick one statement to evaluate a company, which would it be and why,” then, since you said income statement (for argument sake), I follow up with, “how do I get to net income,” and then “what is earnings per share,” and then, “what is diluted earnings per share,” and finally, “how do I get to fully diluted earnings per share,” you want to at least get through the first 2 questions without much of a problem. It sounds easy to many of you, but there are far more difficult chains that I could have chosen; this was purely an example of a chain of questions designed to get you to stumble eventually. By knowing the basics you can position yourself in the proper light, without stumbling too early. You are expected to stumble, but if they are asking you these types of questions, they are NOT expecting you to stumble immediately.

Stay tuned for upcoming posts on conquering some of the most common interview questions, Interview 202 (the art of articulating your point), a brief guide to networking, and a whole bunch more!