Bank on Banking

When it comes to the superday – that potentially treacherous and daunting day-long series of interviews that essentially holds your career in its hands – you definitely need to keep your wits about you and stay sharp throughout, but what else? What do you need to not just survive the gauntlet, but to thrive in it and ultimately earn that coveted position? To help you breeze through, I have put together a few points that are sure to help you rock your next superday.

The obvious

I know that I don’t need to mention these points, but it can’t hurt. For any interview, you need to know your material – both the technical knowledge and the fit/behavioral examples and responses. Additionally, you need to have a firm handle on your interview skills – body language, presence, eye contact, and correct the stutterings/pauses/ums/etc. Finally, you need to get some sleep the night before and be well rested ahead of your interview in order to be sharp and ready to go. For the superday, all of this still holds true, but magnify it by a few times to get in the right ballpark. In other words, the superday is designed to test all of the technical knowledge that they expect someone of your background to know – several times, and test your responses and consistency with your fit/behavioral questions – several times. Basically, know your stuff, know it well and be ready to get hit from multiple directions (meaning you could be asked the same question many times in a few different ways over the course of the day).

The marathon

As I’ve already hinted at in my previous point, you should think of the superday as a marathon – if you start off really bad, it’s tough to get ahead by the end. If you start off good, but fall apart at the end, the result is the same – you lose and generally have a poor showing. The key is to start strong, keep it going throughout and close with no less intensity, focus and drive. The goal is to come into the start of the first interview as a confident, capable and eloquent candidate, and close that very last interview in the exact same manner (with each interview in between just as strong). As far as strategy goes, again, not much different than a marathon: drink plenty of water (to avoid coughing or having a dry mouth during your interviews – although it could just be a lack of water, it could easily be seen as a sign of nerves, uneasiness or even panic), pace yourself (meaning don’t get too excited and too eager – keep yourself upbeat and excited, but not to the point where you will burn out by the 2nd interview), and really enjoy the few minutes between the interviews (and the interview break, which is where you are not assigned an interview for one session – this is your “break” for the day) to gather your thoughts, take a breather and have a quick recharge/snack ahead of the next round (ok, maybe this last part isn’t the same as a marathon, but you get the metaphor). Staying fresh and excited will definitely help you to keep your composure, form strong answers and stay ahead of the competition.

Remember your answers

For technical questions this is a no-brainer as technical questions have a “right answer” and a “wrong answer.” Behavioral questions, on the other hand, are far more subjective and are based on your experiences and opinions. You don’t want to go into an interview and give 6 different answers to straightforward behavioral questions such as “why banking,” “what is your leadership style,” or “why bank X”. Interviewers take notes and compare their notes after the superday. Keeping your answers consistent (not word for word – but experience with experience, lesson with lesson, rationale with rationale) will allow your responses to sound genuine and valid, as opposed to made up on the spot and falsified.

On a related note, don’t memorize your answers word for word. Although this is the opposite of not remembering your answers at all, it too is bad for your interview. You don’t want to sound so rehearsed that everything comes off as sounding scripted, insincere and, honestly, robotic. You want the interview to feel as though you are coming up with these answers on the spot, but since they are your experiences, you aren’t stumbling through them and changing facts and reasoning each time. So while you should absolutely have your answers to common questions – such as leadership scenarios, weaknesses, strengths, etc – ready to go, you never want it to sound like a monologue. Instead, have more of an outline and main idea ready, without every word and every sentence scripted out. By keeping it fresh, keeping it interesting and keeping the conversation original (as opposed to memorized), you will add sincerity and validity to all of your responses.

Stock your questions

Have several questions ready to go for the interviewers – you should have at least 3 questions ready to go for the interviewers for 2 reasons: 1) you don’t know what the interviewers will go through at the beginning of the interview about themselves and you always want at least 1-2 questions to ask them at the end of the interview, that they haven’t covered, if time permits, and 2) you don’t want to ask every interviewer the exact same single question – mix it up a bit – show that you are interested in the bankers, the opportunity, the industry, etc – not just running through a script. A few examples include: “If you were asked to express your reason for your interest in banking through just one experience, what would it be” or “if you could go back in time and tell yourself one thing about this job before you started, what would it be and would it have made you think twice about pursuing the career?”

As an aside, end of interview questions aren’t going to make or break your candidacy (although some boutiques might weigh them a bit heavier as boutiques are often random in their decision criteria). That said, it is a simple way to exit the interview on a high note and leave a good impression. It’s pretty easy to think of a good question or two and deliver it, so why not? Just do it.

Don’t get lazy

No matter how tired you are, and this goes back to point 1, do not get lazy with your answers, with your eye contact, etc – always treat every interview as if it were the only interview and the interview that makes or breaks your acceptance. Make the most of this opportunity – don’t leave the interview thinking “crap, I could have done better” or “damn, I wish I didn’t have said this or that.”

One of my colleagues knew a candidate that had 7 superday interviewers (7 interviews in 1 day). He rocked the first 3 or so, then got a bit lazy, and then closed really strong for the last two. Now, he thought he rocked the entire thing and had the offer in the bag – he was, unfortunately wrong. It turns out that 6 or the 7 interviewers really liked him and 1 interviewer didn’t – the applicant “rubbed him the wrong way.” Rather than change that 1 interviewer’s mind, they dinged the applicant – over 1 interviewer. Does it happen all of the time and everywhere, I don’t know, probably not to that degree, but it does happen. The bottom line is: treat every interview of a superday as if it were the only interview of the final round – don’t give any one of your interviewers a silly reason (like getting lazy or cocky) to not offer you the position.

Stay tuned for future posts and a fresh product coming out this weekend!