馃攳
Why Investment Banking Interview Question (Stop Doing This) - YouTube
Channel: Tier 1 Wall Street
[0]
- In this video, I'm gonna show you
[1]
some clever, little-known
psychology tricks
[4]
you can use to answer the
[6]
why investment banking interview question,
[9]
or why asset management
interview question,
[12]
why private equity, et cetera.
[14]
Later on, I'm gonna actually show you
[16]
how some of my students
actually used this strategy
[20]
to land the Guggenheim
Investment Banking internship,
[25]
a project finance investment banking job,
[28]
and even a high-yield
credit hedge fund job.
[31]
So, let's dive in.
[32]
(percussive dance music)
[37]
Right off the bat, why this question?
[40]
It kind of seems stupid,
like what's the point?
[44]
But, to be honest, it's
probably one of the most
[48]
important questions you need to absolutely
[50]
crush in the interview.
[52]
And the whole idea behind it is for you
[56]
to answer all of the
interviewer's objections
[59]
that they may have of you.
[60]
So, think of things like
who the hell are you,
[64]
why should they even care about you?
[67]
Do you even know anything
about investment banking,
[69]
or private equity, or asset management?
[72]
And do you even know
anything about this firm?
[75]
Your question needs to be able to answer
[78]
every single one of those
objectives very, very well.
[81]
The typical answers
students do a lot of times
[83]
are really, really dumb, basic things,
[86]
like for example oh,
I'm just so passionate
[90]
about this field; or I'm just
such a competitive person;
[94]
or oh, I just love the
high-paced environment;
[98]
or sometimes they'll even go
stupider or do things like
[101]
oh, I love modeling and investing.
[103]
Like, whoop-de-do, that's
not gonna get you the job.
[107]
You need to be unique,
you need to stand out,
[110]
and your answer needs to convey that.
[113]
So, there's three steps you want to use
[117]
when answering this question.
[119]
Number one, you need a really good hook.
[122]
So what is a hook?
[123]
A hook is essentially a really weird
[125]
or unique story you can
tell about yourself,
[129]
your family, a family friend,
[132]
that's just gonna be so
weird and interesting
[134]
that right off the bat it's
gonna grab their attention,
[138]
make them want to listen to you
[140]
throughout the rest of your answer,
[141]
and more importantly give them something
[144]
that they're gonna
remember you by later on.
[146]
Number two, you need to
have a good transition.
[149]
So you need to be able to transition
[152]
from your hook into your kind
of more boring actual answer.
[156]
So your gonna be able to tell a story,
[158]
and then transition into
[159]
how that relates to investment banking,
[161]
or how that relates to private
equity, whatever it is.
[165]
Number three, you gotta
name drop a little bit.
[168]
So, after your transition
you basically need
[170]
to be able to say that
hey, I talked to so and so
[175]
at the firm and this
other person at the firm
[177]
about their experience and
the deals they worked on,
[180]
et cetera, et cetera, to show that hey,
[183]
I actually know some people here.
[186]
So, let's get into some examples.
[189]
So, I had a student that was interviewing
[192]
for Guggenheim's Investment
Banking internship recently,
[196]
and we were having some trouble
[198]
trying to figure out a story.
[199]
Essentially, we were able
to finally find something
[201]
that was kind of interesting
because he was a D1 swimmer.
[205]
And I'm like all right, give
me some more details on it.
[207]
Eventually, he was able to tell me
[210]
that he met Michael Phelps,
Ryan Lochte, and Katie Ledecky
[215]
who are three of the biggest
U.S. Olympic swimmers.
[218]
And I'm like (hands slap)
boom, there's your hook.
[221]
So lead off with that,
and then we can transition
[223]
into your answer from there.
[225]
So basically, here's how it went.
[227]
He pretty much started off by saying
[229]
he's always been a competitive person,
[232]
hard worker, thrives in
high-pressure situations;
[237]
then we kind of started
talking about swimming
[238]
and how D1 swimming led
him to meet Michael Phelps,
[242]
Ryan Lochte, Katie Ledecky who shared
[245]
some great insights with him and
[247]
(fingers snap) boom, there's
his hook to grab people.
[250]
From there, he starts his transition
[252]
by pretty much saying
that through the swim team
[256]
he was able to meet other
alumni that used to swim
[259]
that ended up working at
Guggenheim Investment Banking
[263]
and other investment banks,
[264]
and told them about deal A, B, and C,
[268]
and basically told the
stories behind that.
[271]
And from there, he started getting into
[274]
a little bit of his
name dropping by saying
[276]
from there, that got him really interested
[278]
in a career path in investment banking,
[281]
and that led him to reach out
to some people at Guggenheim
[286]
that ended up telling him
about this deal they worked on
[288]
and that deal they worked on.
[291]
And because of that, he
just knew it would be
[293]
a great fit for him
based on his background,
[296]
the people he talked to,
et cetera, et cetera.
[298]
So number one, he had a
great hook in the beginning
[301]
by being able to talk about
those big-name swimmers.
[304]
Two, he was able to make his transition
[306]
by talking about how
people on the swim team
[309]
actually ended up pursuing a
career in investment banking,
[312]
and that's how he first
found out about it.
[314]
Three, he was able to
drop some names later on
[316]
by saying he actually reached
out to people at Guggenheim,
[319]
asked about their experience,
[321]
talked about some of the
deals they did, et cetera.
[323]
(hands clap)
[324]
So, that ended up being
a great answer for him.
[328]
Here's another one, I had a student
[330]
that was interviewing
for a project finance
[332]
boutique investment bank,
and he needed a story.
[335]
And eventually he kind of told me about
[338]
how he had a family friend
[339]
that actually bought up a
bunch of land around Phoenix
[343]
back in the day, and used to
do deals with John McCain.
[346]
And I'm like boom, there's your hook
[349]
right off the beginning,
because you know someone
[351]
that did some of these crazy deals
[353]
with John McCain back in the day.
[355]
So here's how it went.
[357]
He starts off by basically telling him
[359]
how he always used to
talk to this family friend
[362]
that used to tell him these stories about
[364]
all these deals he did back
in the day with John McCain.
[368]
(fingers snap)
There's his hook.
[369]
From there, he kinda starts his transition
[371]
by basically saying that because of that,
[374]
that got him interested in the idea of
[376]
project finance investment banking
[378]
because of all these different deals
[381]
and the story he heard from
his family and friends;
[384]
and that led him to reach
out to some of the people
[386]
at the firm he's interviewing with
[388]
to hear about their experience,
[390]
some of the deals he worked
on, et cetera, et cetera;
[392]
and that's how he determined
[394]
this would just be a great fit for me
[396]
because of what I've always
heard about it in the past
[400]
and the people I've talked to there.
[401]
So one, he had his hook
with the John McCain story.
[405]
Two, he made his transition
by basically saying
[407]
that by hearing all these
stories back in the day,
[410]
that got him interested in
[411]
project finance investment banking.
[413]
Three, he was able to name drop
[415]
some of the people at the firm,
[417]
and talk about their experiences.
[419]
So boom, another great
example of how to do it.
[422]
Last one, so this was a
student that was interviewing
[425]
for a high-yield credit hedge fund,
[428]
so a little different here,
so not banking but still
[431]
the same idea applies.
[433]
So basically, he ended up telling me about
[435]
how he always heard these
stories from his dad
[438]
back in the day, when his dad used to work
[440]
at Salomon Brothers back in
the heyday of Michael Milken
[444]
and the junk bonds and all that crazy shit
[446]
that happened back in the 80s.
[447]
And I'm like great, there's
a hook right off the bat.
[451]
Tell them some Salomon stories,
[452]
tell them some Michael Milken stuff,
[454]
that's obviously gonna grab
their attention right away.
[457]
So that's what he did, so
then he led with that hook,
[460]
told them some stories
about some of the stuff
[462]
his dad used to tell him
[463]
about working at Salomon
Brothers back in the day.
[466]
From there he started his transition
[468]
by pretty much saying that
because of hearing these stories
[471]
and all the really, really interesting
[473]
crazy stuff behind it,
that got him hooked on
[476]
the idea of working in credit
[478]
and doing credit-based investing.
[480]
And lastly, he did his
kind of name dropping
[484]
by basically mentioning
that because of this,
[487]
that's what led him to
look at this firm here,
[489]
the one he's interviewing with,
[491]
and he ended up talking
to person A, B, and C
[494]
about their experiences, some
of the deals they worked on,
[497]
and he even brought up some of the stuff
[499]
that's going on now.
[500]
So for example, PG and E,
that utility out in California
[504]
that's dealing with all those fires.
[506]
He talked about the
situation with their bonds
[508]
and their debt, et cetera, et cetera.
[511]
So boom, he hooked them right away
[513]
with the Michael Milken and
Salomon Brothers stories.
[516]
Two, he was able to make
an easy transition there,
[519]
because basically hearing those stories
[521]
got him hooked on the
idea of credit investing.
[523]
Three, he did his name
dropping by talking about
[526]
the people he ended up
networking with at the firm,
[529]
their experiences, et cetera, et cetera.
[531]
So, that's the idea behind
answering this question.
[534]
It's the best way you can do it.
[536]
You might just have to think a little bit
[538]
about the types of stories you can use,
[541]
whether it's something you
did, a family friend did,
[543]
or a friend did that you can kind of use
[545]
to hook them in the beginning.
[548]
And then from there you
make a smooth transition,
[550]
talk about some of the people you know
[552]
working for the firm, it's the best way
[554]
you could possibly answer this question.
[556]
So, any comments on this
feel free to drop them below.
[560]
Feel free to share with any friends
[562]
if you think it helped, and
subscribe if you want more.
[564]
(percussive dance music)
Most Recent Videos:
You can go back to the homepage right here: Homepage