Investment Banking Recruiting Secrets of the Top 1%

A common question during investment banking interviews is to talk about a time when you had to solve a complex problem. The interviewer wants to know that you’re capable of doing this, because that’s part of the job. Now, this can be a tricky question to come up with good examples for… Hear me brainstorm ideas with a student, and also talk about what to do if you don’t have any good examples to us...

“Why investment banking” is probably the second most important interview question you’ll get during the interview (after “tell me about yourself”). Everyone is going to have different answers to this question, it should not be one-size-fits-all. But some answers are better than others. Hear me give feedback to the three reasons one of my students provided for this question. Some of them definitely...

Our client Will comes from a low-income family, and had to take out loans and work part-time just to go to USC. Despite WSMM being a major financial investment for him, he did what most in his position would be too scared to do and invested in himself. Within 4 months, he had secured 3 job offers. He will be going to Centerview, one of the most elite and selective investment banks on Wall Street (...

When it comes to answering behavioral questions, it’s always hard to tell if your answer is what the banker wants to hear. Because there’s no “right” or “wrong” answer, unlike a technical interview question. What are some of the behavioral questions that most candidates answer poorly though? Hear this podcast to find out. You might be surprised at how basic some of these questions seem. Book a Vir...

Let’s say you had some networking conversations that went well awhile back. And now the bank’s application is open, and you’re about to apply. What do you do at this point to get those networking contacts to help you out? Should you apply first, then reach out to them? Or reach out to them first, then apply? Find out how I would approach this situation. It can get pretty nuanced! Book a Virtual Co...

Our client Kyle was a rising junior and the son of a long-time investment banker and private equity investor. Ever since he was young, he's wanted to follow in his dad's footsteps. Hear him explain why he decided to get help from Wall Street Mastermind despite already having his dad in his corner, as well as how we ended up with three different offers from top tier banks to choose from. Book a Vir...

If you have a first round interview coming up, you’re probably wondering what you should expect to be asked. After all, it’s just a 30 minute interview, which goes by pretty quickly. Is the 1st round interview more behavioral, or technical, or both? Hear my thoughts on this question. Book a Virtual Coffee Chat with an Upperclassmen Who Secured an Offer: wallstmastermind.com/apply?utm_source=podcas...

One of the most popular questions I get from students is “Sam, what are the most common technical concepts I’ll get asked about in interviews?” To be honest, you should learn everything no matter what, there really is no point trying to guess what will show up in an interview. But what if you are short on time and can’t prepare for everything? In that case, you’ll have to make some educated guesse...

Having a good elevator pitch is one of the most important things you need when it comes to networking. It’s what establishes the first impression that investment bankers have of you. A common mistake that people make when it comes to their elevator pitch, is not having enough “flow” in their story... And it ends up sounding like an itemization of everything on their resume… which is honestly very...

Recently, one of our students told me that he spends 1-2 hours preparing questions before each of his networking calls… I was shocked because that is WAY too long - ain’t nobody got time for that! Instead, I told him it should take no more than 5 minutes to prep for each call, and I walked him through a framework on how to do just that. Click the image below to watch me give him this piece of netw...

Our client Krish came to us as a junior trader/desk analyst on the leveraged loan desk at Cantor Fitzgerald. He wanted to switch from sales and trading to investment banking, and wanted our help with the technical interview preparation process. Hear him talk about why he chose to get our coaching, and why that was more effective than the interview guides and financial modeling courses he was using...

You’ve probably experienced this before: You reached out to a banker to network with them. The call goes well, you have a pleasant conversation. At the end of the call, the banker tells you to “stay in touch” and that they’ll “keep you in the loop on hiring.” But they don’t offer to give you the referral. What does this mean exactly? Where do you go from here? Was that a wasted effort? Hear me coa...

A lot of times during interviews or even networking calls, you will get asked industry-related questions. This is especially true if you’re interviewing for a specific industry coverage group (i.e. TMT, healthcare, FIG, etc.), or perhaps a smaller bank that only specializes in specific verticals (i.e. FTPartners for fintech). In these instances, it’s important for you to be well prepared when it c...

One of the most important questions that is guaranteed to come up in your investment banking interview is “why investment banking?” If you can’t give a compelling reason for why you want to have a job that makes you work 80-100 hours a week, you’re not going to be hired. What kind of answers are bankers looking for when it comes to this question though? Hear me coach my student on how to improve h...

Situational questions are very common during investment banking interviews and you definitely need to prepare for them. This is when the interviewer asks you “tell me about a time when you…” One of the most important things when it comes to answering situational questions is choosing the right example to use for your story. Hear me and my student talk through how to do this for “tell me about a ti...

Our client Takashi is someone who didn't have any background, resources, or information in investment banking. Despite this, he leveraged Wall Street Mastermind's help to secure an investment banking offer from Bank of America in the Tokyo office. Hear him talk about the difference between recruiting in the US and Asia, and why WSMM's program can help you no matter which office you recruit for. Bo...

Have you ever received an internship offer from a firm, while you were still waiting to hear back from other interviews? This can become a tricky situation, especially if the firms you’re waiting on is actually your top choice. Oftentimes, the offer you just received comes with an exploding deadline too, and you are being pressured into making a decision. In this situation, how can you ask for mor...

You probably already know that networking is an absolute necessity if you want to maximize your chances of getting selected for investment banking interviews. You also most likely know that the first step of networking is sending cold emails to the banker to ask them for a quick chat. If you haven’t been getting responses to your cold emails, one of the reasons is probably because your emails are...

Our client Nathan joined halfway through sophomore year as an international student. Despite having someone who had never used WSMM warning him that the program was a total scam, he did his own research and decided to take the plunge. Hear the difference WSMM made for him and how we helped him secure a banking internship despite a significant reduction in visa sponsorships during COVID-19. Book a...

Our client Harrison joined WSMM halfway through his sophomore year in order to get a clear roadmap on how to maximize his chances of breaking into investment banking from a non-target school. The biggest thing he wanted was efficiency in his preparation process, and that's what he got. Hear how he was able to spend no more than 5 hours of free time studying technicals, and still got multiple inter...

Have you ever had an interview that went really well, but you didn’t hear back for a long time? You are probably wondering if you have been dropped from the recruiting process. How should you follow up with them in this situation to see what your status is? One of my students had the same problem with his interview process at Piper Sandler. Check out the advice I gave him about how to follow up wi...

Are you at a non target school that has very few banking alumni… and even the ones that are on Wall Street are not in investment banking? One of my students asked me if a Sales & Trading alumni connection at Deutsche Bank can help him land a banking offer at Deutsche Bank. Should he keep that relationship alive? Hear my response to his question on how to logically think this through. Book a Virtua...

Our client Sriman recently received an offer from an upper middle market investment bank despite only having a 3.5 GPA and not knowing how to network or answer technical questions initially. Hear Sriman talk about how he was able to improve his resume, networking, technical knowledge, and behavioral interviewing skills all at once. You do not want to miss Sriman's advice! Book a Virtual Coffee Cha...

Ever feel like your elevator pitch sounds a bit canned? Meaning you feel like you sound like you are reading off a script? A lot of the times, you may just need someone else to listen to it because we are our harshest critiques. Hear me give advice to one of my students about his elevator pitch that he thought sounded canned. Book a Virtual Coffee Chat with an Upperclassmen Who Secured an Offer: w...

“Why Our Bank” is one of the very first questions bankers typically ask during interviews. It is pretty easy to answer that question for a top tier bank, but how would you answer that for a middle market bank? They might be wondering why you would choose a middle market bank over a bulge bracket or elite boutique bank, and you can’t really say it’s because you can’t get into a top tier bank. Check...