A job well done: interviews for graduate schemes with investment banks

Getting invited to an interview means that your application has sparked an employer’s interest, and this is your opportunity to add to the favourable impression you have already made. Most interviews for investment banking and investment management graduate jobs involve answering competence-based questions, designed to see whether you have the skills the recruiter needs.

Recruiter tip
'During an interview, listen to the exact question rather than trying to guess what we want to hear.'
Laura Everingham, graduate recruitment manager, Fidelity International

Before your graduate job interview

Once you’ve been invited to interview by an investment employer, reply by phone or e-mail within a couple of days. If you have decided not to pursue a particular opportunity, cancel the interview so as not to waste the interviewers’ time. It’s fine to pull out if you have secured an offer elsewhere – but don’t wait until the night before to leave a voicemail, or worse still, just not turn up on the day!

If you’re unsure about what to expect, you can call the recruitment team to ask a few questions. But make sure you have gone through their website and recruitment information thoroughly before you call.

Preparing for interview

Nearly all first interviews are structured around selection criteria, to make them as objective as possible. All candidates are asked more or less the same questions – the organisation thinks up the selection criteria and at interview examines whether you meet these. The questions are likely to follow three core themes:

• Why should we employ you?
• What interests you about the job?
• Why have you chosen to apply to us?

Work out the criteria and think about those obvious but tricky questions that are bound to come up but avoid sounding as if you have rehearsed your answers.

• How to answer interview questions from banking and investment recruiters

On the day

Be smart, business-like and try to ‘look the part’. Check the address and your itinerary beforehand and aim to arrive at least 15 minutes before your interview begins. Never be rude to receptionists – recruiters will be told and courteous behaviour is expected from staff (and hence future employees or interns) at all times.

Recruiters expect candidates to have done their homework on the firm they are interviewing with and to know why they are applying and what is going on in the wider world that may be relevant to the position they are applying for. Banking and investment employers want to see that you can hold informed conversations about topical subjects – essentially that you are aware of what’s going on in the real world.

Interviews are a two-way process. As well as being a chance for the interviewer to decide whether you would be the best person for the job, remember that interviews are also your opportunity to decide whether it’s the right employer for you.

Completing tests in an interview

If you’ve been asked to complete online tests as part of the application process, you may sometimes be asked to retake these when you attend an interview. This is so that the employer can verify that you’re able to get the same kind of results in person.

• Read up on how to pass psychometric tests