Ready for finance job ?

Interviewing tips and practice questions.

Recruiting Practices & Strategy:

1) Opening for summer internships begin in October. Generally in financial sector recruitment is earlier than the other industry. It is important to get an early start.
2) Jobs are not readily available. Thus it is important that you understand the significance of networking in this challenging environment. You should meet with alumni, individuals that you meet at company presentations, current students, etc.
3) A good resume is essential to landing an interview. Take full advantage of resume workshops, second-year resume reviews, alumni reviews and consult career director/peer advisors to polish your resume.
4) Your resume should be set up so that it clearly highlights your achievements/abilities in the context of the Skills & Requirement sections above.
5) For most finance positions, informational interviews (as recommended for investment banking) are not the norm, but however, are beneficial.
6) In interviews, be prepared to discuss how you have demonstrated leadership, your quantitative skills, industry interest, why the company interests you and your strengths and weaknesses.
7) Not everyone will get a finance internship through campus recruiting. Each company will look to hire a handful of individuals so you must apply to many companies. You will have to follow-up with companies that meet your interests.



Interviewing Tips:

1. Know your resume well. Be prepared to discuss any item on your resume
2. Prepare your elevator speech (should be concise and relevant)
3. Be sure to know the difference between the different firms in the industry or functions
4. Review the company’s annual report/10-K and glance at its financial statements beforehand so you know the different sources of each component of revenues.
5. It is highly recommended that you make a concerted effort to meet people from the different firms through the presentations and through alumni contacts. In this reference try to use internal resource like career director and student advisor to get contacts.
6. It is probably a good idea to cast your net wide and try to interview with many companies, although you should act focused when meeting the respective companies.
7. It might be an idea to give each other mock interviews and to critique each other.
8. Be prepared for technical and non technical questions:


Sample Interview Questions:

General Questions:

1) Walk me through your resume.
2) What three things would your colleagues say about you?
3) Why did you decide to pursue an MBA? Why Atkinson?
4) Describe your experience with your study group. What role do you generally hold when completing projects? What would they say about you?
5) What has been your most challenging class first semester at Atkinson?
6) You are involved in a lot of things. Which is most important to you?
7) Tell me about an experience where your ethics or values were questioned and what you did.
8) Describe an obstacle you faced at work and how you overcame it.
9) Tell me about your biggest failure.

Finance Specific Questions:

1) Why do you want to work in this industry?
2) Why do you want to work at our particular firm?
3) What are the major issues facing this industry?
4) Tell me about a complex model that you built? How did you approach the situation?
5) How would you value a company?
6) Walk me through how to do a Free Cash Flow Valuation.
7) Describe WACC and how it applies to Discounted Cash Flow valuation.
8) If I can give you 2 out of the 3 financial statements from a company (Balance Sheet, Income Statement, Statement of Cash Flows) and ask you to pick 2 to reconstruct the 3rd statement, which would you choose?
10) What do you think about the flattening yield curve? Tell me about the ABC-XYZ merger?
11) Where do you see yourself in 5 years?


When you are given time to ask questions about the firm, use it well. Intelligent and relevant questions demonstrate your interest in the firm. If you do enough research on the firm beforehand, you are better positions to asked key questions. Advice: show real interest in the company.