The interview day: how an interview runs, and how to carry it

Three interviews, or eight^1,2

Some banks decide an internship on three or four interviews in a single round; others run first and second rounds with up to seven or eight between them. They usually come in blocks of three or four, back to back. Occasionally a bank runs a second round in the morning, tells candidates at lunch who is through, and holds a third round that afternoon. Goldman Sachs, for comparison, describes a video first round and a final round of two to five interviews depending on the division.

Anyone from analyst to managing director³

Interviewers come from every level of the team. An analyst a year or two older than you is judging something different from a managing director - whether you would be good to work beside at 1am, against whether you could one day be put in front of a client - and both count.

Mostly rapid questions, sometimes a case⁴

The dominant format is a run of short technical questions, because the interviewer wants to cover as many topics as possible in the time. Some banks use one interview of the round for a case study instead. On-campus recruiting can move the first round to your university, with the later rounds at the bank.

The opening is not small talk¹

The first five to ten minutes are your CV, your motivation and what you want next, sometimes with a question on the markets to round it off. It is where the interviewer decides what to probe, so each station you mention should give them a hook into banking. The fit page has the story itself.

The middle scales with your background¹

The technical part starts from what a degree teaches - discounting, the CAPM - and moves into what only banking uses: multiples, the M&A process, the division's own products. How far it goes depends on what you have done. A candidate with prior internships gets harder questions, and a newcomer gets no allowance for being new. Accounting runs through all of it.

Germany asks more technical questions^1,5

A German guide reports that interviews in Germany ask noticeably more and harder technical questions, while London interviews ease off the technicals and weigh personal fit more. That matches a candidate's account of interviewing in several cities, on the Frankfurt page. Two sources, both describing a tendency rather than a rule.

Brainteasers: rare, fair, and about pressure^1,6

Some bankers like a brainteaser to see how you reason under stress, and may hurry you while you solve it. The German guide insists interviews are fair: no unsolvable problems, no traps, every question answerable by knowledge or by reasoning. Mergers & Inquisitions goes further and says brainteasers are not worth preparing for at all. Between them: do not drill puzzles, but practise reasoning out loud under a clock.

Always ask something¹

Ending without a question reads as a lack of interest, and the last five minutes are the one chance to hear from inside the bank how the team works. Prepare the questions beforehand; the ones that occur to you in the room are rarely the good ones. Ask about the work and the team, not about pay or hours.

Recited answers get found out⁷

An interviewer who suspects an answer was learned by heart will ask the same thing again from two or three other angles, and a candidate who memorised rather than understood runs out within a minute. Only tick a question off once you could discuss it with someone who knows the subject, not once you can repeat the answer.

An unfamiliar question wants a method, not the answer⁸

Candidates often assume a question they do not recognise has one exact answer they are failing to produce, and then stall or invent one. The interviewer knows you cannot know everything; what they want is to watch you structure the problem and work towards an approach. Say what you would need to know, set out the options, and commit to one.

Think out loud⁹

The commonest mistake with a calculation or a hard question is going silent. Say each step as you take it, so the interviewer can follow the approach - and nudge you back on course if you drift. Silence gives them nothing to credit and nothing to help with.

Arrive rested, with time in hand⁹

The worst start is a train with thirty minutes of slack: any delay turns into a sprint and a flustered first impression. If the bank is far away, travel the day before. A cheap hotel room is a small cost against what the day can decide.

Dress: formal, dark and plain¹⁰

A dark grey or navy suit, a plain light shirt without a breast pocket, and a dark, plain tie if you wear one; plain black leather shoes and belt. Avoid bright colours, loud patterns, novelty accessories and visible body jewellery, and cover tattoos. The same sobriety applies to every alternative - a trouser suit and a closed blouse, say. The office itself is usually less formal than the interview.

The first minute⁹

Stand to greet the interviewer and give your full name clearly. If you are handed a business card, look at it and lay it on the table rather than pocketing it unread. At a long table sit along the side, ideally at a corner, not at the head, and wait for the interviewer to sit before you do.

Voice and posture carry the answer⁹

Speak clearly and not too fast; a thin, rushed or mumbled delivery reads as nerves before any content lands. Sit upright, keep arms uncrossed, look at the interviewer, and leave your ring, watch and pen alone. None of this wins an offer, but each can lose one.

Du or Sie: let them choose¹¹

In German interviews most bankers use the informal du, and many analysts are barely older than the candidate. If the interviewer uses du, answer in kind - sticking to Sie then comes across as stiff. But some prefer the formal register, so never be the one to switch first.

The interview ends at the door⁹

Thank the interviewer if you like, but do not use the walk to the door for a point you forgot or a last question. Between interviews you wait in the room for the next one; after the last, you will be shown out.

Decisions are fast; silence usually means no^12,13

Most banks decide the same day or the next, and an offer typically arrives within 24 to 48 hours. Rejections can take weeks or never come - in London the norm has long been not to reply at all. Mergers & Inquisitions says the same of the US: radio silence almost always means no.

Thank-you notes: the sources disagree^9,13

The German guide calls follow-up emails and immediate LinkedIn requests to interviewers an unwelcome habit - the interview is over when it is over. US-facing advice runs the other way: Mergers & Inquisitions tells candidates who have heard nothing after two days to email one or two of their interviewers. Follow the local norm: in Germany, nothing; in New York, one short note. Nowhere does a connection request before the decision help.

If you must chase, chase once^12,13

Chasing a decision too early is frowned on. In the German guide's reckoning, one polite enquiry after more than a week of silence is acceptable; the US norm is closer to two days. Either way, one message, then move on to the next application.