Internship Interview At A Bulge Bracket Bank

Recently, I went for an interview at one of the world's largest bank in the world. It is a bulge bracket bank. I will put down some of the questions that were asked of me here. I did incredibly bad during the interview as I was not prepared. I was stammering at times and I was simply not composed enough. This post is to remind myself never to make the same mistakes again and always be aware of your own personal resume. Also, it might be good to go for some public speaking courses and interview workshops if you feel you need help. I will now move on to the questions.

Questions:

1. Tell me about yourself (killer question).
2. Why are you interested in the specific division by the bank?
3. Tell me about your experience (interest related).
4. Tell me about your working experience.
5. Why are you interested in the markets?
6. Why would coming from a specific background disadvantaged you?
7. Tell me about your analysis experience (resume - student club related).
8. So you see yourself working in sales? Why?
9. Sell him something (there were 2 interviewers).
10. Why this thing instead of the other? How is this different?
11. Are there any questions for us?

I was not very sure about some of the items on my own resume and there were times I tried to bullshit my way across. I felt very bad as the interviewers, being the seasonsed professionals they are were able to catch hold of my smoke and questioned me even further.

There were major screw ups that I made, and they include not asking enough questions to sell a person something which resulted in me defending my flawed sales pitch, being too aggressive, talking about my own personal background story, rambling on and on without answering specific questions, being unaware of the items in my resume.

The funny thing is that when the interview ended, they did not even mention that they will get in touch with me. I was surprised and felt that I have really fared badly. There are no excuses and I have to fix some parts of myself.

Some New Year Resolutions:

1. Take part in public speaking courses
2. Take part in interview workshops
3. Practice speaking slowly, confidently and clearly
4. Brush up on my technical knowledge
5. Follow the markets closely and find my own personal story
6. Invest actively and meet more new people
7. Being brave enough to take a step forward, out of my own comfort zone
8. Being hardworking and finishing all my tutorials on time
9. Keeping my body fit and healthy
10. Cutting the habit of an afternoon nap

This interview was a wake up call to me. I have grown too complacent with myself after achieving the things I did. I now need to stay consistent and always keep on being aware and hardworking. If not, I will be like the hare who sleeps during a race. Wake up!