Finance Interview Insider Tips: What to expect

I’ve gone on a lot of interviews, including interviews where I didn’t really want the job just to gain confidence and experience in interviewing. If you are not a senior in college, I would highly suggest at least going to a few interviews for internships even if you don’t ultimately want the job. Preparation is important, and you don’t want your very first interview to be for that job you really want. Here are a list of interesting questions I’ve gotten at interviews and what you might expect for these companies or similar ones:

Wachovia:
This interview was probably my most memorable. Of the two men interviewing me, both were graduates of MIT and made sure you knew that. After a few behavioral questions, they asked me to a valuation…of a bridge. That’s right. A bridge. The question went something like this:
“Suppose there is town A, which is a factory town, and town B, which is mostly residential. Connecting these two towns is a bridge, and the bridge is for sale. You have been hired to do a valuation of the bridge. Ask me some questions to help you do the valuation.”
So I asked if there was a toll, which it turned out there was. I asked about the volume of traffic on the bridge, the annual revenue, the costs of repairs and maintenance to the bridge, and if there were any other bridges nearby. Then one of the interviewers said there was a “news alert” that the factory had closed down.

To me, this was a bit bizarre. But don’t think it can’t happen to you- case studies, whether it’s just you doing the analysis or a group, are very popular.

Unilever:
Unilever has a few different divisions of finance, and currently it was obvious they are looking for diversified employees. This is a good company if you are looking for a corporate finance position. There are only two rounds of interviewing, so if you make it to the “on-site” interview in Englewood, NJ, you are in the final round. You’ll have a few interviews with upper level executives who will ask you mostly behavioral questions. Stress teamwork, analytical skills, and how much you also like marketing (because you’ll work with the financing of marketing food products) and you’ll have this in the bag. Not really a stressful interview, so don’t worry too much. This did include a group case study, where each student was assigned a role and we had to divvy up a budget between each of our prerogatives. Of course, not nearly enough money was provided so negotiation, compromise, and teamwork was necessary.

Cambridge Associates:
Cambridge also has two rounds. The first person you will interview with is from HR, so you don’t need to dazzle them as much with your finance knowledge than you do with your “soft” skills. Of course mentioning finance buzzwords is great, but they aren’t going to be asking you to do a DCF. The next round is with the executives and the analysts as the firm, and you should prepare a long list of questions because you’ll meet with at least 6 of them. I was asked questions such as “Explain the difference between venture capital and private equity” and “Explain what you think the job entails and what alternative assets are”. Always be able to give a synopsis of what you think the day-to-day responsibilities of the job are. All companies want to know you did your homework and you understand exactly what you’ll be getting into, so if they offer you the position there is a better chance of your acceptance.

To be continued next week…