Interview Guide

How a first-round actually runs and the full range of technicals you get tested on.

1
How a first-round interview is structured
The order a first-round IB interview almost always runs in, and the hard truth underneath it: at the analyst level the technicals are what decide it. Ace the fit half and bomb the technicals and it is usually a no-go, and here is why.
4 min readPreview
2
The range of technicals you get tested on
The technical universe of a first-round IB interview is smaller than it feels. It comes down to six areas: accounting, enterprise vs equity value, DCF, the three valuation methods, accretion / dilution, and the paper LBO. Here is the map, with a lesson on each.
4 min readAI AssistantPreview
3
Answer the question, then stop
The most common note in a mock interview is not that the answer was wrong. It is that it was too long. Real target lengths for every kind of question, why over-answering actively costs you, and the ordering trick that makes a 30-second answer feel complete.
5 min readPreview
4
STAR is missing a step
Every prep resource teaches STAR, and the gap it leaves is never where you would expect. Students tell a complete, well-organised story that contains no evidence they could do the job. The I in STARI is not a line you say. It is the breadcrumbs you plant so the interviewer reaches the conclusion themselves.
9 min readPreview
5
The 3 questions that start all interviews, Part 1: Walk me through your resume
The first question in almost every interview, and the one most people prepare least. It is not a recital of your bullets. It is a two-minute argument that ends facing forward, and every stop on it has to earn its place.
8 min readPreview
6
The 3 questions that start all interviews, Part 2: Why investment banking
The easiest question to fail. Why prestige and money answers get you dinged, why the real reason is the education, and how to prove you fit what banks look for.
7 min readPreview
7
The 3 questions that start all interviews, Part 3: Why this bank
The question you cannot prepare from a website. Why a list of people you have actually spoken to beats anything on the firm's About page, what to say about them, how to handle 'why not Firm X', and the two rules that keep you out of trouble.
9 min readPreview
8
AI is on the desk now: the free courses worth a line on your resumeUpdated
Every bulge bracket has put an AI assistant in front of its analysts. The free courses from Google, Microsoft, Anthropic, IBM and Harvard that carry a name a banker recognises, what each one costs once you want the certificate, the order to take them in, and how to put it on a resume so it reads as evidence rather than a buzzword.
11 min readPreview