Zeng Zimo’s interview experience

In my junior year, I decided to end my lazy life of sneaking back to Beijing every vacation, and use the last summer vacation before graduation to perfect my resume. However, more than 10 years ago, it was difficult to find a job in an investment bank, even more difficult to find a summer job, and it was even more difficult to find a summer job offered to undergraduates. I always believe that some opportunities fall from the sky, and some opportunities need to be created with your own hands. Therefore, regardless of the distance of the relationship, the level of the position or the depth of qualifications, the few friends of mine who work on Wall Street have all been "harassed" by me without exception. Finally, I got to know the names and phone addresses of the Chinese business managers and human resources managers of several major investment banks. As a result, everything was as expected. Most of the application letters sent out disappeared, and the messages left in their voicemails were also lost. "There are only a handful of people who have had summer jobs. So many people without summer work experience have joined investment banks after graduation?" I could only comfort myself like Ah Q.

However, a miracle really happened.

Two months later, something unexpected happened: I actually received a call from Merrill Lynch, asking me to come to New York for an interview. I have heard many stories about interviews, especially the first interviews, where various embarrassing scenes often occur. A friend of mine is now the managing director of a well-known investment fund. During the interview, he had this conversation: The recruiter asked: "Why are you interested in Corporate Finance?" The friend was polite. The friend replied politely: "Sorry, what I hope to do is Investment Banking." The other party asked again: "I'm asking you, why do you want to do Corporate Finance?" The friend was very surprised and thought why he asked again, so He replied more firmly: "I don't want to do Corporate Finance, I want to do Investment Banking." "Don't you know that Corporate Finance is Investment Banking?" My friend suddenly blushed, became speechless, and regretted why he was such an idiot. Corporate Finance, like M&A (acquisitions and mergers), is a part of the investment banking business. Many times, people use Corporate Finance to refer to Investment Banking.

To put it more simply, their conversation is like: "Why are you interested in being a police officer?" "Sorry, I want to be a police officer." "I'm asking you, why do you want to be a police officer? "I don't want to be a police officer, I want to be a police officer." I am about to face the first interview in my life. You can imagine the anticipation and excitement. I am prepared as never before and keep everyone's experience in mind: Don't be nervous, be generous and talk eloquently. Why did you choose Dartmouth? Why are you willing to come to Merrill Lynch? The answer must be prepared in advance.

You must read the Wall Street Journal carefully a few days before the interview, and memorize the Dow Jones, Nasdaq, Hang Seng Index and major foreign exchange rates. The strength of the handshake should be moderate. If it is too light, it will appear unconfident. If it is too strong, it will cause resentment. It is best to hold a wallet in your hand that can hold a notebook, so as to look more professional.

The eyes are the windows to the soul, so your eyes cannot wander. Only by making eye contact can you appear confident. If you don't dare to look directly into the other person's eyes, then stare at the bridge of his nose. This way you won't feel the other person's gaze is aggressive, and in the other person's view, you are still maintaining eye contact. The suit should be dark, preferably black or dark blue, and keep an extra pair of stockings with you in case you suddenly lose stockings before the interview...

Later, I learned that investment banks do tend to judge people based on their appearance. The right attire can add a lot of points during the interview. When I was a student, I always wore T-shirts and jeans, plus a big Jansports backpack. In order to transform myself and become more like a professional woman, when I got off the plane in New York, I went straight to the department store Bloomingdale's. Bloomingdale's is located in midtown Manhattan. It has a wide range of suits, and every one of them is so beautiful that I can't put it down.

The sales lady was also enthusiastic and thoughtful, and she eloquently persuaded me to try on items one by one. She opened her eyes wide and praised me full of praise every time I walked out of the fitting room. As expected, I looked brand new in the dressing mirror, looking professional and capable. "Would you like to choose only one set, or several more sets?" The sweet voice of the sales lady made me suddenly fall from the clouds to the ground. Then I realized that I had forgotten to look at the price. Bloomingdale's is actually positioned as mid-range, but the series of numbers on the price tag still scares me. After all, I am just a student living on scholarship. Among the several sets of clothes I tried on, the most expensive ones cost more than $1,000 plus consumption tax, and the cheapest ones cost more than $500. "Buy? Or not?" I was having a fierce ideological struggle. "They are really suitable for you!" The sales lady seemed to have noticed my embarrassment and tried her best to give me the final encouragement.

At this moment, a customer who wanted to return goods suddenly came to the checkout counter next to him. Seeing her, I had an idea and immediately took out my credit card. My attitude was so refreshing, as if the amount of the credit card was not 500 US dollars, but only 5 US dollars. The sales lady checked out and packaged the items for me with a smile on her face. She probably doesn't know that 24 hours later, when the girl in front of her who is very satisfied with her professional appearance has finished her job interview, this Ellen Tracy suit will be returned to her intact, no matter what. to recover that “huge amount of money”.

The next day, wearing the dark blue suit that seemed to be specially customized for me but did not belong to me, I walked into Merrill Lynch's conference room calmly and confidently. Facing two bankers from Hong Kong, for half an hour, I learned the American way and promoted myself endlessly, saying that I was as smart as Einstein, as diligent as an old scalper, and as loving as a rat. Rice loves investment banking so deeply. When we shook hands and said goodbye, I found the answer I wanted on their faces: This girl was born to belong to investment banking.

The summer I spent at Merrill Lynch, I did not learn much financial knowledge or operational skills, but it opened a window for me to appreciate the beautiful scenery of investment banking. And from then on I made a decision: I want to truly become a member of Wall Street. So, as soon as the fourth grade started, I couldn't help but get involved in rounds of job interviews with no end in sight. Like every 96-year-old student who is busy looking for a job, even though it was already freezing and snowing at Dartmouth in November, I was wearing a short suit skirt, thin stockings, and a long black dress in the weather of more than 20 degrees below zero. I wore a coat and high heels, running back and forth between the Hanover hotel and the classroom dormitory.

The Hanover Hotel is where investment banks come to school for their first two rounds of job interviews. At that time, the place was packed every day, and the corridors on each floor were filled with students in suits and ties, standing or sitting, waiting uneasily for their names to be called by the people in the room.

The job interview at an investment bank seems to be full of obstacles and dangers, but most of the questions involved are the "old three". "Tell me about your own experience." "What words would your friends use to describe you?" "Why should we hire you?" No matter how the question changes, I always like to show my "self-praise" "Three or four", staying the same to cope with all changes: I am smart and eager to learn, and can adapt to new environments quickly; I am good at numbers and mathematics, and the A+ scores in many related subjects are the best proof; I am diligent and hard-working, working eighty or ninety times a week Hours are no problem; I am collaborative and a good team worker.

No matter how long a job interview lasts, it cannot last longer than 40 minutes. Everyone is afraid of tricky questions, and so am I. Therefore, once I encounter a question that "hits the spot", I will wait for the opportunity to speak in a eloquent manner, and then "extend" it to other answers that I have carefully prepared without being noticed, until the job interview is coming to an end and the other party no longer has time or information. Give me another chance to embarrass you.

The first job interview that year was with a vice president of Credit Suisse First Boston. The vice president I interviewed for the job at First Boston looked to be in his early 30s. That day, he probably had been sitting on the uncomfortable sofa in the hotel room from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., meeting more than a dozen students non-stop. When it was my turn to walk in, his face was already full of exhaustion, and even the smile when shaking hands was as forced as squeezing out toothpaste.

"Ok, tell me about yourself." As expected, the first question he asked was quite satisfactory. I smiled slightly, recounted my experience with great energy, and methodically hid my "one, two, three, four" in it.

The vice president leaned on the sofa, listening and nodding. I passed the first question successfully. "How do you prove that you are good at teamwork?" I deliberately put on a pensive look, but in fact, I was secretly proud of myself. Who made me encounter another betting problem? However, I didn't want him to see that I was prepared. After a slight pause for a few seconds, I followed the designed ideas and began to vividly describe my "military career." When I was studying in Beijing, I went to the 38th Army for military training twice. This is not an outstanding experience in China, but in the United States, it is a proud asset. After more than 40 days of military life, apart from unbearable hunger and muddy water covered with yellow sand, what else was left? Unexpectedly, four years later, in a foreign country, I suddenly discovered that the military training that once made me complain and suffer all the time turned into a magic weapon for winning job interviews.

Facing the vice president of First Boston, the other side of my short military life that was covered up by hunger and poor sanitary conditions actually came back to life in my mind. I vividly recalled how in the army, with the mutual help of team members, we crawled forward in the trenches mixed with mud and sand, how we lay prone in the scorching sun and practiced target shooting in the dark and terrifying night. Taking turns to stand guard, how could I be woken up by a whistle when I was in a deep sleep, drowsily packed my backpack, rolled and crawled on the ground to assemble urgently, and then "hurriedly marched" across the mountains and ridges like a defeated army... Listen, listen, The vice president sat up straighter and straighter, and his originally listless eyes became brighter. At that time, I already knew that when I walked out of that room, even if he couldn't remember my name, he would definitely remember a Chinese girl who once fought in the Chinese army. I was also convinced that as long as he remembered me, I would definitely be on the list for the second round of job interviews. Sure enough, he said "great" three times in a row, and then asked: "It sounds like you are excellent in all aspects, do you have any shortcomings?" "English is not my mother tongue after all, so compared with my American classmates, I I think this is my biggest weakness. "I dealt with it calmly and did not hide it, because if you can turn your shortcomings into strengths and disadvantages into advantages, it will be far more convincing than simply stating your excellence. "However, I have been working hard to improve my English. When I first came to the United States, in addition to going to class and working part-time, I had to spend at least one or two hours in front of the TV watching the news just to practice English. In addition, although I got A's and A-'s in my English composition class, but I didn't stop there..." Thanks to my nearly 3.9 GPA and my summer job at Merrill Lynch, I easily landed almost every major investment. The first job interview at the bank; then, with full preparation and gradually improved skills, I passed the second round of job interviews with all companies, flying to New York again and again to accept the final test.

Entering the second round of job interviews, candidates often face questions from two people at the same time. Half an hour later, they enter another room and are judged by two other bankers from the same company. The two examiners often play the role of "good guy" and the "evil guy". During my second job interview with Morgan Stanley, I successfully transformed a "bad guy" into a "good guy." At 9 o'clock that morning, I walked into the appointed room on time, and two men were already waiting there. One of them stood up in a friendly manner and said enthusiastically: "Hello, Zimo. I am Mike, the director of M&A. This is my colleague, the manager of Merchant Banking, Rob." Upon seeing Rob's gloomy expression, I knew he must be the "evil man". "Why are you interested in investment banking? Is it because of the money, or because you like to accept challenges?" The first question asked by the good guy Mike is like a test paper with a 50% success rate. The first half is within the scope of review, but the second half is not. I had to improvise. What's more torturous than improvising is that this question makes people dilemma: although the starting salary in investment banks is indeed higher than the average for both undergraduates and MBAs, if your answer is money, you will be regarded as "greedy" ”, if the answer is a challenge, it will be regarded as “hypocrisy”.

What should I do? In this situation, I think I can only avoid the important things and resort to the same old routine: "What attracts me most about investment banking is that it provides a good learning opportunity. First of all, I can learn many skills, such as evaluating asset values." , to help corporate financing, assist companies to improve core competitiveness and maximize shareholder value through acquisitions and mergers, as well as negotiation and how to work with lawyers and accountants to create the best transaction structure; secondly, investment banks have gathered a lot of smart and capable experience Rich professionals, I will definitely gain something from working with them; thirdly, the U.S. economy is highly developed, and the capital market has contributed a lot. I hope that through the work of an investment bank, I can observe closely how the capital market promotes the effective allocation of resources. , and how to promote economic development. In addition, I am interested in investment banking because I am very suitable for the work of investment banking..." Designing such an answer, "first" is to tell the other party that I understand the business of investment banking, and "secondly" is half of it. The flattery is half sincere, of course, mainly to make them happy. The "third" is to show that I still have a macro vision. Finally, the reason why I added "self-praise 1, 2, 3, 4", even if some of the answers are wrong, is Because I can't give up any opportunity to explain myself. Moreover, I must buy time for myself. While reciting the "lines" profusely, I must free up half of my brain to seriously think about "money and challenges" and how I should deal with them. "Being an investment banker is indeed a good learning process, but what about money? Is money important?" The "evil man" Rob saw through my little trick and defeated me. "It cannot be denied that the salary of investment banks is attractive, but if we work eighty or ninety hours a week, how much higher can the hourly salary of an analyst be compared to working at McDonald's? People should have a long-term perspective. As a professional In the first job of your career, the most important thing is not the salary, but what you learned, which will benefit you throughout your life." In just a few words, I watched Rob's expression change from cloudy to cloudy. clear. I know that my flexibility helped me escape again. In the first two rounds of job interviews at an investment bank, you usually have to be "tortured" by five or six people. When you go to New York for the final round of job interviews, you have to meet at least eight people in one day. Among the hundreds of questions asked in so many rounds of job interviews, the "money" question is not a tricky one, and Rob is not the worst "evil".

When I was participating in the final round of job interviews at Morgan Stanley, an analyst just walked into the conference room. His appearance surprised me: his shirt sleeves were rolled up high and his tie was askew. Hanging on his chest, his eyes were still red and bloodshot. After shaking hands with me and greeting me expressionlessly, he asked calmly: "If you find a job, there are two ways to pay your salary: 12,000 US dollars a year, all in one lump sum; the same 12,000 US dollars a year, Pay monthly, 1,000 US dollars per month. What would you choose?" My heart skipped a beat, why didn't this person act according to common sense? I told myself not to panic. Just as I was about to answer quickly, I suddenly realized that if I simply choose the first option, the answer would be too absolute.

I think, I might as well move out the nouns in the textbook: "It depends on the current actual interest rate. If the actual interest rate is a positive number, I choose the first option; if it is a negative number, I choose the second option; if It’s zero, both are the same. At the same time, I will also consider the opportunity cost. Even if the real interest rate is negative, if there is a good investment opportunity that can bring more returns, I will still choose the first option.” I can't help but feel a little complacent about the string of answers, because I know that when answering such questions, the thinking process is more valued than the answer itself. "Most people say to choose the first option. You are not bad, you are very thoughtful!" After a faint comment, he did not give up, "Then what is the real interest rate?" "Nominal interest rate minus the inflation rate. "Fortunately, the basic knowledge of economics has not been completely abandoned. I am grateful in my heart. "What is the current Fed funds rate? What is the inflation rate?" This time, I was really asked! I really can't figure it out. I've never met him, so why is he so aggressive?

When preparing for a job interview, I told myself to adhere to one principle: Don’t pretend to understand what you don’t understand, and don’t make up nonsense about what you don’t know. So, I answered honestly: "I'm sorry, I don't know, but if necessary, I will go back and check it out and call you right away.

"Later, I did hear about a Chinese girl who, in order to show that she was different, told an American who interviewed her that her favorite thing was to drive a racing car. The well-behaved Oriental porcelain doll loves the craziness and excitement of the West. This The Americans, who had never lied since childhood, believed it to be true. However, the Chinese colleagues in the company revealed the truth and categorically said that the girl was fabricating it. As you can imagine, the Americans who were overjoyed found out that The well-behaved "porcelain doll" didn't even have a driver's license, so she shouted that she had been deceived. Naturally, the Chinese girl was not eligible for the job. The analyst reluctantly asked for an intelligence test that is usually only asked by consulting companies. : "There are 9 coins, one of which weighs differently than the others. How many times can you find this special coin with two hands? ""three times. "I answered quickly without giving up. "It's still 9 coins. If you change one of the conditions, you can find this special coin twice. How should this condition be modified? "Tell me whether this particular coin is heavier or lighter than the others." "

When I once again gave the correct answer at a fast speed, he finally whispered "Good" and then asked, "Do you have any jobs offered by other investment banks now? How many are there in one***? Which companies are they? "A smile crept up to the corner of my mouth. His expression finally stopped being cold and cold, and the questions he asked finally got on the right track. It is said that in my evaluation form, he wrote the following opinion: No matter the cost, you must do it. Hire!