Operational Investment Banker Interview Questions & Answers:

1. Do you learn more from success or failure?

Your attitude toward both success and failure could be the difference in determining whether or not you get an investment banking job offer. Deals flop, it's part of the investment banking game. Discussing how you do a quick post mortem and lessons learned discussion, then move on to the next deal is the best approach. Learning from but not dwelling on the past is the key.

2. What is the Glass-Steagall Act?

The Glass-Steagall Act was a law that separated commercial and investment banks because of the belief that the two businesses created conflicts of interest. Banks were essentially blamed for the Stock Crash of 1929 and the start of the Great Depression.

3. What is your favorite book?

I come from a family of nutritionists, and they recommended The Wellness Revolution, a book that predicts that the sales of vitamins and other health-related items will grow to over $1 trillion annually within the next 10 years. I thought their argument for this was very interesting.

NOTE: Do not say Liar's Poker or Harry Potter. Be sure to give a truthful answer that's somewhere in the middle-appropriate for a business conversation, but not disingenuous for the sole purpose of looking good.

4. What is the biggest risk you have taken in your life?

I am conservative and risk-averse by nature. That does not mean I do not take my chances. However, when I do take chances, I base them on a rational analysis so that I can ensure success to a certain degree, and fully understand the risks involved before "taking the plunge."

5. What do you do for fun?

While I don't have the time or resources to do them as much as I would like, I greatly enjoy traveling and scuba driving. I find other parts of the world very interesting from a cultural and geographic perspective, and would love to travel much more later on in my life. I also participate in club hockey. I'm not good! But I have met some really nice friends through the local program and I hope one day to get better at it.

6. Do you know how to perform a LBO analysis?

Equity returns (IRR or cash on cash multiples) are calculated based on the investor's entry and exit equity values. So to calculate an LBO return, you want to find out the investor's projected equity value at exit: the investor entry equity value you already know (it is the equity amount the investor is injecting to acquire the company).

7. Did you receive an offer from your previous internship?

Tell the truth here. If you did, then great. If not, then say you did not receive an offer. There are plenty of potential reasons why a company might not hire you back: Your group was simply not hiring full-time, the poor economy forced cutbacks in the hiring program, etc.

8. Tell me something about yourself that is not on your resume?

My club hockey team in college recently won the nationwide club championship that competes with 80 other colleges. This was a big success not only for the team but also for myself, because I have been successfully balancing a tremendous amount of schoolwork with interviews and practice.

9. What is your greatest accomplishment as Investment Banker?

This can be a tuition answer for some people, i.e. working hard to pay for school. Besides that, be sure to discuss any awards or academic/professional achievements you have had.

10. What kind of feedback did you receive from your previous internship?

The best way to answer this is give specific examples of times where you demonstrated attention to detail, willingness to work harder than everyone else, or a time when you helped add value to the group. These are all great to mention-simply saying you did well and had great feedback isn't enough.