Capitalist Concept

Behavioral Interviews: Commitment and Dedication

“Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life.”

- Confucius

Banks aren’t hiring many new analysts. In fact, Bank of America, HSBC, UBS, and Goldman Sachs are all lowing their overhead by laying off investment bankers. In this economy it is especially important that banking candidates demonstrate that they can handle the extreme hours and are in it for the long haul. Here are a few of the main points I like to remember when convincing the interviewer I can handle the work:

Talk about how you are only interviewing for banking jobs. If you can’t do banking for the big firms, you’ll try the boutiques or transaction management at the Big 4, but you are only interviewing at banks.
If there is any talk about how long it would take for you to sign an offer or if you would accept. Simply state that you would sign right here, right now.
The support to back your dedication and commitment to banking should come from your “motivation” answer.
People can learn new things, but it is hard to change their attitudes. Demonstrate a positive attitude and remember you are easily expendable.

These points are important when articulating your commitment to banking. However, there is another aspect of this question, and that is your dedication to the firm. Answering this portion requires research of the firm and its culture. Here are a couple of answers I like to answer when conducting research before an interview:

Interview Background: What is the exact position you are interviewing for? Do you know who is going to be interviewing? What is the format of the interviews? Who do I know at the firm?
Firm Background: How big is the firm? What is a sentence that best describes their type of culture? What are some major and relevant transactions completed by the firm recently?
Culture Details: Why that firm specifically? Why their product group specifically?
Anything Interesting: Do they have any major diversity, charity or networking events that I could relate to?

Preparing answers for these common questions is a great opportunity to separate yourself from the other applicants.