***Official Investment Banking Spring Week 2015 Thread***

No tests, CV and cover letter. Then a 45 minute interview with HR

I was rejected last week.

Has anyone done the interview for HSBC for their summer internship? I've got one in the new year and was hoping someone would give me some hints or tips. Thanks

Not really I'm doing it for the experience, do something useful during the summer.

Yeah I passed it in November. Your standard motivational and competency job. They tell you on the call if you have passed.

What was the interview like/layout bud?

If you don't pass the first part they reject you on the call. The 1st bit is just about do you know HSBC.. then if you pass they ask the standard 'tell me about a time when' questions and that's it pretty much.

So you passed interview but AC rejection?

So I decided to do four years and defer my SW applications (it's also wayyyyyyy too late, spent way too much time messing around in first term...). Problem is, I don't have anything much to add for when I apply next year - what can I do that can help my application? I've been to a few events held by BBs and networked which don't really count for anything. I've signed up for volunteering and am trying to build my finance knowledge but any ideas on how to demonstrate transferable skills that they need? I'm not really active in societies, which is something I majorly regret (I'm not sporty at all so that's out).

If that's your reason, you'l get rejected. They sniff that out from a mile away - all 5 of us on my assessment center got rejected for that reason...

Good luck, but you have to be a Bollywood superstar acting-wise to get past HR. They have been told specifically to get people that will do the graduate scheme in the future.

Appart from explaining my CV all the other questions were extremely technical, we also spoke for a while about recent economic news (drop in oil price, Russia's crisis and Cuba) and I was asked about a recent IPO, also to how I'd evaluate a firm, what I'd look for in their stock figures to evaluate it etc. It was the traditional competency based and motivation interview, it was much more like a completely unstructured interview except the first questions.

All of them.

Tell me about yourself/ CV breakdown/ Technicals (if you study Finance/Economics)/ Commercial awareness (micro/macro economic news)/ Brainteasers/ Mental mathematics/ Motivations (divisions/what does IB do)/ Competencies

Began with walk me through your resume, then the usual competency/motivation. The interviewer apologised for the standard questions and said he had to ask them to check a few boxes. Quickly moved on to talking about current events in the global economy where I was able to completely take the lead and he just expanded on what I said. Felt very informational from this point as there were no more questions, just a discussion.

Big thanks to all of you three. I can confirm that the interview was exactly like this. Technicals like: how would you value a bond, company figures etc.

Do you know how long it takes to hear back from human ressource to get an invite to the second round interview?
I was told that second round will take place in mid january with a vp, and third round in mid feb with a MD.

Cheers.

Had my interview on the 22nd. Final round invite came on the 24th. Also theres only one more round (consisting of two interviews) I believe. So I don't think there is a third round?

I sensed this when I did the ICAP AC. Thought I did well answered all their technical questions etc.. but I think the lady sniffed out I was more inclined to IB.

What were there technical questions like? Were they general or more towards what brokers do etc??

Brokers/Platforms they use

So I decided to do four years and defer my SW applications (it's also wayyyyyyy too late, spent way too much time messing around in first term...). Problem is, I don't have anything much to add for when I apply next year - what can I do that can help my application? I've been to a few events held by BBs and networked which don't really count for anything. I've signed up for volunteering and am trying to build my finance knowledge but any ideas on how to demonstrate transferable skills that they need? I'm not really active in societies, which is something I majorly regret (I'm not sporty at all so that's out). Clearly, having nothing added to my CV during first year would make HR question what the hell I've been doing all this time...
I know first year summer internships are available for a few and I'm going to apply to those but in the event that I can't get those, what should I do?

Same here you will be more than fine. Which year are you in?

Hmm, I wouldn't know! Did you find that all on their website - I don't know where to start with my research on them. Also - did you have much technical? My HSBC one was annoying because there wasn't even an interview about yourself so it's hard to show your skills off.