Investment Banking Analyst Intern

I received the interview offer from on-campus recruiting. Two days before BAML was scheduled to come to campus, I got a phone call saying there were two spots open on their recruiting calendar and they wanted to extend me an opportunity to interview. Was super excited and spent the next two days preparing for the interview, reviewing my resume in and out as well as updating myself on BAML's recent deals and activity.

The interview itself though, wasn't well executed. I entered a room where two guys were sitting. One of them was a MD in the ECM group and the other was an associate in IB. After reviewing my resume and asking me a few perfunctory questions about my experience, they settled into the more IB-related questions.

What left me with a sour taste in my mouth, though, was how the ECM MD was sending e-mails/texting on his BlackBerry for probably 75% of our interview. Even when he asked me the question, "What is your favorite book?" he promptly looked back down at his smartphone and started clicking away.

I had been told beforehand by a friend at BAML that the interviewers might do something to rattle me or put me on edge to see how I responded, but I thought this was just exceedingly inconsiderate. Especially, especially, after directly asking me a question. Most of the interview was lead by the IB associate, so fine, if you're that busy, send your e-mails, but to ask me a question directly and then not look at me when I'm responding I thought was quite rude.

The other questions they asked me were: "Why are you interested in investment banking?" "Why are you uniquely positioned to succeed in investment banking?" "What got you first interested in investment banking?" "Give an example of a time you sought advice to solve a problem you couldn't by yourself." and "Pitch me a stock."