Spring Week in Investment Banking Division

I applied shortly before the deadline (I think it was about 14-16th Decemer). The company contacted me on the 31st December and invited for the interview via e-mail. I had two or three dates available and chose 15th January. The company financed my train from Bristol to London and my all-day Underground pass.

My interview was scheduled for 4 pm, I was in a group of 15 candidates. They took us to quite a big room with smaller rooms in it and we sat in each of the smaller rooms individually, waiting for the interviewers. Everybody had two 1 on 1 interviews with two seperate employees, each one lasting 20 minutes.

My first interviewer was a VP in Natural Resources Product Group and the second one was an M&A Associate.

After the two interviews all of us were grouped again and the HR recruiter told us that the company can take 'as many Spring Week interns as it wants' so there is no number at which we will be cut off. From what I know, straight after the interviews all the interviewers gathered in a room and made their decisions.

A week after the interview I was notified via e-mail that the outcome was negative. After phoning for feedback the HR told me that "I was a little too confident and my real-life examples focused on leadership rather than teamwork"

So the advice I can give is this: if you apply for IBD, do your best to come across as a team person. Being humble is another crucial element, it is good to sound confident but be well-mannered. The best thing is to seem like somebody confident about their abilities but aware that he does not know much about investment banking as of yet, certainly not as much as VPs or Associates. And modest because of that.

The people were very friendly and well-mannered. My interviewers were not stressing me out, they were calm and nice. The offices were beautiful, very modern. I cannot elaborate on the work culture as I did not get the offer in the end.