Summer Analyst

I attend a non-target without any OCR. I talked to an alumnus who is a director in the office. He set up a phone interview for an SA job.

The phone interview was pretty basic, though it seemed difficult to me as it was my first real IB interview. The questions were mostly fit and background related. The one technical question was "what are the four ways to value a company?" Being a non-business major I only knew of two of them (DCF and Public Comps.) In retrospect, it is entirely possible that they were taking it easy on me either because of my non-business background, or the fact that I was referred by their boss (they were both analysts). At the end of the interview they mentioned that I may be receiving a call from a recruiter for a superday, and phrased it as if it were almost a foregone conclusion.

I did get a call from the recruiter a week or so later. I came to the super-day and was very impressed with everyone I met there. Sagent definitely appeared to be a top MM boutique. All of the people I met seemed cordial. The final round interviews were much more difficult given my non-business background. However, in retrospect they were basic IB interview questions (walk me through a DCF, explain the two types of comps and their differences, why EV/EBITDA not P/E, etc.). At certain points in the interview I got the feeling (perhaps over-optimistically) that they liked me and would like to hire me, but could not justify it given my lack of technical knowledge, and the fact that they were only hiring 2 interns that summer. Whatever the reason, I get a phone call about a week later informing me that I did not get the position. Again, the call was very polite and professional.

Advice to future interviewees:

Understand the technical basics (Valuation techniques, etc.) but beyond that make sure your story is interesting and unique, and practice being as likable/friendly with strangers as possible. It sounds crazy, but thats essentially what your interactions with interviewers are.