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10 questions you will always be asked in a financial services interview Sarah Butcher 7 December 2010

Interviews are dependent on roles. If you’re interviewing for a job as a settlements clerk, you very obviously won’t be asked exactly the same

things as if you’re interviewing for a job as an equity derivatives salesperson. However, there’s a big area of commonality across all financial

services interviews. At any one, you will be asked certain core questions. These are the questions you can anticipate and prepare for. They may

seem obvious, but recruiters say candidates are often woefully unprepared. For this reason, we have listed them below.

1) Why are you leaving your role?

“I will always ask someone why they’re

leaving their current firm and why they left

their role before that,” says G.Hughes, head

of HR at Royal Bank of Canada in London.

Purpose: To establish whether you’re the

sort of flaky person who jumps from role

to role and former employers are glad to

see the back of.

2) Why do you want this particular role in

this particular business?

“I will always ask what people know about us

– not just about the role, but about the

broader organisation,” says R. Baptiste,

recruitment partner at Gazprom Marketing

and Trading. “I want to know what research

you’ve done and if you know who our biggest

competitors are.”

“I want to know why you’re her, what you’re

looking for in a new job,” says Hughes.

Purpose: To establish whether you

REALLY want this job or are simply

scattering CVs like birdseed.

3) Do you match our competencies?

Unless you work in HR, the word

‘competencies’ is probably enough to make

you go to sleep. If you work in HR, it will

probably be enough to make you spring out of

bed. Given that HR play a key role in the

interview process, you need to familiarise

yourself with it either way.

“Most clients are trying to drill down to a set of

competency-based questions that they can

measure objectively against,” says Baptiste.

“Look at company’s values and extrapolate

from those values their core competencies.

For example, if a value is ‘client service,’ the

competencies might be strong team focus,

thinking outside the box, or being a self-

starter.”

The head of recruitment at one major US

investment bank says that at a senior level,

interviews are all about this of stuff. “We’ll talk

about the business, but it’s particularly about

whether you’re a fit with the firm”.

As well as the competencies desirable across

the organisation, you’ll also be quizzed on the

competencies desirable for that particular role.

“Look at the job spec and identify the key

things they’re looking for,” says A. Pullman, a

former banking recruiter and director of

consultancy People Risk Solutions.

Having identified the desired competencies

think of a few examples that illustrate why you

embody them.

“An interviewer will want to see what you

personally did – not what you did as part of a

team,” cautions Pullman.

Purpose: To establish whether, based on

past behaviours and actions, you have the

ability to do the job and won't irritate your

putative colleagues.

4) What’s unique about you? How are you

different to all the others we are seeing?

Fundamentally, this is the age-old question

about your strengths. “Most people won’t ask

what your strengths are blatantly,” says Sital

Ruparelia, a careers consultant and former

inhouse recruiter for banks and fund

managers. “They’ll often as what you can

bring to the role, or what differentiates you.”

Purpose: To check you are not totally

mediocre.

5) Can you take me through your career?

‘Take me through your career’ questions are

particularly likely if you are subjected to the

nightmare that is a CIDS (Chronological

Indepth Structured Interview). In this case,

your every decision through your life will be

scrutinised in idetail in the belief that past

actions are a predictor of the future.

If you are spared a CIDS, you will still be

asked to talk through your CV in less detail.

“I’ll usually ask why someone moved from one

role to another, and what their motivation

really was,” says Pullman.

Purpose: To check you are not a fickle

opportunist.

6) What are your weaknesses?

As with the question about strengths, don’t

expect to be asked this explicitly. Instead,

weakness questions will normally come in

coded form.

“I’ll often say, ‘If I take your last few managers

out for a drink, what will they say about you,”

says Ruparelia. “And then, ‘After a few more

drinks, what will they really say about you.”

Purpose: To check that you are neither a

fault free megalomaniac, nor a fatally

flawed weirdo.

7) What are your aspirations?

“I’ll often ask what someone wants to do in

five years’ time,” says Baptiste. “I’ll also ask

how they plan to get there and what they think

we can add to that. How does this job fit with

your aspirations?”

“I like to ask people to imagine that they’ve

got a blank sheet of paper and that they can

design the perfect job for them,” says A.

Pullman. “What would that look like?”

Purpose: To establish that you are really

interested in this role and don’t see it as a

stopgap before becoming a singer.

8) Are you honest?

“Integrity and honesty questions are big” says

Baptiste. “Expect to be asked,, ‘What’s the

biggest mistake you’ve made, what have you

learned from it, what would you do different?’”

Purpose: Checking you are not Leeson.

9) Why were you selected for redundancy?

If you have ever been made redundant, this

will come up. Think carefully for an excuse.

Purpose: Seeing you’re not unemployable.

10) Do you have any questions for me?

“You should always have a question,” says

Baptiste. “If people don’t, it really worries me”

Goldman Sachs has some good tips for

questions you can ask in its guide to interview

success. They advise you focus on the

industry and trends, don’t ask about pay and

benefits, and don’t ask anything that might

make the interviewer feel defensive.

Purpose: Ensuring that you are engaged,

interested, capable of initiating discourse.

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