Wall Street 400 Q's (Non-technical) with Correct Answers Updated 2024/2025

Wall Street 400 Q's (Non-technical) with Correct Answers Updated 2024/2025 I realize it's still early in your career - you haven't even graduated yet - but have you given any thought to your long-term plans? Do you think you'll stick with investment banking? - If you're interviewing for an Analyst position, you can be more uncertain about your future and just state you don't know 100% where you'll be yet, but banking is what excites you most and is what will give you the skills you need to succeed. For prospective Associates, you need to be more certain about your career path and show some commitment - indicate you've done your homework, spoken with many people and really want to make a career out of it. What were a few areas that your team said you should try to improve upon? - The 2 most important points to remember with the "weaknesses" / "failure" question: 1. Give a real weakness rather than saying you "work too hard." 2. Show how you improved on it, using specific examples. What are "real" weaknesses you could give? Maybe you weren't as communicative with the team as you should have been at the start; maybe you got lost in the details sometimes and failed to see the big picture; maybe you were too impatient with others or did not delegate tasks appropriately. The point is to say something that is a real weakness but which is also not a "deal- breaker" - like saying you don't like to work hard or can't stand working in teams. After that, state how you're working to improve your weakness. Perhaps you gave more regular updates to your superiors; or maybe you started leveraging other peoples' knowledge or the administrative staff at your work more often. Page 2/15 Crafted for Academic Insight by KatelynWhitman. All rights reserved © 2025 Let's imagine that your best friend is describing you in 3 words - which words would he/she use and why? - This is just, "Tell me your strengths" in disguise, but you need to narrow it down to 3 words. Since it's your friend describing you, you don't want to say, "Driven, attentive to detail and a team player!" You do want to convey the same ideas - that you can work hard, play well in teams, and get things done no matter what obstacles you face - but you should pick your own language to get this across. For each word you list you should also give 1-2 sentences to back up what you say, using a specific example for each one. Imagine that I'm speaking to someone with whom you have not gotten along in the past - what would he/she say about you? - This is just a disguised "weaknesses" question. However, since it involves someone else this time, it's better to give a weakness such as being stubborn and holding too rigidly to your own views rather than some of the other faults you could state. Weaknesses related to team/group settings are better here. And once again, you need to emphasize how you've worked to improve whatever it is that you did not do well at the time. Don't say something like, "I get along with everyone!" as that sounds unrealistic. Why would we decide not to give you an offer today? - This one is a bit tricky because it's so direct. You could attempt to make a joke out of this one and say something like, "If you decided you weren't hiring at all!" but that may not go well if your interviewer doesn't appreciate humor. Otherwise, the best response may be to turn this around and say, "I see no reason why you wouldn't - I'm your best choice because...." and then give your strengths instead. Tell me why we should hire you in 3 sentences. - This is yet another variation of the "strengths" question. But rather than giving generic strengths, you should highlight any unique experiences you've Page 3/15 Crafted for Academic Insight by KatelynWhitman. All rights reserved © 2025 had. So maybe you haven't had banking internships before - but you have had unique experience abroad, in an unusual setting, or doing something not many others have done, or you've overcome unusual hardship - and those make you particularly well-qualified. Try to make your answer some variant of "I'm smart because of [School / Academics], I can do the work because of [Internships / Previous Jobs], and I'm an interesting person and fun to be around because of [Unique Experience]." What was your greatest failure? - As with any "weaknesses" question, you need to use a specific story - such as an exam where you did not do well, a project that did not go as planned, or a work situation that did not turn out well - and show what you learned from it and how you've improved since then. Don't say something fake like, "My greatest failure was getting into Yale and Princeton but not Harvard" - that makes you look silly. It's better to give something real and then show how you've used the failure to develop. Can you talk about a team project or some kind of group activity you've worked on before? - Ideally, you will talk about something that was a success rather than a failure. You s