‘Tell Me About Yourself.’ Want The Perfect Answer From an Investment Banking Recruiter? Read This.
‘This article is written by Hassan Akram, the Managing Director of City Careers Coach. He is an ex-investment banking recruiter who has interviewed 1,000+ investment banking professionals from elite bulge bracket banks, such as Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan. Want to secure a top corporate career with our world-leading career development programmes? Click here
The one question virtually guaranteed at all elite finance and investment banking firms is — of course — ‘tell me about yourself.’ It's used in interview processes by the world’s most prestigious organisations, including Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs.
As an ex-interviewer, it was probably the best way for me to kickstart an interview. It would let me get a strong understanding of you, your background, and who you are as a person. As human capital specialists, we enjoy learning about people! It’s also a great way for the very best candidates to build rapport, show why they are unique, and start the interview on a positive note.
HOW TO STRUCTURE THIS
The best way to answer this question is to remember that you’re telling a story. The most effective stories are those that follow a clear and logical flow. They have a distinct beginning, middle, and end. There are three things you should look to cement in this answer. One is your background, two is your interest in the field, and three is how you’ve reached this position today.
Start by considering what you want the interviewer to know about you. Reassess your CV. Think about elements from your background that you want to bring up in the interview. Don’t go too much into your personal history, but do think about the parts of your background that may be of interest to the interviewer.
For instance, if attending an investment banking interview, there could be many things which led to your interest in the field. Was it your exposure to detailed financial analysis at an earlier internship? Was it your attendance at an IPO workshop which showed the variety of ways investment banks help clients raise capital? Or was it reading an article in the Financial Times on an M&A deal? This may have prompted you to think about how investment banks provide strategic corporate advice to help international businesses access new markets, increase their product lines, or reduce their tax liability, as an example.
Generally, your answer should be 90–120 seconds. This is vital as going over this guidance may make your answer lose structure or be too long. This will lead the interviewer to struggle to follow your narrative. (We have short attention spans!) The very best ‘tell me about yourself’ responses are well structured with clear ‘signposts’ highlighting where the answer is going. Such signposting phrases include: ‘in terms of my background’, ‘my interest in finance developed from’, ‘X experience prompted my interest in finance’ and ‘my conversation with X, a former associate, developed my interest in a career with your firm.’
The questions below are also great prompts to structure your answer:
What year of university are you and what did you study?
What have you done academically or as part of your experience that is relevant to your story?
What experiences have you gained before this interview? Please make sure you highlight what strengths/qualities you gained from this
What extracurricular activities were you involved with at university? What was your role within this?
What sparked your interest in your interviewer’s field? How did you come to the conclusion that your interviewer’s field is one that interests you?
Recruiting story — Private Equity
I remember a particularly excellent response from an investment banking candidate. He was from Goldman Sachs’ Direct Private Investing team and was applying for a role at an elite private equity firm.
In his explanation, he provided a brief but clear understanding of his background, his university, and his university course. He very clearly explained the steps he’d taken in his career and how these led him to investment banking. And lastly, he confirmed how he developed his interest in private equity. This was through him working at a fried chicken shop in East London where he saw huge potential. It had high footfall, but he felt monthly revenues were low given its location and proprietary recipe. To help boost the business, he advised the owner to rebrand and redecorate the retail outlet. He also advised increasing the product line to include healthier options, such as grilled chicken. The owner took this individual’s advice which led to a 25% increase in sales in the next 6 months.
He had a very clear and compelling story. He demonstrated that he enjoyed unlocking value in high potential, but underperforming businesses. He then tangibly demonstrated why he wanted to interview with this elite private equity firm. He wanted to help transform processes — as he had done before — but on a bigger scale, with some of the world’s largest, most sophisticated and prestigious companies. This was a thoroughly unique and memorable response. His interview got off to a great start. He set a great tone. He ultimately passed the interview.
THINGS TO AVOID
There are certain things which you should definitely avoid when answering the ‘tell me about yourself’ interview question. One is to not memorise your response word for word. This is a bad approach. It will likely lead to your answer being delivered in a clunky and monotonous manner, with the latter potentially detracting from your response’s authenticity. We have personally seen and rejected a number of candidates who have done this before. It appeared that they were memorising their answer like a script. They came off robotic and therefore started their interview on the backfoot. Typically, the best answers here are fluid, conversational and infused with subtle energy.
It's also vital to be considered and relatively concise with your answer. As mentioned before, the ideal length of a response should be between 90 –120 seconds. Anything less will likely be too brief. Anything more may lead to a lack of structure or rambling in your response. As recruiters, we have interviewed 1,000+ people. We have seen many times where this question — which is intended to be a stimulus response and provide a general overview of your profile — become a monologue which, once, in the most extreme instance, lasted more than 5 minutes. Of course, this candidate failed the interview.
Being considered and concise in any interview response, especially this one — which often sets the tone of elite corporate interviews — is critical.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
1. Be as structured as possible in your answer
2. Make sure you practise this question multiple times
3. Ensure that your vocal tone is engaging and enthusiastic
City Careers Coach is an international network of freelance finance recruiters. We are from investment banking, corporate law and private equity backgrounds. We provide premium, unique and personalised career development programmes to help university students enter elite corporate high-paying careers.
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