Assessment Centres and Group Exercises

What to expect from an Assessment Centre

If you are invited to an Assessment Centre you can be sure that you have done something right and the employer is keen to see what else you are capable of. It can be daunting but is only those who have passed through the preliminary interviews and those that the employer thinks are capable of successfully carrying out the jobs on offer that are asked to attend - so be confident and positive.

Group Exercises

The key to handling group exercises is to have to the right attitude from the start. You must be positive and enthusiastic and unless told otherwise you should assume that your objective is to 'win' against the other members of the group.

Group exercises are set to test the candidates' teamwork ability and to see who come out as the leaders and who the followers are. The tasks may encourage competitiveness or co-operation.

Be actively engaged at all times and be yourself - not who you think the assessors are looking for. Try to introduce humour and be sensitive towards others and have flexibility of thought.

The assessors will be looking for candidates to take control of the situation, draw opinions from the other delegates, keep the group to time, stand their ground (without becoming argumentative) and successfully take the group to its stated goal

Presentation Exercises

Presentation exercises are common as part of test centres. Few people enjoy public speaking but it is a discipline, which should be practised and is very useful. If you can successfully address a room of delegates your confidence cannot fail to impress. It is often useful to make very brief notes, which you can refer to during the talk and you should be provided with sufficient preparation time

How to prepare

Before you attend the assessment centre you should research thoroughly the exact requirements for the job to which you are applying. These key criteria are what the assessment panel will be looking for from you.

Dress as you would for an interview with the organisation and make sure you arrive at the venue in good time. The moment you walk through the door you will be judged, on your appearance, your punctuality and crucially how you present yourself to your fellow candidates.

It could be useful to make a note of the names of all the company representatives you meet, and when in conversation with testers or candidates drop those names into conversation.

When you leave the assessment centre take time to reflect on your own performance. Then after a few days, if you have not heard, contact the employer and politely request some feedback on your performance.

The Assessment Centre is a time for the employer to find out more about you and your capabilities. It is also a time for you to learn more about the job and the company. Relax and enjoy it, just do you best and learn from the experience.

Investment Banking Video

Thanks to youtube and Google they have introduced embeddable videos for blogs and i have put one right at the bottom - with videos related to investment banking videos - immerse yourself in the videos!

I will be attending assessment centres on the 16th and 18th of January at Lehman Brothers and Credit Suisse. I will write up a quick overview on assessment centres after my experience. In other words, i will be the guinea pig that will test the water for you guys!!

Don't forget enjoy the investment banking videos right at the bottom of this blog.

Invesment Banking - Questions and Chat

I have updated the chat widget by chatopica to host a chat and question widget that all visitors can use to ask questions or chat generally about Investment Banking. Enjoy!

Online Tests and Interviews

I use statcounter on this blog which tells me many of you are searching for help on the numerical tests and competency based interview questions. So to help you I have compiled a list of places you can find practice tests. I have also compiled a list of questions both from my experience and others that i know. I hope this helps.

Online Tests - Numerical Reasoning

SHL - This is the official SHL site, most banks use these guys for their testing. They provide practice test, But please be aware, the practice tests are much easier than the real thing for some reason!Nonetheless, its a great way to familiarise yourself with the questions.

efinancialcareers - I have used these guys personally and the tests they provide are brilliant! A simple registeration is needed.

More Practice Tests - This site offers some questions too, not that high tech though! Also the questions are more mathematical and no "reasoning" involved.

Different types of tests - This site has the usual numerical reasoning tests it also has other tests which you may be given at an assessment centre such as Numerical, verbal, abstract, competency and personality tests. For some reason HSBC loves to use the personality tests t see i you would fit into the company and then they give you the numerical and verbal reasoning tests. A bit backwards if you ask me!

Interviews - Examples of Competency based questions

Competency based interviews have under lying themes when you are asked questions. Most questions that you will get asked will have at the base level these questions:

"Why do you want to work for XYZ company?"

"What makes you suitable for this role?"

In essence, interviewers are trying to answer these questions. They do this by directly asking you the above! Or they ask the following questions or both the above and below:

"What interests you about the job?"
"What can you bring to our organisation?"

"Tell us a time you have worked in a team?"
"What wasa your role?"

"Tell us a time when you had to plan a project"?
"What did you do to ensure that it was successful"?

"Tell us a time when you used your imagination/creativity?"

I hope the above has helped. If you have any questions, i.e. how to answer such questions please comment and i will try to help you answer them. I shouldn't really since some of you could be my competition!

Best books for Investment Banks

I've have a load of books that all claim to get people into invesment banks. Have they worked? No idea. So I would like to complete a list of books that people have found useful. So please let me know using the comments below. If there are also books that you would like to read give me the names and i will provide a ebook link for you to download and read as a pdf. That is if these books exist as ebooks!

The best book that i have come across is called: All You Need to Know About the City: Who Does Why and What in London Stock Financial Markets - Amazon Link

I actually got the above book from Golman Sachs during my spring internship.

Investment Banking Interview/CV/Application Tips - Videos

I have compiled some good videos from youtube for you to watch just before your interview. The last one should definitely be watched. It is an excellent funny video - it also gives, surprisingly, a few good tips on interviews. Some of the videos also show you how the investment banks are fighting for talent, which is you!

Too hard to get into a TOP tier bank?

If you are finding hard to get into top tier banks [the bulge bracket]. Then it may be a good idea to get into a lower tier bank first and then work your way up. However, this will take time. Anyway, here is a list of banks that i found for all of you to go through and apply to! I hear you groan. Yes it does take ages to fill in the online apps but it has to be done.

A.G. Edwards
ABN Amro
Alliance Bernstein
Allianz
Ambrian
Babcock & Brown
Bank of America
Bank of Nova Scotia
Barclays
Bear Stearns
BMO
BNP Paribas
Boenning & Scattergood
Brown Brothers Harriman
Brown, Shipley & Co.
C.E. Unterberg
Calyon
Canaccord Adams
Cantor Fitzgerald
Carnegie, Wylie & Co
Cazenove
CIBC
Citigroup
Close Brothers Group
Cowen Group, Inc.
Credit Suisse
D.A. Davidson & Co.
Deka Bank
Deutsche Bank
Dillon, Read & Company
Dresdner Kleinwort
Dresner Partners
Drexel Burnham Lambert
Evercore Partners
Financo Inc.
Fortis Bank
Fox-Pitt, Kelton
Friedman Billings Ramsey
Genuity Capital Markets
Goldman Sachs
Grace Matthews
Greenhill & Company
Greif & Co.
Grupo Santander
Hambrecht & Quist
Hambros Bank
Harris Williams & Company
Hilco Corporate Finance, LLC
Houlihan Lokey & Zukin
HSBC
Imperial Capital, LLC
ING Group
Investec
Investment Technology Group
J. & W. Seligman & Co
Janney Montgomery Scott
Jefferies & Co.
Jordan, Knauff & Co.
JP Morgan
Kaupthing Bank
KBC Bank
Keefe, Bru & Woods
KeyCorp
Kleinwort Benson
Kuhn, Loeb & Co.
Ladenburg Thalmann
Lazard
Lazard Capital Markets
Legg Mason
Lehman Brothers
Macquarie Bank
Merrill Lynch
Miller Buckfire
Mizuho Financial Group
Monte Paschi di Siena
Montgomery & Co.
Montgomery Securities
Morgan Grenfell
Morgan Stanley
Natixis
Needham & Company
Neuberger Berman, LLC
Newbury Piret
Newsouth Capital Inc.
NIBC
Noble Bank
Nomura
Nomura Securities Co, Ltd
Oppenheimer
Park Lane Investment Banking
Perella Weinberg Partners
Pete J. Solomon Company
Petrie Parkman & Co.
Piper Jaffray
Prudential Securities
Putnam Lovell
Rabobank
Raymond James
Robert Fleming & Co.
Robert W.Baird & Co
Robertson, Stephens
Royal Bank of Canada
Royal Bank of Scotland
Rutberg & Co.
Ryan Beck & Co.
Salman Partners Inc.
Salomon Brothers
Sandler O'Neill
Saxo Bank
Schroders
Smith Barney
Societe Generale
Stephens Inc.
Stifel Nicolaus
T. Rowe Price
ThinkEquity Partners, LLC
Thomas Weisel Partners
Toronto-Dominion Bank
Transparent Value
TSG Partners, LLC
UBS
Unicredit
Wachovia
Wasserstein Perella
Wells Fargo
William Blair & Company
WR Hambrecht+ Co.

Starting Salary from Front Office to Back Office

I found this on a great site. Somebody did research on the salaries for those that work in investment banks and i think they are quite accurate or at the very least a good approximation. Let me know if you know otherwise so i can update this. [Use the comments to do this]

Money is in UK Pounds (£)

Front Office:
IBD............................................... .35K (26.25K taxed)(with bonus of double digit %)
Sales and Trading.............................33K(24.75K taxed) (with bonus of double digit %)
M&A............................................... 34K (25.5K taxed) (with bonus of double digit %)
IBD (M&A) ................................... 37k + 7k signing bonus 12 months bonus : 100%-150% of base. (58.6K taxed assuming 125% bonus and 35% taxed)

Middle Office:
Risk (Credit, Market, Operational)........30K (22.5 taxed) (with bonus of around 20-30 %)

Back Office:
IT................................................ .28K (21K taxed) (with bonus of around 10-20 %)
Operation.......................................25 K (18.75 taxed) (with bonus of around 10-20 %)