The BAC Guide to Acing Behavioral Interviews
- Darren Shum
- 4 days ago
- 6 min read
So you landed an investment banking interview. Now what? These interviews can be tricky, stressful, and typically involve a mix of both behavioral and technical questions. This guide focuses on the behavioral aspect of the interview. Companies hire not only for your stellar technical skills and demonstrated financial acumen but also for your personality, social skills, and the way you carry yourself. On the job, you’ll spend countless hours with the people around you. You want to be someone people enjoy being around even after back-to-back 100-hour weeks.
This guide does not attempt to give you a full scope of preparing for behavioral portions of interviews. Instead, we will share some of the most valuable insights that we have learned over time, from successful (and unsuccessful) personal interview experiences. This is crucial advice that you may not find easily on the internet, and that will turn you from a good applicant to “the one we must take.”
BAC's Advice to Mastering Behaviorals
Advice #1: Be Yourself (Actually)
The key word is: culture. How will you fit with the culture of the firm? Will you “vibe well” with current analysts and leadership? These are important questions that a bank considers to select a narrow, narrow portion of a huge applicant pool. The best way for banks to answer these questions is through behavioral and situational questions (you can find many examples of these online).
To answer these questions effectively, you must know your resume like the back of your hand, be able to tell someone about yourself fluidly, and prepare various stories from your past experiences that show you are capable of being in investment banking… and that you have strong character and personality. Technical questions are more of the “check-the-box” type of question; behavioral questions are opportunities for your personality to shine and determine whether you receive an offer or not.
You can demonstrate your personality by preparing a handful of “stories” that portray various aspects of your identity and desirable character traits. Interviews can seem intimidating, and it’s easy (and natural!) to be nervous. But do your best to relax, smile, and bring the energy. Your interviewers are probably running low on sleep and would rather be anywhere else but the interview room. Display 110% of the charisma and enthusiasm you normally have.
It feels cliché to say this, but most important: be yourself. It’s obvious if you are trying to be someone you are not. You have gotten this far in the process already. Simply being the truest (and most polished) version of yourself is the best favor you can give to yourself.
Advice #2: Demonstrate Curiosity and Adaptability
In behavioral interviews, demonstrating a strong willingness and ability to learn is crucial. While extracurricular experiences like clubs provide valuable exposure to financial concepts and industry practices, the reality of being an investment banker is far more demanding and dynamic. The fast-paced nature of the job requires analysts to quickly process complex financial information, adapt to evolving market conditions, and refine their technical and analytical skills in real time. Learning on the job is an essential skill. You want to portray a strong sense of curiosity and adaptability in your interviews.
Ideally, you can find ways to provide specific examples of proactive learning in past experiences. This might be taking the initiative to build financial models beyond assigned tasks during an internship, seeking out mentorship to deepen understanding of complex deals, or independently studying industry trends to stay ahead of market developments. Discussing instances where you quickly adapted to new challenges, applied feedback efficiently, and took ownership of your learning process will help demonstrate your ability to thrive in an investment banking environment.
Demonstrating evidence of a proactive approach to learning signals to interviewers that you can not only fulfill the demands of the job but also contribute meaningfully from day one.
Advice #3: Showcase Confidence and Humility
A willingness to learn requires humility. Portraying a growth mindset in interviews can be as critical as communicating your achievements and skills. While success stories are vital, don't shy away from discussing instances where things didn't go as planned. Explain how you identified areas for improvement and the proactive steps you took to learn from these setbacks. This demonstrates resilience and a commitment to self-improvement.
Be sure to describe how constructive criticism has shaped your performance. For example, share a scenario where you sought feedback after a challenging project and then applied that advice to improve future outcomes. Try to showcase individual strengths and acknowledge team efforts. Explain how you collaborated with others and share credit for successes. Demonstrate an understanding of your own limitations and how you’ve worked to overcome them. This makes your narrative more relatable, genuine, and resonating.
Effectively balancing confidence and humility in an interview is certainly difficult when you cannot predict in advance what questions you will receive. It takes lots and lots of practice, hours of mock interviews, and most importantly, deep reflection on who you are, what you have done, and where you have to go.
Advice #4: Know the Company!
Something commonly overlooked when it comes to behavioral interviews is doing your due diligence on the company you are interviewing for. Not only will you have to answer questions like “why this firm?” but you may also receive more specific questions such as “can you tell us about a deal we worked on?”
Take some time to study the company. Has it indeed worked on a specific deal in the past that you find particularly interesting? Is there a division that stands out to you? Has it received any recent awards or recognitions? By doing this preparation, you'll demonstrate to your interviewers that you are not only interested in the role but also committed to contributing to the company's success.
A thorough understanding of the company will enable you to explain why the firm personally resonates with you and how you are a great fit for it.
Advice #5: The S.T.A.R Method
A quick Google search on behavioral interview prep would probably yield something called the STAR method. The STAR method is one of the most effective ways to succeed in behavioral interviews. In this portion of the interview, you are likely to encounter a wide variety of situational questions (i.e. questions that could start with “tell me about a time…” or “give me an example of when…”). While you may not have anticipated the exact question thrown at you, you can still tackle it effectively with a prepared “story bank” (a prepared selection of stories that can probably apply to many situational questions) and clear understanding and practice of the STAR method. The STAR method is a helpful way for structuring your responses to these types of questions.
S: First, clearly describe the Situation. Give the interviewer enough background to fully grasp the context of your action(s) or decision(s) that remain the focus of your response.
T: Next, articulate the Task you may have been given, explaining precisely the challenge or responsibility you faced. This might be conducting research, taking on a club initiative, or crafting a financial model.
A: After setting the stage, delve into the Action component of your response, detailing step-by-step how you approached the situation you were in and emphasizing your strategic thought processes, analytical abilities, and any teamwork or communication skills. Highlight specific actions, such as coordinating closely with analysts to refine valuation models, meticulously verifying data to ensure accuracy, or proactively communicating with senior team members when you identified critical risks or insights.
R: Finally, summarize the Result, demonstrating clearly any positive outcomes and tangible impacts of your actions. By roughly following this structure in your interview responses, you can effectively showcase and explain any previous life experiences and vividly illustrate your strengths and decision-making capabilities. Sticking to this simple trajectory in your mind can also ensure your response is of appropriate length, and provide helpful benchmarks for your answer that may ease any stress or anxiety that springs up and allow you to simply focus on the content of your response.
Practical Applications / Additional Resources
Below is an example of a strong response to a behavioral interview question.
Question: Tell me about a time you worked on a team?
S: In freshman year, I took a course on entrepreneurship that had a final capstone project.
T: We had to work in a team of five to pitch a business idea to a panel of investors over the course of ten weeks.
A: Our business idea was a monthly subscription service that delivered eco-friendly clothing curated based on personal style. I took the initiative to coordinate team meetings and assigned each team member tasks that aligned with their strengths. I personally focused on conducting market research on consumers and competitors, but when a teammate fell behind on their responsibilities, I stepped in and ensured that we were still on track.
R: Our team received one of the highest scores by the panel of investors. In particular, the investors praised the research I conducted for the business model. The entire experience strengthened my leadership, collaboration, and problem-solving skills. I really learned the importance of communication and accountability in fostering success for group projects.
There are many resources available online and many, many more practice questions and answers. We hope that you found some of our advice useful. Keep them in mind as you explore additional resources and practice mock interviews.
We recommend materials from Wall Street Prep, Breaking Into Wall Street, and Mergers & Inquisitions for preparing for investment banking interviews in particular. Below are also some general resources to consult:
Thanks for reading, and good luck!