Research for Interviews

Preparing for an interview should not be very difficult since you have already been researching your target firms to customize your cover letters.  Researching for an interview should simply be a detailed extension of this work.

An important bit of advice I can give you is to read the
Wall Street Journal to stay up with current events in the business world and specific news on your target firms. On the day of or the days leading up to your interview, be sure to read the Wall Street Journal especially close for any articles pertaining to your target firm or its industry.

When you go into an interview with an investment bank, or any company for that matter, they will expect you to be familiar with its business, unique attributes, and recent news. You don't have to be able to list off the full names of the board of directors but you do need to know the market differentiation the company possesses and why you want to work for them (e.g., global presence, reward extra effort, etc.). You can generally find out all the information you need by visiting the company's web site, reading the glossy pages of its annual report, and reading any news articles you dig up through a library search of periodicals.

Possessing knowledge of the firm and the interaction of current events with its business can help sway an interviewer to offer you a job over a comparable peer.