DEFINITION: The Bulge Bracket
Bulge Bracket is the term used to describe banks who the largest in terms of size and in terms of profitability. These are commonly:- Goldman Sachs
- Morgan Stanley
- JPMorgan
- Merrill Lynch
The application process varies from institution to institution, but generally follow similar formats, albeit minor differences in the structure of interview days/what kinds of activities are involved.
Application Process
Most application processes for the bigger financial institutions consists of:- Online application form
- First interview/assessment
- Second interview & group exercise – although these will vary from department to department. For example, Operations does not do a group exercise, but they do a first round numeracy test. Technology does a first round case study.
- Online Application Form – you will be required to provide:
- Contact information
- Education history
- Language skills
- Exam results
- Work experience
- Any certification
- Technical skills
- Motivations for applying to Goldman Sachs.
- Certain language skills are required for some roles, and there are minimum academic requirements.
- Work experience is a definite advantage as it clearly demonstrates commitment to career.
- You must also demonstrate your motivation for joining Goldman Sachs in particular.
First Interview/Assessment
The initial interview/assessment day consists of:- Numerical & Verbal Test (20 minutes each)
- Business Interview (sometimes)
- Make sure you have read the financial papers. Examine the Goldman Sachs news feed above to see where they have recently appeared in the headlines.
- Competency based interview
- You will be looking to demonstrate the competencies listed above and show that you are “bright, articulate and genuine.” You will also need to demonstrate commercial awareness, and a general knowledge about the marketplace in which Goldman Sachs operates.Tip: Make sure you have at least two examples prepared of times in your life where you have demonstrated the competencies described above e.g. two examples of when you have had to lead a team.
- Numerical & Verbal Test
- The numerical and verbal tests are designed to check your mathematical and verbal ability. They do not require any skills beyond GCSE, although candidates with a non-mathematical degree would benefit from practicing these kinds of tests before they attend the assessment day. Also unusually there is no calculator allowed for the numerical.
- Each test will last 20 minutes.
- Business Interview
- This is a 30 minute interview, and is not always carried out, but is popular amongst those applying for internships. You will be provided with a business scenario prior to the interview, where a number of options will be open to a business. You will be required to consider the scenario and form a conclusion based upon it. You will have 30 minutes to prepare you argument and make notes. During the interview, you will discuss the scenario, and the interviewers will ask you questions. You can reasonably expect the interviewers to criticize whatever you say, so you must back up your points sufficiently. The will be looking for:
- Good communication skills
- Clear, logical, analytical thinking
- Competency Based Interview
- Core competencies you will be looking for include:
- Teamwork
- Leadership
- Working under pressure
- The interview will be conducted by a manager from the line of service to which you are joining. The interview may last between 30 minutes and one hour. The interviewer will wish to discuss any work experience you may have done to date, and also any other notable items on your application form. There will also be some competency questions. You can reasonably expect the following questions to be asked:
- Describe a time when you were a leader in a team situation. Teamwork
- Can you give me a situation where things haven’t gone as expected in team environment? Teamwork
- Can you tell me what exactly you did at x and y when you did work experience?
- How have you coped with disagreement in a team/leadership situation? Leadership
- You may also be asked:
- Why are you interested in applying for the line of service you have applied for?
- Why this organisation?
- Why should we employ you?
- A crucial element of this interview is having questions for your interviewers, your quality of questions are as important as your answers to their questions so have some prepared.
- Tip: On a busy day, they may interview up to 300 candidates. This means your interview may be shorter than you would like, and the interviewer may seem disinterested as they will be asking the same questions all day. Try not to take it personally – it may be very difficult for you to judge how well the interview has gone.
- This is a 30 minute interview, and is not always carried out, but is popular amongst those applying for internships. You will be provided with a business scenario prior to the interview, where a number of options will be open to a business. You will be required to consider the scenario and form a conclusion based upon it. You will have 30 minutes to prepare you argument and make notes. During the interview, you will discuss the scenario, and the interviewers will ask you questions. You can reasonably expect the interviewers to criticize whatever you say, so you must back up your points sufficiently. The will be looking for:
Second Round Assessment Day
The second round will consist of two competency based interviews and a group exercise. You will also have the opportunity to look around the offices and attend a networking session.First Interview on Assessment Day
Tips:- Read about the company
- Read about the division which you are joining
- Read annual reports of the company is accessible (available online)
- Why the company?
- What do you know about us?
- Why this division? What do you know about it? Describe what we do in this division?
- What will you be doing in your first year here?
- Why an internship/graduate scheme?
- Tell me about a time when you had to work in a team and something went wrong?
- Tell me about a time when you could not meet a deadline?
- Tip: Prepare examples for the competency questions prior to your interview. Responses to these types of questions are difficult on the spot if you have not already thought about it.
Second Interview on Assessment Day
Your second interview is likely to start immediately after the first. Your interviewers will be two managers from the division to which you have applied. The purpose of this interview is to determine if you possess the correct skills and demeanor to work in this division. Make sure you understand what skills will be required of you for the appropriate line of work. You should make certain you are familiar with all the information relating to the division on the website (and the websites of other investment banks) and ensure that you fully understand what the division does. For example, you may be asked:How can you cope with stress and a messy environment? Give an example.
Group exercise
You will be placed between 6 to 9 candidates. You will be pretending to be a group of managers/employees who are selecting people for an important task (on which you will be briefed). Each candidate is given 5 cards. On each card is a person’s name and a personal quality. Based on this information, you will then discuss on who would be best suited for the important task.Tip: Make sure you contribute to the group but also encourage and allow others to speak. You should be fair and allow everybody to contribute equally, but also make your own opinions clear and be firm in your convictions. If another candidate disagrees with you, make sure you put forward the reasoning behind your arguments and convince them that your opinions are justified. Finally, ensure that your group reaches an agreement/conclusion before the allocated time has run out.
