Good Questions to Ask Investment Bankers
Questions for a coffee chat or networking call with an investment banker: what their group actually does, what an analyst's day involves, what the hours are really like, why people leave, and how to prepare for interviews in their team.
The questions
Open any question for the note
What group are you in, and what does that group actually do?
Why ask it
Coverage, product and capital markets groups do very different work with very different hours. Getting this in the first minute stops you asking a leveraged finance banker about equity research and wasting the call.
How did you end up in this group rather than another one?
Why ask it
Group placement is often part preference and part accident, and hearing which it was for them tells you how much control you would have. It also loosens the conversation before you ask anything harder.
What did last week look like for you, day by day?
Why ask it
A specific week is much harder to answer in platitudes than a general question about the job. You will learn where the time actually goes, and how much of it is spent waiting for other people's comments.
What is the analyst's real job on a live deal?
Why ask it
Ask this rather than what analysts do, which produces a job description. The honest answer is usually a mix of modelling, updating materials and version control, and knowing the mix helps you decide whether you want it.
How much of the work is modelling, and how much is formatting and coordination?
Why ask it
Students often arrive expecting the first and get more of the second, particularly in the first year. A banker who answers this candidly is worth staying in touch with.
How long does a deal usually take, and where does it tend to stall?
Why ask it
Deal timelines are where the hours come from, so this is really a question about your calendar. Listen for the stages that create all-night work: diligence, regulatory review, or a client changing their mind.
What happens to a pitch that does not win the mandate?
Why ask it
Much of the work in banking never turns into a transaction, which is the part nobody mentions at recruiting events. Their answer tells you how they handle effort that goes nowhere.
What does a good analyst do that an average one does not?
Why ask it
You will usually hear about accuracy, checking your own work, and communicating status before being asked. These are learnable and specific, which makes this the most actionable question on the list.
How much of the long hours is real work, and how much is waiting?
Why ask it
The distinction matters enormously for whether the job is survivable. Bankers usually answer honestly, and the answer often exposes a culture of staying visible rather than a workload.
What was the worst week you have had, and what caused it?
Why ask it
One concrete week tells you more than any statistic about average hours. Note whether the cause was a client deadline or a senior person's poor planning, because only one of those is unavoidable.
How do people here protect any time at all outside work?
Why ask it
Ask how, not whether. Answers about protected weekend blocks or a staffer who enforces them describe an actual system; a shrug tells you the group runs on individual endurance.
Who did well in your analyst class, and where are they now?
Why ask it
Tracks real outcomes rather than intentions. If most of the class has moved on within three years, ask what they moved to, since that is the honest career path rather than the one on the recruiting slide.
What do people leave for, and do they seem to regret it?
Why ask it
Exits to private equity, corporate roles or something else entirely say different things about the group. The second half of the question is where you get an unguarded answer.
What should I be reading to follow your sector properly?
Why ask it
Gives you something concrete to do after the call and a reason to follow up later. It also shows whether they actually track their sector or mostly execute on instructions.
What are clients in your sector worried about at the moment?
Why ask it
Better than asking about market trends, because it forces a specific concern rather than commentary. It also gives you a genuine talking point for interviews with the same group.
How has the market environment changed what clients are asking you for?
Why ask it
You are looking for the link between conditions and the work itself: more restructuring, fewer sale processes, delayed offerings. That link is the thing interviewers most want candidates to understand.
What do candidates get wrong in interviews for your group?
Why ask it
Close to being handed the marking scheme, and bankers usually answer it because they sit on the interview panels. The common answers involve rehearsed answers and shaky accounting fundamentals.
What technical questions should I make sure I can answer cold?
Why ask it
Gets you a specific list from someone who knows what this group actually asks. Take notes, and ask whether they would expect the same in a first round or only later.
Is there anyone else here you think I should speak to?
Why ask it
The single most useful question in a networking call, and it works best after you have asked good questions rather than at the start. An introduction from an insider carries far more weight than a cold message.
Would it be all right if I followed up with you in a few weeks?
Why ask it
Sets up a second contact with permission, which is how a one-off chat becomes a relationship. Ask which channel they prefer, since many bankers reply to a phone message but never to a long email.
Running a networking call well
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before the call
Know their group before you dial
Check what group they sit in and what it covers. Asking a healthcare coverage banker generic questions about markets wastes the fifteen minutes you were given, and they will notice.
Assume fifteen minutes, not thirty
Pick four questions and put them in order of what you most want. If the call runs long, that is a good sign. If it runs short, you still got the things that mattered.
Do not ask about compensation
Base and bonus figures for analyst and associate roles are widely published and asking makes the conversation transactional. Ask about the work, the hours and the exits instead.
Never ask about a live or confidential deal
Bankers cannot discuss client matters, and asking puts them in an awkward position. Ask about their process and the sector generally, and let them volunteer whatever is already public.
What the answers tell you
- Strong: they can describe last week concretely, including the parts that were tedious.
- Strong: they distinguish between hours spent working and hours spent waiting on comments.
- Strong: they know where their analyst class ended up and can name roles.
- Strong: they give you a specific reading list or a specific technical topic to prepare.
- Weak: everything is described as a great learning experience with no detail attached.
- Weak: they cannot say why anyone leaves, or they describe every departure as a personal failure.
- Weak: they will not answer anything about hours. It is a fair question and evasion is itself an answer.
After the call
- Send a short thank-you the same day that names one specific thing they told you. Three sentences, no attachment.
- Do the thing they suggested. If they named a publication or a technical topic, read it, then mention it in your follow-up a few weeks later.
- If they offered an introduction, follow up within a week while the offer is still fresh in their mind.
- Keep a note of the group, the names, and what you discussed. In a large bank you may speak to several people and repeating yourself is noticed.
- Do not ask for a referral on the first call. Ask who else to speak to, build the relationship, and let the referral follow.