Questions to Ask in an Investment Banking Coffee Chat

The questions

Open any question to see why it works.

1. 1

   How did you end up at this bank rather than somewhere else?

   An easy opener that also gives you their story to draw on later in the call. Whether they mention the group, a person who recruited them, or where the offer landed tells you how much choice they actually had.

2. 2

   Which group are you in, and what does that group cover?

   Coverage groups and product groups do different work, and people outside banking routinely confuse them. Asking cleanly at the start prevents you from asking a healthcare coverage banker about leveraged finance for twenty minutes.

3. 3

   What did you work on last week?

   A concrete question that produces a concrete answer, and far better than asking what a typical day looks like. You get the real mix of pitch material, models, calls, and waiting, which is what you are actually trying to picture.

4. 4

   What is the deal mix in the group right now?

   Whether the group is running mostly sell-side mandates, financings, or restructuring work shapes what an analyst learns there. It also gives you something specific to reference in an interview, which is where these calls pay off.

5. 5

   How is staffing handled here: a shared pool, or do juniors sit with particular seniors?

   This decides your life more than any other structural detail. A staffer allocating across a pool spreads work and protects people unevenly, while sitting under one senior banker means your experience depends almost entirely on that person.

6. 6

   How many live processes is an analyst usually on at once?

   The number tells you more about workload than any answer about hours. Two live deals plus pitch work is a different job from six pitches and nothing live, and both get described the same way from the outside.

7. 7

   How much of an analyst's time is modelling, and how much is producing materials and coordinating?

   Juniors in every group spend a substantial share of the week on formatting, version control, and chasing inputs. An honest answer here is a good signal about the person, and a defensive one tells you they have heard the question before.

8. 8

   What separates a good analyst from a great one in your group?

   Answers usually land on attention to detail, anticipating the next request, or being the person whose work does not need checking. Whatever they name is close to what the group actually optimises for, and it is worth repeating back in an interview.

9. 9

   What do first-year analysts get wrong in their first three months?

   Easier to answer than a question about strengths and more specific. Common answers involve not asking for context, sitting on a problem too long, or turning work in fast rather than turning it in right.

10. 10

    What are the hours honestly like, and does the protected weekend hold?

    Most banks have some version of a protected day policy, and the interesting part is whether it survives a live process. Asking whether it holds rather than whether it exists gets you the real answer.

11. 11

    How does the group decide who gets put on which deal?

    Allocation is where careers diverge inside the same analyst class. Whether it runs through a formal staffer, through relationships, or through whoever is available at midnight tells you how much of your outcome would be in your own hands.

12. 12

    What has the class above you gone on to do?

    The indirect way to ask about exits, which asked bluntly reads as though you are treating the job as a two-year stop. Framed this way it becomes a question about the group's track record, and most people answer it happily.

13. 13

    How would you describe the difference between this group and the same group at a competitor?

    Bankers know exactly how their group is positioned and enjoy the comparison. It gives you a genuine reason for wanting this bank, which is the question you will be asked in every interview and the one most candidates answer badly.

14. 14

    What is the culture on your floor, and is it different elsewhere in the bank?

    Culture in banking is set at the group and floor level rather than by the firm, so the question has to be asked narrowly to get anything useful. Ask what happens when someone makes a mistake if you want the sharpest version.

15. 15

    How did you prepare for technical interviews, and what caught you out?

    Moves the conversation to advice, which people give more freely than opinions. What caught them out is the practical half, and it is usually a question about how two concepts connect rather than a definition.

16. 16

    What do interviewers here weigh most: technicals, the story, or fit?

    The weighting differs by bank and by group, and someone who has sat on interviews knows it. It tells you where to spend the next month of preparation rather than spreading it evenly across everything.

17. 17

    Is there anything on my resume that would not survive a screen here?

    Direct, briefly uncomfortable, and more useful than any general feedback. People rarely volunteer this, but most will answer it when asked, and one sentence can fix something that was quietly costing you first rounds.

18. 18

    If you were in my position, what would you do between now and the deadline?

    A cleaner request than asking for help, because it asks for judgement rather than a favour. The answer is also a fair test of whether they are engaged enough to be worth following up with.

19. 19

    Is there anyone else in the group it would be worth speaking to, and would you be comfortable introducing me?

    The actual ask, and it belongs near the end after you have given them a reason to say yes. Adding the second clause lets them decline gracefully, which is why it makes a yes more likely rather than less.

20. 20

    What would make you regret putting someone forward?

    Referrals carry the referrer's name, and asking shows you understand that. The answer usually involves someone who did not follow up, arrived unprepared, or dropped out late, and it tells you exactly what to avoid doing next.