I’ve been prepping for my IB internship interviews, reading all the typical guides, and I keep noticing something: a lot of the interview questions feel disconnected from actual banking work. Like, why do they care so much about my SAT score or what I did in debate club when the job is modeling and client crises?
But then I had a coffee chat with a banker who asked me something totally different—he was drilling into how I think about problems, not what I memorized. And it made me wonder: are the actual interview questions shaped by what veterans actually look for, or is there this whole template that everyone follows that doesn’t really match the job?
I’m trying to figure out if there’s a gap between what gets asked in formal interviews versus what really matters. And if there is, how do you prep for the thing that actually matters when the official interview is testing something else?
What’s been your experience—did the interviews actually test what you need to succeed, or were they just different from the actual work?
interviews at banks test two things badly: 1) can you talk about finance without sounding like an idiot, and 2) will you be tolerable to work with. they don’t test actual job fit. i got asked in my interview about my leadership style and crisis management, used every fake answer in the book, then showed up and realized the job is spreadsheets and client politics. the prep taught me nothing. coffee chats with real bankers are infinitely better because they’re not following a script.
the template interviews are just HR theater mixed with md ego. the questions that actually matter—can you think under pressure, do you learn quickly, are you coachable—don’t get tested in formal interviews. they get tested in the actual job. but coffee chats let you see if a banker respects you, which is way more predictive of success than nailing some behavioral question.
oh wow so like the coffee chats are where the real vibe check happens? maybe i should be focusing more of my energy there then instead of memorizing all the standard answers?
this is kinda freeing actually lol bc im not great at the canned answers but i can have an actual conversation about why the work interests me
ok but like, still need to pass the formal interview tho right? cant just ignore it bc the coffee chat matters more
There is a meaningful gap, and understanding it is actually useful for your prep. Formal interviews test two things: 1) basic financial literacy and the ability to communicate it clearly, and 2) whether you’ll create friction in the group. Coffee chats test whether you actually understand what banking is and whether you’re genuinely curious versus just resume-building. What shapes the formal questions is often just legacy momentum—the group has asked those questions for years, so they keep asking them. What shapes coffee chat questions is banker intuition about potential fit. For your prep: nail the formal interview by knowing finance basics cold, then use coffee chats to show you actually think about problems, not just answers.
The coffee chats are where you shine! Be genuine, ask real questions, and show real interest. That’s the stuff that actually moves needles. You’ve got this!
Your authentic curiosity matters way more than perfect answers. Bankers remember people who are genuinely interested, not people who memorized scripts. Be you!
One more observation: bankers who conduct coffee chats are usually the people you’d actually work with or for. So the questions reflect their priorities, not HR’s priorities. That means coffee chat questions vary way more than formal interview questions because each banker has different priorities. One might focus on market knowledge, another on how you think analytically, another on your communication. The formal interview is standardized partly because it’s defensive—if everyone gets asked the same questions, there’s less liability. Coffee chats are personalized, which makes them actually predictive.