“Why this firm?” comes up at almost every stage of banking interviews, and interviewers can tell within seconds whether your answer comes from real reading or from a recruiting brochure. The candidates who stand out are the ones who can say something specific about the firm’s structure, its groups and its recent work, and tie it to their own interests.
Thanksgiving break is a good time to build that knowledge. It is a stretch of days with no classes, and your next round of interviews, whether it is weeks or months away, will go better if the research is already done. The plan runs in three stages: the days before the break, the break itself and the days after. Take what fits your schedule.
What You Are Trying to Produce
Before you open a browser, decide on the output. By the end of the plan, you should have:
- A one-page profile for each firm you are interviewing with.
- A short list of recent public deals at each firm that you can describe in plain English.
- A tailored answer to “why this firm” that connects the firm’s strengths to your story.
- Three or four smart questions for interviewers at each firm.
- A comparison sheet showing how your firms differ, so you can answer “why a boutique” or “why a large bank” convincingly.
Every item on that list is something you can say aloud. Reading without producing anything tends to evaporate by the day of the interview.
Stage One: The Days Before the Break
Use this stage to set up the project so the holiday days are productive.
- List your firms. Include every interview you have or expect. If your list is long, rank by date and fill in the earliest ones first.
- Create a template. One document per firm with the same headings: structure, groups, recent deals, how it recruits, culture signals, my fit, my questions.
- Collect sources. Bookmark each firm’s website, press releases page and any news coverage of announced deals. Use your school’s career resources and alumni who work there as sources of insight too.
- Ask one or two contacts for a short call about what the firm is known for and what the interview style is like. Ask early, since people get busy around the holiday.
- Block time. Treat two to three hours a day as non-negotiable, and write the blocks on your calendar.
Our overview of bulge bracket, boutique and middle-market banks is a useful reference for placing each firm in context.
Stage Two, Part One: Map Each Firm
The first holiday days go to building the structure of each profile. Aim for about an hour per firm.
- What type of firm is it? A large universal bank, an advisory-only boutique, a middle-market specialist or a regional firm? Each recruits and operates differently.
- What does it do? Which products does the banking team cover, such as mergers and acquisitions, equity capital markets and debt financing?
- How is the team organized? Look for industry groups, such as healthcare or technology, and product groups. Note which group you are interviewing for.
- Where is the office? Know which city you would work in and whether the group is based there.
- How big is it? Broad size and footprint, described in general terms. Avoid precise numbers you cannot verify.
Stick to what the firm says about itself and what is widely known. If you are unsure of a fact, leave it out of your notes and your answers. A wrong detail does more damage than a missing one.
Stage Two, Part Two: Study Recent Deals
Deal knowledge is where candidates stand out. You are looking for two or three public transactions per firm that you can explain.
For each one, write down:
- Who the client was and what type of deal it was (sale, acquisition, financing, restructuring).
- Why it made sense for the client, in one or two sentences.
- The firm’s role, as stated in public announcements.
- One question you would ask a banker who worked on something similar.
Practice describing each deal aloud in thirty seconds, without jargon. If you cannot explain it simply, you do not know it well enough yet.
Be careful to stay factual. Describe what was announced. Do not guess at how much the bank earned, or speculate about private details. Interviewers respond well to accuracy and humility.
Stage Two, Part Three: Build the Fit Story
Now connect the research to yourself. This is the most important part of the plan, and the one students skip.
Write a short paragraph for each firm that answers three questions:
- What about the firm’s work or structure appeals to me?
- What in my background connects to that?
- What do I hope to learn there in my first two years?
For example, a sophomore interested in healthcare might note that a firm has a dedicated healthcare group, mention a relevant class or club project, and say they want to learn how clients in that sector are advised through deals. That is specific, believable and personal.
For differences between types of firms, our pieces on elite boutiques and the large-bank comparison can help you frame what to emphasize, and the culture comparison explains how working environments can differ. Frame every difference as fit, and avoid ranking firms against each other.
Stage Two, Part Four: Prepare Your Questions
Interviewers usually leave time at the end for your questions. Good ones show you did your homework.
- Ask about the group’s work: “How does the team decide which clients to cover?”
- Ask about the experience: “What does training look like for new analysts in this group?”
- Ask about the interviewer’s path: “What made you choose this group?”
- Avoid questions about pay, hours or anything you can answer with a web search.
Write three or four per firm and choose from them depending on who is in the room.
Stage Three: The Days After the Break
Your knowledge fades if you do not rehearse it. Use the days after the holiday to turn the notes into answers.
- Practice out loud. Say your “why this firm” answer for each firm, in under a minute. Record it and listen back.
- Run a mock. Ask a friend or mentor to play interviewer and ask you about the firm, a deal and your questions.
- Refresh the day before. Re-read each profile and update it with any news since you wrote it.
- Review the technical sheet. Use our technical cheatsheet to keep the fundamentals fresh alongside the firm work.
If you have several interviews in a row, keep each profile on a single page so you can scan it in five minutes before walking in.
Keep the Holiday Itself Intact
A research plan should not cost you the break. Most students do well with two to three hours a day for four days, and the rest left free. Protect meals, family time, sleep and exercise. A rested candidate performs better than one who spent the holiday reading in a corner.
If your schedule is crowded, shrink the plan. Complete the profile and deal list for your earliest interview first, and cover the others later. A thorough answer for one firm is better than a thin answer for five.
What a Finished Profile Looks Like
Here is a sketch of a one-page profile for an imaginary firm, so you can see the level of detail to aim for. Everything below is hypothetical.
- Type and footprint: Mid-sized advisory firm, headquartered in one major city with a few regional offices.
- Groups: Industrials, healthcare, consumer and a financing team.
- Recent public work: Advised a family-owned manufacturer on its sale to a larger strategic buyer; advised a healthcare services company on a debt refinancing.
- How it recruits: Early outreach to sophomores, a first-round call, then a superday with several back-to-back conversations.
- My fit: Interest in industrials from a campus manufacturing visit; wants broad exposure to both sell-side and financing work.
- My questions: How do analysts rotate across deals? What does a typical first month look like?
If your page is fuller than this, trim it. Interviewers do not expect an encyclopedia. They want to hear that you picked their firm for reasons you can explain.
A Sample Four-Day Layout
This layout assumes two to three hours of work each day. Move the pieces around to fit your plans.
- Day one: Build the profile skeletons and map the structure for your earliest interview.
- Day two: Research deals for that firm, then start the second firm’s map.
- Day three: Write fit stories and questions for both firms. Rest in the evening.
- Day four: Practice your answers out loud and ask one person to listen.
Then repeat the pattern for any remaining firms over the following week. Steady progress over the week beats a perfect first pass.
Key Takeaways
- Decide on the output first: a one-page profile per firm, two or three deals you can explain, a fit story and questions.
- Use the days before the break to set up templates, sources and time blocks.
- Map the firm’s type, products, groups and location, and stick to facts you can verify.
- Study public deals and practice describing them in plain English in thirty seconds.
- Spend the days after the break rehearsing out loud, because knowledge you cannot say clearly will not help in the room.
Want Personalized Interview Coaching?
If you are serious about breaking into investment banking, the best thing you can do is work with someone who has been through the recruiting process and knows what top banks look for. At Wall Street Mastermind, we have coached over 2,500 students through recruiting at bulge bracket banks, elite boutiques, and middle market firms. Book a free strategy call to learn how we can help you prepare.
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