Investment and Mortgage Banker Interview Questions

Interviews for bankers and those in  the financial industry are long and grueling. They generally consist of four parts: personal questions to assess your communication and motivations; behavior questions that ask you to draw on your past experience to assess your competencies; technical questions about  your knowledge of finance and banking products; and the role play scenario in which your asked to play a banker and sell the interviewer something.

 

Mortgage Banker Interview Questions:

Industry Knowledge

• What are some of the main responsibilities of a mortgage banker?
• What is the minimum number of applications you expect to bring in per month?
• What’s the best way to get a mortgage through underwriting?
• Do you have a referral base?
• Tell me about the relationships you have in this community.
• How will you help grow business in this community?
• Describe a time when you had to recheck your data to make sure it was correct.

Behavioral Skills

• Give me an example of a time when you sold something to someone.
• How do you explain the mortgage process to applicants?
• Could you perform a mock sales call right now?
• What is your favorite thing to do? Sell it to me.
• Have you dealt with a difficult client? How did you handle it?
• How do you persuade someone if they are reluctant?
• How soon after a credit consent check do you initiate contact?
• How have you organized the work of a team to achieve goals?
• When you hit a dry spell and cannot make sales for 18 months, how will you handle it?

Personal Attributes

• What motivates you?
• Do you prefer to work independently or in a team?
• What irritates you about other employees?
• Explain a time that you took initiative.
• If we ran a credit check on you, would there be an issue?
• What can you offer to this firm?

Investment Banker Interview Questions:

Industry Knowledge

• Describe a work or school project where you applied quantitative skills.
• What is the Price/Earnings to Growth ratio for a company whose stock is valued at $21 with earnings of .70 per share and growth rate of 10%?
• Identify a stock which you would currently recommend for purchase and explain why.
• What is your take on the current stock market?  What factors are impacting the market and where is it headed?
• How do you stay current with trends and developments in the financial markets?
• What is our bank’s greatest weakness?
• Which of our competitors do you admire the most?
• What questions do you have for us?

Behavioral Skills

• Describe a successful group project. What role did you play?
• Describe a time a group project failed. What role did you play?
• Share three examples of how you exercised leadership within a group or organization?
• Describe a successful presentation which you made.  What enabled you to succeed?
• Describe a situation when you were confronted with several competing demands. How did you handle that challenge?
• Share a less successful experience presenting.  What limited your success?
• What is your strategy when reviewing a client portfolio?
• How would you approach valuing a company which is targeted for an IPO?
• Share a situation where you tapped your persuasive skills to close a deal or prompt a desired action from another party.

Personal Attributes

• Why do you want to be an investment banker?
• What attracted you to this position with our firm?
• Which aspect of this job will challenge you the most?
• Where does this job fit in with your overall career plan?
• What strengths would you bring to investment banking from your previous experiences?  Give me an example of how you applied each strength to your advantage.
• What were a few areas that your last employer said you should try to improve upon?