I applied through university. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at William Blair (New York, NY) in Jan 2015
Interview
Typical interview process. What’s the most important: Money, honour, or knowledge?
What’s the square root of 341?
Why should we not give you the job?
Which other investment bank, apart from Morgan Stanley, do you like the most and why?
Is political risk in Eastern Europe a serious threat for banks?
Briefly walk through a discounted cash flow analysis (including WACC).
What is the formula for enterprise value?
What is minority interest and why do we add it in the enterprise value formula?
Which will place a higher value on the company, equity comparables (trading comps) or M&A comparables (transaction comps) and why?
A company makes a $100 cash purchase of equipment on Dec. 31. How does this impact the three statements this year and next year?
Tell me how would you value a company? Which are the most used financial tools in this area?
Why cannot we use EV/Earnings or Price/EBITDA as valuation metrics?
What factors can lead to the dilution of EPS in an acquisition?
Why do we subtract cash in the enterprise value formula?
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
What’s the most important: Money, honour, or knowledge?
What’s the square root of 341?
Why should we not give you the job?
Which other investment bank, apart from Morgan Stanley, do you like the most and why?
Is political risk in Eastern Europe a serious threat for banks?
Briefly walk through a discounted cash flow analysis (including WACC).
What is the formula for enterprise value?
What is minority interest and why do we add it in the enterprise value formula?
Which will place a higher value on the company, equity comparables (trading comps) or M&A comparables (transaction comps) and why?
A company makes a $100 cash purchase of equipment on Dec. 31. How does this impact the three statements this year and next year?
Tell me how would you value a company? Which are the most used financial tools in this area?
Why cannot we use EV/Earnings or Price/EBITDA as valuation metrics?
What factors can lead to the dilution of EPS in an acquisition?
Why do we subtract cash in the enterprise value formula?
A mix of Behav and technicals, pretty easy, and luckily got a nice interviewer. Can tell they’ve got goood culture. Chicago office, waiting for the next step of the process
I interviewed at William Blair (San Francisco, CA)
Interview
Phone call Screening and then a 1st round and finally 4 30 minute interviews for the superday. It was challenging but not the hardest of interviews to be completely honest.
I applied through an employee referral. I interviewed at William Blair (San Francisco, CA) in Mar 2025
Interview
First round and super day. Spoke to an analyst over zoom. Pretty basic questions mainly behavioral and then a followed by straightforward and standard technicals. Focus was mainly on valuation and LBO mechanics.
