Investment Banking Assessment Center : Overview

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Investment Banking Assessment Centers: A Comprehensive Overview

Investment banking recruiting has evolved significantly, with innovations like HireVue interviews, online tests, and initial screens conducted by recruiters. These changes have made the process more impersonal, making it challenging to leave a strong first impression. However, the most personal aspect of the recruiting process, the assessment center, often garners complaints as well.

If you're gearing up for an investment banking assessment center, prepare for a day packed with activities, case studies, group exercises, and multiple interviews, along with verbal, math, and logical tests. Despite predictions of their demise when everything moved online, assessment centers have adapted and thrived. They are likely to become even more critical in the future.



What is an Investment Banking Assessment Center?

An investment banking assessment center (AC) is the final step in the recruiting process in regions like Hong Kong, London, and other parts of EMEA. It involves completing online tests, case studies, group exercises, and specialized tasks in addition to standard interviews. Unlike the typical Superday in the U.S., an AC encompasses a wider range of tasks beyond 30-minute interviews.

In the U.S., candidates often memorize obscure technical questions for interviews, with interviewers probing until they find something the interviewee can't answer. This behavior is less common in regions that utilize ACs, where developing a broader skill set is more beneficial. This includes working in a group, prioritizing emails, and giving simple presentations rather than memorizing technical details.

ACs are prevalent in investment banking, sales & trading, and other areas at banks and consulting firms in London and Hong Kong. This guide focuses on the investment banking AC to avoid an overly lengthy article. Banks mainly use ACs to recruit university and Master’s students for internships and full-time roles, with lateral hires and MBA-level candidates less likely to encounter them.

Why Do Investment Banking Assessment Centers Exist?

Banks use ACs to ensure candidates are competent and qualified in real life, not just on paper. The initial application process for IB roles in London includes submitting an online application, an initial interview or HireVue, competency questions, and online tests. These steps eliminate a percentage of applicants, but cheating and limited correlation with on-the-job performance remain issues.

Traditional investment banking interviews can be deceptive, as some people excel at BSing through a 30-minute discussion despite being terrible at the job. However, it's much harder to deceive your way through an assessment center. You must be there in person, work with others, and complete tasks similar to those in banking.

The best way to assess someone is through a 10-12-week internship, but that's expensive and impractical for thousands of applicants. Therefore, ACs serve as a compromise.

The Structure of an Investment Banking Assessment Center

The structure, timing, tasks, and number of candidates vary by bank, but you might expect the following:

  • Number of Candidates: A few dozen in a single day (around 30-40 total).
  • Universities: Heavy representation from top U.K. and European target schools (Oxbridge, LSE, Bocconi, IE, HEC) and a few from semi-targets and non-targets.
  • Offer Rate: Similar to a Superday, expect around 20-40%.
  • Total Time Required: Approximately 4-6 hours (excluding transportation).
  • Interviews: 2-3 interviews totaling 60-90 minutes.
  • Online Tests: Retaking one or more earlier tests, consuming another ~30 minutes.
  • Specialized Tasks: Tasks like in-tray exercises taking another ~30 minutes.
  • (Group) Case Study: Solo or group case studies lasting 45-60 minutes.
  • Social/Networking: Networking panels or social events, like group lunches, lasting 30-60 minutes.

Arriving early is crucial, even if it means camping out at a nearby coffee shop. Being a few minutes late could eliminate you before the AC begins.

Key Components of an IB Assessment Center

  1. Interviews: Expect more cross-checking to ensure consistency in your story and interaction with senior bankers.
  2. Online Tests: Banks may retest you on-site with no internet access to verify scores.
  3. Specialized Tasks: In-tray exercises involve responding to simulated emails and prioritizing tasks.
  4. Presentations, Case Studies, and Group Exercises: These include solo exercises (company profiles, modeling tests, equity research reports) and group exercises (advising clients on acquisitions, debt vs. equity decisions).

The main goal is to evaluate how well you work in a team. Tips for group exercises include balancing speaking time, volunteering for boring tasks, avoiding interruptions, bringing others into discussions, and using first names.

Post-Assessment Center

You’ll generally hear back quickly if you’ve won an offer, though it can sometimes take a few weeks. Follow up occasionally and send personalized thank-you messages to interviewers. Document everything about the AC exercises, interviews, and case studies immediately after for future reference.

Preparing for Investment Banking Assessment Centers

If you've prepared for initial interviews, you shouldn't need much additional work. Tips from numerous articles on this site and the IB Interview Guide can help. For online tests, JobTestPrep offers useful packages for verbal, math, logic, and other tests.

For case studies and group presentations:

  • Complete 3-4 solo practice case studies on company profiles, acquisition recommendations, debt vs. equity, and evaluations of recent deals.
  • Create your own case studies based on news and recent deals.
  • Focus on speed and simplicity in your responses.

Joining a student investment club or case competition can improve your group dynamics. The best practice is to continue participating in ACs until you become familiar with the scenarios.

By the end, you’ll realize assessment centers are more repetitive than intimidating.

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