Consulting firms requires grace under pressure interviewers may introduce stress, usually through silence or confrontational questions, to see how you react. Answer pleasantly and calmly, ignoring the provocation. They frequently include case questions, in which you’re asked to think through some “real-world” problem, usually one with which you’re totally unfamiliar! Use them as an opportunity to demonstrate how you approach problems.

Second interviews involve often a daylong series of discussions with potential supervisors, co-workers and other managers or department heads. In disciplines like education, you may be asked to bring a portfolio or to prepare and deliver a class while being observed by other professionals. Some organizations also administer tests or give tours. The JobConcierge Best Executive Recruiters list is a free list of recruiters and headhunters who help anyone find jobs, including executive jobs and executive level jobs.

Maintain your enthusiasm with each new person you meet. A group may interview you. If possible, learn the name and title of each member of the group before the interview. This will allow you to know with what orientation or area of interest each person approaches the meeting. It is best to know this in advance of the interview day. Handle this situation in much the same way as if there were only one interviewer, taking care to direct your answers toward each person in the group. If you are asked the same question for the sixth time, remember that the person who asks has not yet heard your answer. When you arrange the visit, make sure that you understand who will pay for travel arrangements, how they are to be made, and what records you need for reimbursement.

Occasionally, second interviews include group interviews in which several applicants for the same position are presented with a problem to solve or subject to discuss as a group. The interviewer merely observe. In this case, keep in mind that you are being evaluated in terms of how you interact with the other members of your group. Recognize that you will be visiting a working organization and the people you see may not be able to devote exclusive attention to you. Don’t take it personally if an interviewer takes a call; pick up the thread of the conversation when the interviewer is free again. On-site interviews often include meals. Follow your hosts’ lead, both in ordering and in deciding whether to talk about work-related or casual topics. These meals are part of an evaluative process, whether or not they appear informal.

Close the interview with the same enthusiastic and energetic style with which you approached it. Send a thank-you note following each interview. Be aware of signals that indicate that the interview is over. An interviewer may stand or express appreciation for your time. This is your clue to close the interview. Express your enthusiasm for the organization and, if you are interested in the position, ask the interviewer when a decision will be made and when you may call. Maintain eye contact and return a firm handshake if a hand is extended. JobConcierge collected some of the best job search advice on cover letter tips, career change advice, networking advice, video resume tips and ranked the best articles on the executive job search website.

JobConcierge offers executive jobs - real people who search 300 job boards and submit applications to take care of your entire online job search. The site is known for its best executive search firms

So, why investment banking?

If you ever hope to enter the field, you’ll need to have a great answer to this question - because it’s something that every single interviewer will ask you.

But other guides do a poor job of guiding you on how to answer this question.

-You want to be a lifelong learner.

-You’ve done well in finance classes.

-You like a fast-paced environment.

And if you want to sound exactly the same as everyone else, feel free to use these types of responses.

So if you want to succeed in interviews, you need to be more personal and give answers that make an interviewer remember you and more likely to “go to bat” for you in the future.

You can accomplish this with the “Big Picture” method or the “Slice of Life” method.

If you’re a career changer, you don’t have a finance background, or you can’t think of anything specific that made you interested in finance, use the “Big Picture” method.

The outline is: Background in One Industry + Experience in Finance = Success in Achieving Long-Term Goals.

So maybe you’re an engineer and you want to do investment banking so that you can go into venture capital one day; or maybe you came from healthcare and you want to do investment banking so that you can advise healthcare companies on major financing decisions.

Don’t know what you want to do in the long-term? Not a problem - just make up goals and be consistent with what you say.

The “Slice of Life” method is better if you’ve had solid finance experience.

Here, you start off with a specific event that made you interested and then explain how that interest developed over time.

-You saw your parents day-trading when you were younger, so you then decided to start trading your own account, following the market, and doing a few investment internships.

-You went to a summer leadership camp and met top female executives at investment banks, which sparked your interest in the field.

Feel free to combine both of these methods, as well - just make sure your story doesn’t go on for 5 minutes.

Aim for a 20-30 second elevator pitch and you’ll be ahead of 90% of prospective bankers.

Riyan Richter blogs about the career search process, how to successfully network, and how to get into the finance industry at Mergers & Inquisitions, the web’s leading resource for investment banking and answering the why investment banking question in interviews.

It’s a sad fact of life that in 2009 / 2010 few are thorough. Whether it is employers seeking to hire a job candidate or for that matter most of us, we are just so overworked to be complete in our jobs and endeavors. In most cases we “just do not have the time”.

Yet when it comes to hiring decisions its often intuition , feelings and indeed running by the “seat of your pants ” , that often makes key decisions as to who to ad to the employee team , the office pool or factory floor , or even to the hallowed halls of “upper management”.

It can be said that in most cases , life can down to simple basics. What could be easier during the interview and hiring process than to ask questions , check and verify. All it takes in most cases is a simple phone call , email or fax.

Its often just a simple matter of taking the time to work through and down the resume or resumes. Few managers and those delegated or assigned in the interview setups and processes take the time or employ simple common sense when it comes to these matters. Go into any big box store 2 or 3 months later and look for a familiar face or faces. It seems that even though these firms have well laid out interview processes and series , that management invested many many hours and corporate expense that even though a clear process exists , its just a river to flow down, few actually take the time and effort to do serious follow up on most candidates. Hence a great amount of wasted time and effort is spent in the interview , hiring and training segments of these profit centers.

Examine resumes that are inbound thoroughly and fully. On a cursory level initially scan and look for career development trends. Are there logical career moves overall? Does a clear pattern emerge? What of skills and qualifications do they match job titles and descriptions? Or are the job titles and descriptions overstated in any manner or way?

One interesting point to note in the limelight. Excellent and even exceptional references are sometimes suspect. It seems that if a business , firm or organization really wants to get rid of a character or a laggard which is slowing their team down , hampering efficiency and effectiveness , or pulling staff morale down , then often the best course to take to get rid of this incompetent or troublemaker it to “give them a good or great reference”. This way their problem or sets of problems are solved - however at your expense as well as frustration level.

It’s all as simple as that of being thorough. Do not rush to fill a position simply because you “have to have someone” or a budget deadline has to be met. An ounce of prevention when it comes to the hiring process and procedure is worth a ton of cure later.

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