Lehman Brothers Interview Questions and Answers

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: Help from seniors' resumes. Templates searched on google. Pre-Placement Talks help in knowing about the company, the job profile, the work culture and one can decide depending upon one's interests whether one wants to join that company or not.

Round: Puzzle Interview
Experience: For puzzles : www.techinterview.org

Round: HR Interview
Experience: They asked me about how serious I was regarding joining the company. They asked me if I had given GRE and whether I was apping in parallel. I was honest and told them that I was. Honesty pays. They asked me if I know anything about the company. Frankly, the only thing I knew then was the job profile and the fact that I can do it and enjoy it. Here too I was honest. Then they asked me to summarize the interview that I just gave in 1 sentence. The key here is to stay positive. Even if something doesn't seem to be going in your favor, try to take it on a positive note.
Tips: Your tech fundaes should be clear (especially for the fixed income group). For HR, atleast, read the company's website

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: General fundae regarding technology in computers. They asked me to describe my internship project at Webaroo. They asked me alternative / better ways to do some of the things that I was describing. They also asked me questions related to concepts in Java like Class-loading etc.

Skill Tips: Dress smart. Keep your clothes ironed and shoes polished the day before itself. Do not be rude to the interviewers. Keep a positive energy
College Name: IIT BOMBAY

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: I looked at the various resumes of our seniors and I liked a particular one used by my senior. I just made all my resume point wise. I had made it a point to know all my resume points to elaborate well on any topic. I had 2 resumes. One of them was for non technical jobs like schisms and other wise was for managerial and financial jobs. Since I had a low cpi, I dint target the technical jobs. I read a lot from the newspaper and magazines. I also used to read about the markets and economy to increase my general awareness. It really gives you a lot of confidence to know about the political and other situation,just in case those topics come into picture.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: I was asked to do 2 case studies related to real estate. All I did was think logically and proceed. Also I gave a lot of attention to their comments and tried to incorporate her suggestion. This way I not only corrected myself, I also left an impression of thinking at the moment. I also defied some of the suggestions given to me by them but not without giving reasons. This I did to suggest that though I was ready to listen to them , I would not do something without logic. I think talking logically and cheerfully makes them quiet happy.

Round: Other Interview
Experience: I was a lucky person to be selected in my first interview and also I had just 1 and a half day to do that. But for whatever time I had I read a lot about the company and the divison I would be working with. I had missed its ppt but hearing that also helps you. I had prepared for the many general questions of hr like, ell me about Yourself, your interest or your passion. They might ask u about your role model and your future goals. You should cover those areas well but should not say anything without a thought. I did not prepare in a group but it was a nice thing to prepare yourself alone or with someone and then have your friend interview you.

Skill Tips: Ya they should know about the working of the company. Secondly they should know about the work that is expected from them and should try to show those qualities through their answers and their thinking. A really good explanation to show an interest in their job can also help them. I don't know much on this front because I dint got interviewed in any other company.
College Name: IIT BOMBAY

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: a. McKinsey and Co. workshop at IITB
b. From senior students help

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: Standard textbooks in my technical field to prepare for technical interviews

Round: Puzzle Interview
Experience: Solved numerous puzzles on quantitative analysis and logic

Round: Group Discussion
Experience: Study and practice of gestimates

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Case study books referred from Wharton School of Management website

Round: Other Interview
Experience: Revision over probabilistic methods and combinatorial methods

Skill Tips: Be yourself and do not pretend. Interviews like to hear that you do not know. Show interest in the company profile. Ask questions about the job profile. Its evident that you are interested in taking up the job, but make that evident to the interviewers. Agree to disagree (with due respect) with the interviewer
College Name: IIT BOMBAY

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: I compiled resumes from my seniors, who had got placed in management consultancies, financial consultancies, FMCGs and software jobs. I minutely observed the order in which any given resume was written, every point that had been portrayed and style of portraying any point. Keeping company requirements in mind (for eg. Mckinsey would want professional excellence or spike in any one field) and the companies I was looking for, I made a rough draft. However, I found my resume to be diverse rather than what some consultancies would have wanted. I aimed at financial institutions, analytics and consultancies. With their requirements in mind, I gave the excellence inmaths as the preference. Internships included one done in Reliance (corecompany) and another in Quantum Phinance (Finance related).This was followed by projects. Second Page had the organizational skills and extra curricular achievements. The sub points were written in a particular order. What I had done, followed by what I had achieved in whatever I had done. This, I believe gives a very good impression about your resume. Your resume should focus on what the companies (you are aiming at) want/expect from its new entrant. If you are not able to make a match with companies,expectations, try and make a best fit.

Round: Group Discussion
Experience: I made a group with one of my friends for preparing personal interviews and case studies. For GD, 3 such groups combined forming 6 people who then practiced GD internally.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: For HR interview, I prepared from -----. I got to know about some of the basic questions that can be asked in an interview. Further, I also came to know the interviewer expectations from you, right from when you enter that room or even when you are sitting outside waiting nervously for your interview. With the questions in mind, I just figured out my strengths and weaknesses, justifying them by my resume. For case studies, I had Wharton and Kelloggs guides. I did not aim for technical institutions and hence did not prepare for them.

Round: Puzzle Interview
Experience: For puzzles, I solved puzzles from puzzles community of orkut 3-4 days before my interviews. This really helped, as you need these puzzles to make your mind start working after a long gap of 4 yrs. Along with this basic preparation, themost important part of preparation lies in company specific preparations. HR answers, rest interviews have to be prepared with what that company expects from you. Your answers need not be fake though. For example Lehman demanded people handling pressure well, solving maths, number puzzles under pressure, being innovative, being able to learn quickly and people with good leadership and communication skills. With these aspects in mind, I cited examples from my resume which portrayed this so that I could justify I had those qualities in me. Interviews require you to be extremely confident and mature. You need to enter that interview with this frame of mind and knowing that any company would be glad to have you, rather than you being glad to join that company.

Skill Tips: Just some puzzles before the interview time, to make your brain start working again. You must be confident, calm and honest. You must know the fact that the Company cracks you rather than you cracking the company.
College Name: IIT BOMBAY

Round: HR Interview
Experience: The interviewer had given pre placement talk and I was really impressed by him as well.
He was impressed with my AIR. Since the job required quantitative skills, he started off with a few calculations, for which he wanted quick answers, following up with a puzzle .
The major part of the interview was concerned with Why Lehman? my ideal job? my future plans, why not an MBA? why investment banking and a few hypothetical questions which I might face in my career, etc.
I was made an offer immediately which I accepted.

General Tips: 1. Spend time on your resume:
Draft the points well. Don't use flowery language.
2. Brood about yourself:
Prepare HR questions
Prepare resume questions
Be honest about yourself
3. While in the semester:
Attend PPT's seriously
Do DI those who aren't preparing for CAT
Start reading ET, it helps in moulding and making a decision.
College Name: IIT BOMBAY

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: I used almost the same resume as for McKinsey except that I didn’t mention anything about my US patents this time - I had a nagging feeling that McKinsey rejected me in the last round because they thought that I wouldn't join.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: I was the last person to have his first round interview with Lehman that day

Round: HR Interview
Experience: At one point she said that Lehman is open to people who are trying to experiment by taking an
IBanking job (I feel she slightly went on the defensive here).
• I asked her quite a few questions :
– “If I asked a Lehman analyst what the biggest plus and minus of Lehman was, what would he say?”
– Are you able to distinguish between candidates who are really interested in finance vs candidates who
do it for the money?
– How do you ensure that people work well in teams given that promotions are for individuals.
– I had audited a course on HR (MBA 616 I think) - I asked her a few questions on how Lehman handled
certain organizational issues I learnt about in the course. The course was pretty useful because I felt I
knew what was on her mind during most of the interview (and I think she knew this too).

Round: HR Interview
Experience: I don’t think any of the others had a 4th interview - even last year I think everyone had 3 interviews with Lehman, so
don’t expect a 4th interview - I think I had a 4th interview because they somehow knew I had an offer from Tower and wanted to see whether I was serious about Lehman.

College Name: IIT KANPUR