“The surest test of discipline is its absence.” [Clara Barton]

Abstract

If you want to prepare for an interview there are plenty of choices.

As a general preparation I suggest to buy Harvay Mackay’s book Sharkproof which lists

Kurt Einstein’s 20 Most Revealing Interview Questions

1. What have you been criticized for during the last four years?
2. Did you agree or disagree and why?
3. Where would you like to be in 3-5 years? 5-10 years? How do you expect to get there?
4. What would you like to change in this job to make it ideal? How would you describe the most or least ideal boss you could choose?
5. What activities in your position do you enjoy most?
6. How would you describe yourself in three adjectives? How would your subordinates or peers describe you with three adjectives?
7. Do you think you praise enough? If yes, ask: What makes you think so? If no, why not?
8. What would you do if you detected a peer falsifying expense records?
9. What would you do if the company you had just joined gave you $3000 to spend during the first year any way you felt appropriate?
10. If you had a choice, would you rather draw up plans or implement them?
11. State three situations in which you did not succeed. Why?
12. When you fire somebody, other than severing them from the company, what would be your key objective? Why?
13. What needs do you expect to satisfy by accepting this position?
14. What would you like to change in this job to make it ideal? [Yes, this is a repetition of question 4. I think this is a rather provocative question to check whether a candidate will go ballistic.]
15. We all fib occasionally. Would you say something that is not entirely true? Give me three examples when you did.
16. What benefits can be expected from threatening an employee to do better? When would you do that?
17. If you encountered serious difficulties on this job, what would they be?
18. What are three things you are afraid to find in this job?
19. We all have negative areas we would like to improve. Do you agree? If you do, could you give me three areas in which you would like to improve?
20. How do you motivate people? [I do not agree to the book's answer (peer pressure). Please see myth motivation.

If you are looking for a job in the finance industry I suggest to purchase a copy of “Heard on the Street” from Timothy Falcon Crack.

Sample question on financial management

How would you value a company? One possible measurement is Return-on-investment (ROI). Venture capitalists expect about 5-10x their investment within three years. “Angels” expect 5x of theirs in 5 years. Another measure is Earnings-before-interest-and-taxes (Ebit). There are industry specific factors you multiply the Ebit with to get the company value. As a rule of thumb you can take 5. In general the value of a company is the net present value (NPV) of all future cash flows.