Be prepared

“Before you approach UBS, learn as much as possible from the website, newspapers and other sources.”

“Think about yourself, your qualities, strengths and weaknesses. You have to know yourself and what you can contribute.”

 
“I went for lots of interviews and did some role-play training. By the time I got to the interview, I had a lot of practice.”

“Have questions prepared. I wrote three things on the back of an envelope that I wanted to talk about in the interview. It’s nice to have something to fall back on if you lose your way.”

“Have a view on the stock market economy and where the business is going. You will be asked questions about this.”

“I didn’t know the stock price but I knew the UBS story -- that’s what seemed important. I could tell the interviewer where UBS was coming from and where it was going.”

“Always have examples to give.”

Use your contacts

“I talked to someone who said the best decision I could make was to go for UBS. I listened to him because he’d been in the industry a long time, knew all the firms and was aware of what was happening in the market.”

Build a relationship

“Company events are a great way to get recognized and to start the relationship. My advice is to go to all of them if you can. Collect cards, make an impression and be enthusiastic. It’s a networking thing. You are building relationships.”

“I interviewed a student who had clearly done his research, but had written his answers out on a piece of paper. When I asked him a question about teamwork, he read from the paper. There was no eye contact, no interaction. When he fired his questions at me in quick succession, I felt like I was being interrogated. This candidate didn’t have the skills to manage this interview, let alone a client relationship.”

Make the right impression

“First impressions are absolutely everything. The first four minutes can determine the outcome.”

“I knew the interviewers were seeing 20 or 30 other people, so I had a 30-second speech prepared on myself.”

“I used the interview to my advantage. I often used to think about my weaknesses, but I found that interviews made me focus more on my strengths.”

“I was interviewing this student who absolutely nailed every question I asked. He was invited to the final interview and I asked what distinguished him from other classmates. He got very excited and started speaking very quickly and swearing a lot. It was so scary he made me move back from the table. At first I thought he was a model candidate, but he wasn’t. Imagine him meeting our clients!”

“Show energy, be straightforward, maintain eye contact and give quick, snappy answers.”

“At one of the receptions, I was talking to a student who really impressed me. He was a natural born salesman. I was with another five or six students I wanted to talk to. I asked them some questions but this candidate wouldn’t let anyone else talk, wanting to the center of attention. Later, I was talking with a colleague and he told me that the same student had been around all the groups, always dominated the conversation and gotten on everyone’s nerves. He was not suitable for UBS because he would never listen to our clients.”

Don’t panic

“An MBA student suddenly turns around and accidentally spills red wine over me. Instead of panicking, he apologized and we even laughed about it. He handled himself really well. He went on to interview well, got an offer and joined UBS. We kept on bumping into each other and each time we would joke about it -- I’d tell him to stay well away from me. We all make mistakes, but it’s how you handle it afterwards that counts.”

Be honest

“If you don’t understand a question, there is no problem asking what they mean.”

“Before an interview, we were looking at a student’s resume and noticed that he could speak three languages, including fluent French and German. The student came in and I spoke some French. He looked completely blank. We continued to interview in English and the student did quite well until my colleague took over and started speaking German. Again, the student looked blank. He had lied on his resume about being able to speak French and German - a big mistake.”

Play to your strengths

“I tried to lighten up the atmosphere in the room. I felt that I achieved that and it made me feel good.”

“It’s good practice to sometimes put their question into your own words to check if you understood it right and to confirm what they are really asking you.”