Jefferies Investment Banker / M&A Analyst Interview Questions
& Process
Real candidates share what happened, how many rounds they had,
and how the experience turned out.
Based on 173 interview experiences · FREE TO READ
Candidate interview experiences
First-hand accounts from people who interviewed at Jefferies.
Jefferies
Investment Banking Analyst
Intern Difficult Neutral experience No offer 1 round
Interview process
Technical screen
Interview formats
Technical Behavioral
The typical technical interviews involved questions on WACC and LBOs. The interviewers were very serious and didn't seem to care about personality. They really focused on whether you could handle the long hours and asked if you were prepared to show your work ethic. My interview specifically involved calculating a share price using some given assumptions, for which I needed a pen and paper.
Confirmed questions1 question
- Given a set of assumptions for revenue, costs, interest, debt, and other ratios, calculate the share price.
Jefferies
Investment Banking Analyst
Intern Difficult Positive experience No offer 1 round
Interview process
Recruiter call Technical screen Onsite
Interview formats
Behavioral Technical
The process was pretty straightforward: it was a 1-hour interview split into three 20-minute segments with different people, including MDs, VPs, and Associates. They asked basic questions like 'tell me about yourself' and 'why Jefferies'. There were also many technical questions covering LBOs, financial statements, and discounted cash flows.
Confirmed questions3 questions
- Can you explain the steps of a Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) analysis, and then how would you determine the Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC)?
- Could you describe the process of a Leveraged Buyout (LBO)?
- What is your primary source of motivation?
Jefferies
Investment Banking Analyst
Entry Average Positive experience Accept offer 3 rounds
Interview process
Recruiter call Technical screen Onsite
Interview formats
Behavioral Technical
Had 3 rounds of interviews over zoom with VPs, MDs, and analysts. The first round was a behavioral interview with an MD, and the second round was a technical and behavioral interview with VPs and Associates. The overall process was great, and they asked standard questions for these kinds of interviews, including some unexpected questions about LBOs.
Confirmed questions4 questions
- What's your motivation for pursuing Investment Banking?
- Could you introduce yourself?
- What makes you want to work for Jefferies specifically?
Jefferies Investment Banker / M&A Analyst Interview Questions
Quoted word for word from Jefferies interview reports.
“As a company's debt level moves from zero to one hundred percent, what happens to the WACC curve?”
Read reports →“Can you explain why renting a tuxedo for a day is more expensive than renting a car for a day?”
Read reports →“How would changing beta by a factor of 2 impact the CAPM model?”
Read reports →“How would a 10% increase in depreciation affect each of the three financial statements?”
Read reports →“Given a set of assumptions for revenue, costs, interest, debt, and other ratios, calculate the share price.”
Read report →“When discounting a cash flow to a present value terminal value, what multiple should be used?”
Read report →“Regarding EV / EBITDAX, can you explain what the 'X' signifies and the reason for adding it back?”
Read report →“Building on the cash purchase scenario, how would the financial statements be affected if the tractor was acquired by issuing debt or equity instead?”
Read report →“Could you tell me why we subtract the change in net working capital to arrive at Free Cash Flow?”
Read report →Formats, difficulty and experience
Across all 173 Jefferies interview reports.