Founded by Mayer Amschel Rothschild in late 1760, Rothschild & Co has grown to become a recognized investment bank known by their clients around the globe for providing some of the best financial services.
Rothschild & Co’s main focus is on mergers & acquisitions, debt & capital raising, and strategic financial planning & analysis. They pour those efforts into advising on complex transactions in middle markets.
On top of its investment banking dominance, the firm helps high-net-worth individuals manage their wealth through tailored investment strategies that match their needs. Their strong reputation & expertise have made them critical players in some high-profile transactions in recent history.
The firm has a strong work culture with an emphasis on collaboration & excellence. They try to foster a supportive & respectful environment with many opportunities for personal development & growth. They seek to build a workplace where all employees are valued & respected.
The firm has built a global network thanks to offices in over 40 countries and leverages this network to stay on top of emerging trends & developments across various markets. This allows Rothschild & Co to provide clients with the most modern advice & insights.
Being a very recognized firm in the investment banking industry, Rothschild & Co receives many applications from eager candidates in finance, business, management, & economics, and as a result, there is lots of competition in work opportunities with the firm.
Let's now outline the interview process for Rothschild & Co, get a sense of the types of questions you can anticipate during the interview, and develop some model responses to those questions.
Visit the Wall Street Oasis’s Company Database for information on people who have interviewed for Rothschild & Co earlier to help you prepare for your interview!
If you are interested in improving your interviewing skills, be sure to check out the Wall Street Oasis’s Investment Banking Interview Prep Course!
Breaking Down the Rothschild Interview Process
Any interview process can be stressful. That feeling tends to get amplified when interviewing for an investment banking position and even more when it's for one at a highly recognized firm like Rothschild & Co.
Although your interview experience will vary slightly from person to person, using information from Wall Street Oasis’s Company Database and other online resources, we are going to provide the best insight we can into the process.
Before interviewing, you will need to submit an application to the firm. Have an updated resume or CV, transcript & cover letter, and be ready to provide some information about yourself, your experience, and your qualifications.
Generally, a candidate for a position with this firm can expect to be asked both behavioral & technical questions over multiple rounds of interviewing. After submitting your application, your process may look something like this:
- Initial Screening
- First Round Interview
- Case Study
- Second Round Interview
- Final Round Interview
- Offer
While this may seem daunting at first, don’t fret! We will go over what each round covers, provide some example questions, and answer some of them.
Initial Screening at Rothschild & Co
Congratulations on getting an initial screening call! This is a good first step in the interview process! Here’s a breakdown of how your initial screening call would look like:
1. Introduction
The interviewer will typically begin by introducing themselves and providing a brief overview of their experience and the firm as a whole.
This establishes a first point of contact, as well as a rapport with you to ensure you have a good understanding of the firm and position you are applying for.
It is important to pay attention during the intro, as they will discuss the key responsibilities of the role and what the firm is looking for in a candidate. If there is anything you are unclear about during the introduction, you should not be afraid to ask your interviewer.
2. Basic Questions
After introductions are done, and out of the way, your interviewer will ask you some basic questions regarding your background, experience, skills, and interest in Rothschild & Co.
Here are some example questions:
a) Educational Background
- What degree did you earn and from which university?
- Can you tell me about a particularly challenging course or project you completed?
b) Work Experience
- Can you walk me through your resume and highlight your most relevant work experience?
- Tell me about a challenging situation you handled in a past experience & how you overcame it.
c) Interest in the Firm
- Why are you interested in Rothschild & Co, and what drew you to the firm?
- Can you discuss any recent transactions or deals that the firm has worked on?
d) Relevant Skills
- What particular skills do you bring to the role that make you a good fit?
- How would you rate your proficiency in financial modeling/valuation/other relevant skills?
Though these questions may appear simple, you should prepare your answers ahead of time, as it's very likely that you forget to mention an aspect or 2 about yourself because you were nervous.
3. Behavioral Questions
After those basic questions, you may be asked some more behavioral questions to evaluate your ability to handle difficulty & challenges
These questions look like this:
- Could you tell me about a time when you had to solve a difficult problem in a past experience?
- How do you handle the pressure of meeting a deadline?
- Tell me a time when you had to convince a teammate to accept your viewpoint.
When answering these questions, it's advisable to use the STAR method of structuring your answer. This means
- (S)ituation: Clearly describe the situation or challenge
- (T)ask: Explain your role in the situation
- (A)ction: Describe the actions you took to complete the task
- (R)esult: Describe the outcome & what you learned
4. Q&A Period
As the call comes to an end, and your interviewer finishes asking you questions, you now get an opportunity to ask them any questions for clarification or information.
You could ask them some questions about the culture of the firm or the daily responsibilities. This helps demonstrate the fact that you are interested in the firm.
5. Next Steps
As the call wraps up, your interviewer will inform you of the next steps in the interview process, & say when you should hear back. If you pass this initial screening call, you’ll typically be invited for the first round of formal interviewing.
It is important for you to prepare for your screening call. You should be familiar with the history of the firm, its culture & philosophy, recent transactions, and any recent news pieces on them.
You should also be ready to discuss your own experiences & skills. If you have any gaps in your work history or have gotten certifications in certain skills, you should explain those to your HR recruiter.
Rothschild First-Round Interview
If your qualifications and experiences inspire confidence in the interviewer that you are the right person for the role, you will get called back for your first formal interview. This interview may be on zoom or in person, which is different from the phone call from earlier.
This interview could be with the same interviewer as before, a senior member of the recruiting team, or a potential future team member.
This interview will be longer than the screening call, and have some questions to dive deeper into your background, interest, skills, and how much you know about finance.
- These interviews normally start with some of the following behavioral questions:
- Tell me a little bit about yourself.
- Why are you interested in Rothschild & Co?
- What is your biggest weakness? How have you overcome this?
- How do you handle challenging situations?
After that, we can expect to be asked some surface-level technical questions like this:
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