EPISODE 01 · BEHAVIORAL
Tell Me About Yourself.
Structuring the 60–90 second pitch.
EPISODE 01 / ALPHERI STUDIOS
§ 02 · The deck
DECK 01 / ALPHERI STUDIOS
⌘ Download PDF§ 03 · The framework
Most candidates open with a chronology. School, internship, why finance. They are correct in spirit and wrong in execution. A chronology is not a pitch.
The structure is four beats: thesis (one sentence on who you are professionally), proof (one moment that demonstrates it), arc (where you've been moving), and close (why this firm, this seat, now). Sixty seconds is the floor; ninety is the ceiling. Past that you're losing them.
SAMPLE ANSWERS · ANNOTATED
THE QUESTION
Tell me about yourself.
STRONG
"I'm a junior at Wharton studying finance with a minor in statistics. Last summer I interned at a middle-market private equity firm, where I built the LBO model for a healthcare acquisition that closed in October. That taught me I love the analytical side of deals, but I want to be the one advising the client and running the process, not only building the model. That's why I'm recruiting for investment banking, and why your M&A group specifically: it's where I can learn that skill set from the people who do it best."
WEAK
"So I grew up in New Jersey and I always loved math, and then I went to Wharton, and I wasn't sure what I wanted to do at first but I took intro to finance and I really liked it, so I started doing finance club, and then I did an internship at a PE firm, and that was great, and now I'm really excited about banking..."
COMMON MISTAKES
§ END / MODULE COMPLETE
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