hey everyone eric here in this video i'm going to give you four ideas about how to answer
the
why finance interview question one general answer one for investment roles like banking
one for corporate finance and my personal answer if you don't know me already i've worked
for the last eight years in finance with startups and i've been on both sides of the interview
table many times these are how i would answer these questions but it doesn't mean that it's
the right or the only way okay let's get started there are a lot of versions of why finance
interview questions so first let's discuss a general answer to this question that could
work in all scenarios so i view finance as one of the most important and dynamic instruments
that we have in society and that we've ever created capital itself is the underlying infrastructure
for literally everything successfully allocated capital can uplift societies and change the
world very positively but poorly allocated capital can do the exact opposite i want to
be part of creating solutions that make people and companies successful at the same time
and i think finance needs to increasingly go in this direction if we want to live in
a better world and also make money at the same time by the way if you like this content
hit the subscribe button and click the little bell icon so you don't miss any of my future
videos like this video and let me know what you think down below in the comments now let's
discuss a possible response to the why investment banking interview question or other investment
style roles like private equity or venture capital in banking i will get tons of experience
understanding transactions capital markets and companies in a very short period of time
this will leave me with a broad skill set to do many different things after just a few
years and in terms of societal value banks help business realize the value they've created
by facilitating competitive transactions and getting those businesses access to liquidity
this has many benefits actually for society first off it can help um employees and founders
get an exit which can really be life changing it can also help the companies grow
themselves by accessing some of the value they've created and reinvesting it and likewise
it can help economies grow so those things are all fundamental and really positive for
society and economies and bankers are really necessary to facilitate those types of situations
now operational roles are a little different so here's how i would answer the why corporate
finance interview question and this could apply to any sort of operational roles the
reason i'm so interested in corporate finance and operational roles within companies rather
than the investment side of finance is because i love solving problems and being involved
with all the different functions in a company so good capital allocators need to have an
interest and an understanding and also a stake in the success of every function of a company
so i want to be part of the team that's building and selling products that's making people
successful that's delighting customers and that's also making investors money working
cross functionally like this across the many evolving needs of a business is exhilarating
it's fun to try to figure out what is the most pressing need of a company and how to
get the resources to different departments that most need them i have a tremendous personal
interest in digital marketing in human resources and compensation in systems in engineering
and i want to be side-by-side with those leaders solving those problems and making them successful
so that the whole company can be successful and so for that reason I want to work in corporate
finance so i have a question for you why are you interested in finance so this is how i
eric would answer this question and this is obviously based on my worldview but if someone
interviewed me today so to be honest i'm actually not interested in finance in and of itself
but rather capital as an instrument of change just look at the problems we've created in
the world by chasing short term profits so i want to be the one making these future decisions
allocating capital responsibly so we can still generate wealth but do it ethically and create
win-win solutions that actually reshape society positively done should be the days of this
sort of
colonial style investing by which a tiny group of people wins everything and everyone else
loses everything and so i as a finance leader will seek out situations that empower both
stakeholders on one hand and shareholders on the other so i hope this video gave you
a good understanding and got you thinking about how you would answer the why finance
interview question if you like this video please hit the subscribe button and click
the little bell icon so you get notified whenever i release a new video like this video let
me know in the comments below what you think i included a couple other finance videos in
the description which have important concepts which I recommend you study and understand
before going into an interview also to land a finance job you must have strong business
excel skills so if you don't take a look at some of my business excel courses down below
thanks for watching and i'll see you in the next video