FIRST HAND: Investment banking assessment centre, Lazard

Having been to several assessment centres for summer internship roles, I can definitely conclude that the Lazard assessment centre is the fiercest, yet most interesting one of all. The famous US-based boutique bank recruits only 12 summer interns in Europe.

The official assessment centre program is scheduled to run from 9AM to 4PM, but unfortunately not everyone is invited to complete the full program. 24 candidates started the assessment centre I attended. They were from various academic backgrounds, such as engineering, PPE, economics or geography. Oxbridge students dominated the room accounting for 80% of the candidates, while the rest came from Imperial, LSE and Warwick.

The day begins with a logic test, followed by two group exercises. At the end of lunch time break, the CUT happens. 12 candidates will be named and eliminated, which means they will NOT progress onto the afternoon interviews.

The CUT at lunch is definitely a very unique way of selection done by Lazard. This is why I think it is one of the cruelest but yet challenging assessment centre I have been to.

Logic Test:

The day started with a quick presentation about Lazard by an MD, and then we all sat around a gigantic board room table for the logic test. The paper based mathematical test is set by SHL and the candidates were allowed to use their own calculators. The purpose of the test is very much just to confirm the result of the online test sat by all candidates in advance.

My advice for this would simply be to try out all the questions you can do first, and then come back to the harder ones when you have time. Always remember that in an assessment centre, any candidates will be judged on all parts of the day and will not simply be disqualified due to underperformance in one section.

Group Exercise 1:

The first group exercise was very interesting. We were asked to select six out of 30 occupations to build a society. The question seems very vague and the occupations included teacher, investment banker, cosmetic surgeon, farmer, lawyer etc.

The key to success in this exercise was to make several assumptions at the start to clarify the situation, for example, whether we're to try to build a society on a desert island or a place with all available resources. The group had 20 minutes to discuss and had to make a presentation to the assessors at the end.

Since we were put into relatively large groups of 8, it was necessary to speak up and voice your opinion clearly. Successful candidates in this kind of exercise try to make a logical attempt to tackle the problem. It is very easy to hide under the radar and not contribute at all in a big group like this (This is NOT what candidates should do...).

Group Exercise 2:

The second exercise took place after a 10 minute tea break. It was much more business focused. The group of 8 was asked to analyze 4 different companies and suggest a company as a potential Merger or Acquisition with the fictitious company the candidates worked for.

To start off with, we were to work in group of 2 for 10 minutes to discuss a specific company and make a mini presentation to the group. I think if you try to lay out a good structure for the mini presentation, it will make you stand out as a candidate who can analyse problem in a logical way (e.g. S.W.O.T analyse).

Additional information was given regarding each company during the group discussion. It would be very wise to carefully consider the added information since it may often change the situation entirely (e.g. a bike company's top selling bike had failed to pass the safety test).

Interview:

The dreadful CUT happened at lunch time. I was fortunate to make it through and therefore stayed on for the interviews in the afternoon. I had mixed feelings - I was sad to see the candidates leave, but glad that I'd made it.

There was only one round of interview in the afternoon. They were conducted by a partner and a Vice President. They was definitely not as technical as I expected them to be. Coming from an engineering background, I have always hated very technical quizzes that the interviewer throws at you. However, the interview was very much around fit and competency. The senior bankers at Lazard were really just trying to find out why we'd be interested in investment banking and why Lazard especially. They were really friendly and genuinely wanted to find out about who you are as a person.

It was an amazing experience to interview at Lazard and I have thoroughly enjoyed the whole process. Hope this article would gave everyone a little more insight to what an assessment centre might look like, I would like to wish everyone good luck.