Hey!
Should this response simply summarize my experiences in chronological order, or should I use it to explain why I want to work in finance and why I’m interested in this specific position? How long should a convincing response ideally be?
I’m finding it relatively difficult to come up with the right answer here and make a good impression.
Honest answer is you need to have multiple versions ready, depending on the situation / context / and who you are talking to. Should not be, every time, a full blown super detailed recap with why banking weaved into it
Elevator version - should be done in 20 sec
Max version - 1 min
Leave out the non-essential things (many candidates tend to forget that people will ask follow-up questions if they have any) and make sure you highlight the rationale from CV entry to CV entry (why did you make moves, what were factors, why did you decide not to go somewhere else, etc). Ideally that thread logically culminates into why banking. Worth checking out MBA prep materials on this, probably good material out there that can be leveraged (i.e. in MBA case, CV should ideally culminate in a logical reason why MBA makes sense and is the next logical step - can convert that for banking)...
