From Banker to Dealmaker: Power of Mock Interviews

From "Banker" to "Dealmaker": How a Mock Interview Bridges the Gap Between Experience and Impact

Meet the Mentor:

Raman Nath is a seasoned Structured Finance Specialist with MBA from IIM Ahmedabad and IIT Dhanbad. With over 17 years of experience across global financial institutions like OQ, Bank Muscat, KPMG, and Ernst & Young, he brings deep expertise in Mergers & Acquisitions, Private Equity, and Valuation. Currently leading Project Finance at OQ, Raman combines technical mastery with high-level strategic oversight, making him the ideal mentor to help candidates bridge the gap between academic knowledge and the “client readiness” required for top-tier finance roles.

Moving from an operational role to a M&A role is one of the hardest career changes to make. We see this challenge frequently. A candidate may have the intelligence, the work ethic, and the technical knowledge, yet they fail to get the job they want.

The problem is rarely a lack of skill; it is a communication gap. Candidates often focus on explaining their daily tasks, while the interviewer is looking for a strategic perspective.

We recently observed a mock interview session that clearly illustrated this dynamic. The Mentee was a highly experienced professional—over nine years working in a major Public Sector Bank, currently pursuing an MBA to move into Investment Banking.

On paper, he was a very strong candidate. He had managed large portfolios, handled complex derivatives, and even presented to Boards of Directors. However, within the interview, he struggled to explain his value clearly. This session, led by Mentor Raman Nath, serves as a clear case study in how to transform a list of duties into a strong career narrative.

The Job Title Mistake: Defining Tasks vs. Value

The session began with the standard opening: the introduction. The Mentor asked the Mentee to describe his background.

The Mentee provided a chronological summary of his career, stating, “I have handled a non-SLR dealer position for five years… in that my last position was a senior manager and I was looking after credit monitoring department compliances.”

To the Mentee, this was an accurate, honest description. However, the Mentor immediately identified a disconnect. The Mentee was applying for an M&A role—a position requiring a strategic mindset—yet he introduced himself as an operational employee.

The Mentor probed deeper, asking, “You’re now looking for a career in investment banking and M&A, right? Why is that?”

The Mentee’s response revealed the core of the issue. Attempting to connect his past and future, he stated, “I was a dealer for 5 years… so I used to close deals for my bank.”

The Mentor paused to ask a fundamental question: “Who’s a dealer? What is meant by a dealer?”

The Mentee explained his role in strict execution terms: “Someone who handles derivatives… I used to search for deals which were mandated by my board investment committee… and if my trading limits were there I would take my own prop positions.”

This answer exposed a significant semantic gap. To the Mentee, a “deal” was a transaction he executed on a terminal. To the Mentor, M&A “deal-making” was a strategic lifecycle. The Mentee was conflating the role of a trader—executing orders based on mandates—with the role of an investment banker advising on corporate strategy.

The Mentor intervened to realign the narrative. He pointed out that the Mentee’s description sounded “more like that of role of a broker,” adding, “Broker is the one who does matching of sellers and buyers, right? But M&A… is it just about matching up buyers and sellers?”

He corrected this perspective by defining what the role actually entails. He explained that M&A is a “sophisticated selling job” that goes far beyond simply hunting for a buyer. He listed the comprehensive set of finance skills required: “You need to own your diligence of the company… being able to do a good valuation… marketing the deal… assessing bids… assisting with negotiations… deal closure and documentation.”

The Mentor’s feedback highlighted the need to shift from sounding like a trader executing orders to an advisor managing a complex process.

The "Patience" Trap

This conceptual misunderstanding regarding the job title directly impacted how the Mentee described his transferable skills. Because he viewed the role as “closing deals” rather than managing the complex process the Mentor had just defined, he emphasized emotional resilience rather than technical competence.

He told the Mentor, “I have been in positions where you need a lot of mental fortitude… if you are closing a deal particularly if it is a 500-600 crore deal then you need a lot of patience.”

He was emphasizing “patience” to a recruiter seeking “process management.”

The Mentor’s response was sharp. He acknowledged the value of the experience but immediately questioned its relevance: “It’s good that you were able to build a portfolio, but that’s more like a business development. What relation does it have to M&A?”

The Mentor shifted the focus from the candidate’s temperament to his ability to execute the hard skills of the mandate. He explained that while patience is valuable, the role fundamentally requires “analysis skills, negotiation skills, people skills… and finally you need to be able to be a good process manager.” You cannot sell “fortitude” if you haven’t first demonstrated you possess the diligence and analysis capabilities to get the job done.

The Technical Assessment: Knowledge vs. Conciseness

As the session advanced to the technical phase, the distinction between “academic knowledge” and “client readiness” became clear. The Mentor tested the Mentee on complex financial concepts: Interest Rate Swaps (IRS), Futures vs. Options, and Valuation methodologies like Discounted Cash Flow (DCF).

The Mentee demonstrated strong theoretical knowledge. When questioned about Interest Rate Swaps, he provided a detailed, technically accurate explanation. He correctly broke down the mechanics of the transaction, specifically identifying the role of benchmark indices like MIBOR in determining variable payments and accurately describing the periodic netting of cash flows.

However, the Mentor noted a critical flaw in the delivery of those answers. The Mentee provided too much detail, burying the core concept under layers of technical explanation. He answered like a student attempting to prove he knew the material, rather than an expert explaining a concept to a client.

He offered a specific directive on how to fix this, using WACC (Weighted Average Cost of Capital) as an example. “If someone ask you what is WACC… you don’t need to give me the formula,” the Mentor advised. “You tell him it is the average cost of capital which is the weighted average of the cost of debt and the cost of equity. Simple, right?”

The guidance was clear: The definition comes first; the formula comes second.

This distinction—between the Concept and the Calculation—is a common pitfall. By diving immediately into mechanics or over-explaining details, candidates fail to demonstrate a grasp of the bigger picture. The Mentor pushed the Mentee toward “Client Readiness”—the ability to be “crisp” and deliver the bottom-line answer immediately.

The Resume: A Matter of Perspective

Following the technical assessment, the conversation shifted to the Mentee’s resume. The Mentee admitted the document submitted was a version of his “master resume,” listing every responsibility held.

The Mentor noted, “Your resume has banking written all over it… this is more of a banking resume. If you are looking for an M&A investment banking kind of a role you need to make an investment banking resume.”

This was not merely about formatting; it was about understanding the recruiter’s perspective. The Mentor used a hypothetical scenario to illustrate why the current resume failed for this specific role. He explained, “If I am someone looking to hire a trading desk… I’ll be very happy to see someone who has already done trading.”

In that specific scenario, highlighting the daily operational tasks of a dealer would be ideal. But for M&A, those details were not needed. The Mentor instructed him to “highlight those skills… which are more relevant to an M&A recruiter,” such as financial modeling and valuation, rather than general banking duties.

The lesson was clear: a resume is not a biography; it is a targeted marketing document. By using a generic resume, the Mentee forced the interviewer to dig for relevant skills, rather than presenting them clearly.

The Turning Point: The Art of "Breadcrumbing"

The most transformative moment occurred towards the end of the session. The Mentor noted that while he hadn’t asked specific behavioral questions during the technical drill, they are inevitable in a real interview.

He probed into the Mentee’s background, saying, “I couldn’t ask you any of the personal questions… but I think you must have done it in your 9 years of banking experience… I’m sure you would have managed a team.”

It was a casual prompt, but it led the Mentee to reveal a critical detail that shifted the entire context of his profile. The Mentee mentioned, “Even in my last position, I was presenting my work to the Board of Directors.”

The Mentor immediately paused the conversation. “Have you mentioned it in your resume? I don’t think I have seen it… Put it there.”

Here was a candidate struggling to prove readiness for high-level corporate finance, yet he had omitted the fact that he was already advising the Board of Directors of a major bank. The Mentor recognized this as a significant missed opportunity. “It’s a very good skill to have… which means that you’re client ready,” the Mentor explained. “If I’m looking to hire you for an M&A role, I know that I can put you in front of a client because you know how to deal with people in position.”

This revelation led the Mentor to introduce a sophisticated interview strategy: Breadcrumbing.

The Mentor pointed out that the entire first half of the interview—questions regarding dealers, derivatives, and trading—occurred for one reason: The Mentee had mentioned them in his opening. “I picked up something when you said in the beginning… I started with the dealer part,” the Mentor noted.

The Mentee had inadvertently steered the interview toward a technical discussion about trading mechanics because that was the “breadcrumb” he dropped in his introduction.

The Mentor explained the psychology behind the strategy: “Tell me something about yourself… that’s your best opportunity to give direction to your interview.”

He revealed a key insight regarding interviewers: “Because even the interviewer is looking for what should I talk about? They have seen your resume but they want to see… what should I talk about?”

By dropping a “breadcrumb” regarding his Board experience, the Mentee solves that dilemma for the interviewer. The Mentor concluded, “You are always trying to give them breadcrumbs to move into a direction that you want the interview to go to.”

He challenged the Mentee to think strategically: “How do you want the interview to go? What would you like them to ask?” If the Mentee had mentioned his Board interactions in his opening statement, the Mentor likely would have asked about managing senior stakeholders, strategic communication, and high-pressure advisory—topics far more relevant to M&A than the mechanics of an Interest Rate Swap.

The Mentor summarized this approach with a golden rule for M&A interviews: “You’re marketing yourself. Remember that you need to show off without being very apparent that you’re showing off.”

By casually mentioning high-stakes work (like the Board presentation) rather than boasting, the candidate achieves exactly that balance.

The "Elevator Pitch" Mindset

With the strategy established, the session concluded with the Mentor reinforcing the necessity for brevity and impact. He returned to the concept of the “Elevator Pitch,” critical in investment banking.

“You need to be absolutely crisp and clear,” the mentor advised. “You have to give them the idea while you’re with them in the elevator as they call it in investment banking, the elevator pitch right… any question that comes to you you should be able to give them the idea what you want to convey in less than a minute.”

He advised the Mentee to prepare this pitch in advance, to “write it down somewhere,” ensuring that when the moment arrived, the response would be “clear and crisp.”

This final guidance tied the session together. The Mentee possessed the experience (9 years of banking), the knowledge (MBA and technical expertise), and the “Client Readiness” (Board presentations). However, he lacked the packaging. He was presenting himself as an execution-focused professional, when he needed to present himself as a concise, strategic thinker.

Conclusion

By the end of the session, the Mentee possessed a revised roadmap for his preparation. He realized his struggle was not a lack of knowledge—he knew the answers. His struggle was that he was waiting for questions, rather than steering the conversation.

He learned the importance of explaining concepts directly rather than reciting formulas. He learned that his resume must speak the language of his future employer, not his past one. Most importantly, he learned the power of “breadcrumbing”—that he could control the narrative of the interview simply by choosing which highlights to mention in his introduction.

This session highlights exactly why the mock interview process is vital. It acts as a mirror. The Mentee could not see that he was understating his most significant achievements or that his technical answers were too long. It required a seasoned Mentor to identify the “Board of Directors” anecdote hidden in the conversation and elevate it to the forefront. The session was not about teaching finance; it was about teaching the Mentee how to think like an Investment Banker before securing the job.

From "Banker" to "Dealmaker": How a Mock Interview Bridges the Gap Between Experience and Impact

Meet the Mentor:

The Job Title Mistake: Defining Tasks vs. Value

The "Patience" Trap

The Technical Assessment: Knowledge vs. Conciseness

The Resume: A Matter of Perspective

The Turning Point: The Art of "Breadcrumbing"

The "Elevator Pitch" Mindset

Conclusion

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From “Banker” to “Dealmaker”: How a Mock Interview Bridges the Gap Between Experience and Impact

Mastering Risk Management: A Guide for MBA Students and Professionals

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