A Detailed Guide to Becoming a Bank of America Associate

By Akane Otani  | March 31, 2015

Cheat Sheet, a regular series, is a detailed look inside the application gauntlet for the most sought-after jobs, with commentary from the people who hold eager candidates' fates in their hands—company recruiters. This week, we show you what it takes to become an associate at Bank of America.

Interview Cheat Sheet #4

See more in the series:

#1 Eaton
#2 Microsoft
#3 Deloitte

The Job

• Bank of America Merrill Lynch

• Hiring Manager
• Ebony Thomas
• Senior vice president of campus strategy & diversity

• Position:
• Associate

• Salary:
• $216,818 (total compensation)

• Description:
• Conduct industry and company analyses, develop financial models, prepare presentations for clients

• Qualifications:
• MBA, three to five years of work experience, strong quantitative/analytical skills

The Method

First Round:

  1,100 Candidates

Recruiters visit top business schools and get to know students over coffee, at formal presentations, and at networking sessions.

Second Round:

 

 300 Candidates

45- to 60-minute on-campus interview to review resumés and find out why candidates want a career in finance. Expect to talk about such specific scenarios as how you'd handle an overly vague client request.

Third Round:

A final interview, usually held on campus. "At this point, we're selling candidates on why they'd make a great decision choosing to work at Bank of America Merrill Lynch."

The Score:

Hiring leads hold a roundtable to discuss who demonstrated key skills or competencies, using “meeting,” “exceeding,” or “not meeting” to rate each competency.

How to Ace It

 Do be personable and confident. “We want to make sure individuals really have strong interpersonal skills so they can communicate effectively with our clients.”

 Do learn as much as you can about not just the company, but banking: "Know the industry, the trends, who you’re speaking to. Ask recent alumni questions about the recruiting process and what helped them land the job.”

 Do have the math chops. “Quantitative skills and attention to detail are highly valued. Can you not only look at numbers but also understand what’s the story they should be telling?”

 Do show up. “It matters that you came to every [campus] event and that you had questions for us.”

 Don't trot out boilerplate ideas or generalizations."I’d say the hard and fast rule is that you cannot ‘not know.’ You have to know what Bank of America Merrill Lynch does and understand the market.”

 Don't expect your winning personality to be enough. “It’s not just about who we liked. It’s really based on historical knowledge and data on what’s made candidates successful.”