HireVue Questions for Investment Banking: Families, Timings, Answers
The five HireVue question families banks use, the reported 30-second prep and 90-second answer timings, worked answer skeletons, and what a recruiter actually reads.
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A banking HireVue is a one-way recorded round. A prompt appears, you get a short window to think, then a timer runs while you record. Nobody is on the call. Published prep guidance describes 3 to 5 questions, roughly 30 seconds of preparation and about 90 seconds to answer, with the whole session running 10 to 15 minutes. Timings differ by bank, by year and by programme, so the rules on your own invitation screen are the only ones that count.
The questions themselves are not exotic. They fall into five families, and once you can hear which family a prompt belongs to, you already know the shape of the answer.
TL;DR
- Expect 3 to 5 prompts, about 30 seconds to prepare and roughly 90 seconds to answer.
- Five families cover almost everything: motivation, behaviour, markets and deals, light technical, and scenario judgement.
- Prepare evidence and structure, not sentences. A memorised script is audible.
- At roughly 100 to 125 words per minute, 90 seconds is about 150 to 190 words. That is one story, not three.
- HireVue removed facial analysis from its assessments in 2020. What gets read is what you say.
Where does the HireVue sit in a banking process?
For most analyst and summer programmes it sits after the application and any online test, and before the live rounds or the superday. It is a screen. Its job is to cut a very large pile down to a shortlist, which means the bar is "no reason to reject" rather than "brilliant".
That has a practical consequence. A clear, ordinary, well-evidenced answer beats an ambitious one that runs out of time mid-sentence.
Which HireVue question families should you practise?
| Family | What it tests | Answer shape |
|---|---|---|
| Motivation | Whether your interest is real and specific | Why the work, one piece of evidence, why this firm |
| Behaviour | How you actually operate with others | One situation, your action, the result and the lesson |
| Markets and deals | Whether you read anything | The item, why it matters, what it means for the bank |
| Light technical | Whether the basics are solid | Definition, mechanism, why it matters |
| Scenario judgement | How you decide under constraint | The goal, the options, your decision and why |
Motivation and behaviour carry most rounds. Markets prompts are common at bulge brackets. Light technicals appear more often than candidates expect, but they stay at the level of the three statements or a plain-English DCF, not a modelling test.
Practice inside this guide
Recorded interview practice
Question 1 of 3
You have 90 seconds in a recorded interview. Why do you want to work in investment banking?
What do the prompts actually sound like?
Published guidance and candidate reports name prompts of this kind:
- Why our bank, and why this division?
- Describe a time something went wrong on a team and what you did about it.
- Tell us about a leadership experience that was genuinely yours.
- Describe a recent deal or news story you found interesting.
- How would you invest one million pounds?
- What are the three financial statements and how do they connect?
These are families, not a leaked list. Treat any site promising this year's exact questions with suspicion.
How do you answer a motivation prompt in 90 seconds?
Answer the question in the first sentence, then earn it.
I want to work in coverage because the part of my internship I actually enjoyed was building the case for a decision, not running the numbers for their own sake. On the diligence project I sat on, I wrote the two-page summary the partner used in the client meeting, and watching which of my points survived that conversation taught me more than the model did. This firm runs the kind of mid-cap mandates where an analyst is close to that conversation early.
That is about 90 words. It states the answer, gives one specific piece of evidence, and connects to the firm. There is room left to name a second reason, and no room for a biography. Our why investment banking guide and firm-fit guide go deeper on the evidence side.
How do you answer a behavioural prompt?
Keep the context to one sentence, spend the middle on what you did, and finish with the result and what changed in how you work. Most weak answers fail the same way: forty seconds of background, then the buzzer.
Build a small story bank instead of memorising answers. Five stories covering a success, a failure, a conflict, a leadership moment and a time you worked under pressure will cover almost every behavioural prompt a bank asks. The story structure guide and the STAR walkthrough cover the method, and the strengths and red flags guide covers what not to volunteer.
How do you answer a markets or deal prompt?
Pick one item you can defend, not the biggest story of the month. Say what happened, why it mattered commercially, and what it means for the bank or the sector you are applying to. A candidate who explains a mid-size acquisition well beats one who half-remembers a headline. The deal discussion guide and the macro awareness guide are the preparation for this family.
How do you answer a light technical prompt?
Define the term, explain the mechanism, then say why it matters. Do not perform. If you are asked to walk through a DCF in 90 seconds, give the four steps and stop. The DCF walkthrough and the three statements guide are the two most commonly tested.
What does a recruiter actually read?
HireVue announced in January 2021 that it had removed facial analysis from its assessments in 2020. Delivery still matters, because a recruiter watching the recording forms an impression, but the thing being assessed is the content of what you said.
That is worth internalising, because it changes how you practise. Rehearsing your expression is wasted effort. Rehearsing whether your answer actually answers the question, has one concrete piece of evidence in it, and finishes inside the timer is not.
A 30-minute preparation block
- Write five stories as five bullet lines each. Not paragraphs.
- Write one motivation answer and time it out loud. Cut until it fits in 90 seconds with room to spare.
- Pick one deal or market item and be able to explain it in three sentences.
- Record yourself answering three prompts cold, one take each, and watch them back once.
Step four is the uncomfortable one and it is the one that changes your score. If you want it under a real clock with the question hidden until the timer starts, HireVue Practice runs timed mocks and scores the content of your answers.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are these the exact questions my bank will ask?
No. They are the families that published guidance and candidate reports describe. Anyone selling you this year's exact list is guessing.
How many retakes do I get?
It varies by bank and by programme. Some allow one re-record per question, some allow none. The instructions on your own screen are the only reliable answer, so read them before you start the first question.
How long should my answer be?
Fill most of the window and stop early rather than late. At a normal speaking pace, 90 seconds is roughly 150 to 190 words.
Does the bank use AI to score me?
Practice varies by employer and by year, and banks rarely publish it. Assume a human recruiter watches the recording and write for that person.
Where does this fit against the superday?
The HireVue screens for the live rounds. Our superday guide covers what comes after, and the full HireVue guide covers the format end to end.
Sources
- HireVue Candidate FAQ (checked September 2026)
- HireVue: removing facial analysis from assessments (checked September 2026)
- Mergers & Inquisitions: HireVue interview guide (checked September 2026)
- Morgan Stanley Interview Preparation (checked September 2026)
- Goldman Sachs: Prepare (checked September 2026)