How to Prepare for a Finance HireVue Interview in 2026
At most large banks, a HireVue is a recorded first-round interview, usually three to five questions with about 30 seconds to prepare and 90 seconds to two minutes for each answer, and nobody on the other end while you record. The questions appear one at a time, and the bank's team watches your answers later.
I'm Stephen Turban, founder of WSG. I went to Harvard and worked at McKinsey, and I've run a lot of mock technical interviews with students headed into banking.
Goldman Sachs runs one of the most widely used recorded first rounds in finance, and the questions it asks most often are covered here. Most recorded prompts are behavioral, so rehearse your answers on camera using these 30 examples here.
Which Banks Use HireVue in 2026
If you're applying to the biggest banks, plan on recording a first round. Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, UBS, BlackRock, and Bank of America (in its UK application guide) all describe a recorded video interview in their own hiring materials, and prep guides report one at Morgan Stanley, Citi, and Wells Fargo. Goldman is the most explicit: its students page names HireVue and says the video interview takes about 30 minutes.
The settings are harder to pin down. Most of these banks don't publish how many questions they ask, how long you get, or whether you can retake an answer. Most of the settings in the table come from prep sites built on candidate reports (Aced, IGotAnOffer, Intervyo, and Road to Offer), and they often disagree with each other. Whatever they say, the opening pages of your own interview link show the number of questions and the estimated length before anything is recorded.
Firm | Recorded first round? | What's reported, and by whom |
Goldman Sachs | Yes, HireVue (Goldman's students page) | 3 to 6 questions, 30 seconds to prepare, about 2 minutes to answer; guides disagree on whether retries are allowed (prep guides) |
JPMorgan | Yes, "on-demand/recorded interviews" are among its assessments (JPMorganChase hiring FAQ) | 3 to 5 questions, 1.5 to 2 minutes, one optional retry; seven days to finish, with invitations often arriving within hours of applying (prep guides) |
Morgan Stanley | Reported (prep guides) | 3 to 5 questions, about 30 seconds to prepare, 90 seconds to 2 minutes, one retry that deletes the first take, 48 to 72 hours to finish (prep guide) |
Bank of America | Yes in its UK guide; the US page mentions "video interviews" | Five questions, 30 seconds to prepare, three minutes per answer, mainly competency-based (Bank of America's UK guide) |
Citi | Reported (prep guides; eFinancialCareers' 2023 list of Citi HireVue questions) | 3 to 6 questions, about 30 seconds to prepare, 1 to 3 minutes, about 48 hours (prep guide); Citi's own page describes a one-on-one first interview and doesn't mention a recorded one |
UBS | Yes, "Pre-recorded Interviews" after online assessments (UBS internship page) | UBS's page gives no settings for the video; guides report about 2 minutes per answer and disagree on 30 or 90 seconds to prepare, and one reports no retake (prep guides) |
Deutsche Bank | Some roles (Deutsche Bank's page) | Recorded for some roles in the UK, Germany, and APAC and a live virtual interview elsewhere; the interview request comes about six weeks after you apply (Deutsche Bank) |
Barclays | No video step on its application page | Application, two short interactive assessments, then an assessment center (Barclays) |
Wells Fargo | Reported (prep guide) | About 4 to 6 questions, due anywhere from the next day to about a week (prep guide) |
BlackRock | Yes, required with the application (BlackRock's careers pages) | Link arrives right after you apply; up to 3 minutes per answer, one sitting within five days, no retake (BlackRock FAQ) |
Lazard | Yes in the UK, a "Video Assessment" (Lazard's UK page) | 3 to 5 motivation and fit questions; US candidates more often go straight to a live first round (prep guide) |
Evercore | Evercore's pages don't say, and prep guides disagree | Settings not reported consistently |
PJT Partners and Moelis | No video mentioned (firm pages) | Both require Suited, an online assessment with no video (Adventis guide); Moelis asks for 30 minutes for it, then one or two first-round interviews with bankers (Moelis) |
What Happens on Screen, Step by Step
HireVue's candidate help center describes the same sequence of screens for every on-demand interview, while the bank sets its own questions, deadline, and number of attempts. The real interview doesn't start until you press Start Now, so you can test your camera and take the practice questions as often as you like before you record.
Open the invitation. Click "Practice or Interview" in the email from the bank. The email gives the deadline, either a date, time, and time zone or a window such as "within 48 hours," and once it passes the link expires. HireVue's support team can't extend a deadline, so if you need more time, ask the bank's recruiter before the link expires.
Read the opening pages. They walk you through the interview's requirements, name the firm and the position, and describe the interview, with the number and types of questions and an estimated length. The first page is also where you ask for extra time on timed questions: select "Click here to request accommodations," then "Request Additional Time" in the pop-up. Other accommodations are requested from the bank directly.
Accept the terms and allow your camera and microphone.
Take the practice questions. Choose "Try a practice question." HireVue's three generic practice questions can be redone as many times as you need and are never submitted to anyone, so they're the place to check your light, sound, and timing under the real countdown.
Read the attempts message. It tells you how many attempts you get on each real question, a number the bank sets.
Press Start Now when you're ready. Until then, you can leave and come back through the link in the email.
Answer each question. A prep countdown runs with "Not Recording" on screen, and you can press "Start Recording" to skip the rest of it. A 3-second countdown follows, then recording starts. Press "Done Answering" when you finish; otherwise the answer submits itself when the time runs out. Once an answer is submitted, you can't go back to that question.
Reconnect if your connection drops. Reopen the invitation link and you'll return to your last unanswered question. An answer that was cut off may already have been submitted, so finish the interview and then tell the bank's recruiter what happened.
The real interview starts at step 6, so steps 1 to 5 can be done days before your deadline.
After you finish, the bank decides what comes next, and since HireVue can't see your application status, questions about timing go to the bank's recruiting team.
Who Reviews Your HireVue and Whether AI Scores It
The banks that have said who reviews their HireVues name their own people, and Goldman says its video interviews are reviewed by its recruiters and colleagues "and not through an algorithm." Bank of America's UK application guide, published on Bright Network, says its videos "are reviewed by the Bank of America team," and UBS's internship page says "our people are the ones making decisions around here." HireVue describes its role the same way: the hiring company's team reviews the interview against its own criteria.
What those reviewers see shapes how you should answer. HireVue's product page says reviewers can "review interviews or key moments, apply consistent ratings, and share recordings," with searchable transcripts and highlights of key moments. A reviewer may skim a transcript or jump to a highlight rather than watch every second from the start, which is a good reason to state your point in the first sentence of each answer.
HireVue's AI scoring is an option the employer turns on, you're asked to consent before it's used, and it scores a transcript of what you said rather than your face or tone of voice. That's how HireVue's explainability statement describes it. If you opt out, recruiters review and rate your answers by hand, and opting out doesn't remove you from the process. Answers too short or unclear for the AI to score are flagged for a person to review. None of the banks' own pages say they add AI scoring, although eFinancialCareers wrote in September 2026 that AI transcribes and assesses bank HireVue answers, without naming a bank. So your words carry any AI score, and the people watching also see your lighting, framing, and eye contact.
Can You Redo a HireVue Answer?
Whether you can redo an answer depends on the bank, and the attempts message before your first question tells you how many tries you get. Reported settings range from no retake at all to more than one try per question. eFinancialCareers reported in 2018 that Goldman's was "one-and-done," and current prep guides report one optional retry at JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley, so trust the number on your own screen. If something goes wrong after you submit, ask the bank's recruiter for a new link.
Save a retake for a real problem: you froze, someone walked in, or the connection stuttered. At banks where a retry deletes the first take, as prep guides report at Morgan Stanley, a retake is a gamble, because if the second attempt goes worse, that's the one the bank sees. Joseph Barber, writing in Inside Higher Ed in 2021, advises against retaking an answer just because you "stumbled over a word or two."
What Questions Banks Ask in a HireVue
Most bank HireVue questions are motivational and behavioral, with an occasional market question or simple technical question. Mergers & Inquisitions describes them as "mostly behavioral/fit," and Bank of America's UK guide says its questions are "mainly competency based." With about 30 seconds to think, the useful preparation is having an answer ready for each type before you open the link.
Motivation: why this firm, why this business, and why this division. Goldman's list, as eFinancialCareers reported it in 2018, included "Why do you want to work at Goldman Sachs?", "Why investment banking?", and "Why this particular division?" A strong answer names a specific group and a reason tied to something you've done, because that's what separates it from an answer any applicant could give.
Behavioral: a past situation and what you did. The same Goldman list asked for your hardest problem, a time you took the initiative on a team, a conflict with someone senior, and your greatest strength. Prepare five stories (a team, a failure, a conflict, a time you led, and an analysis that led to a decision) so that whatever the prompt, you're choosing a story rather than inventing one against the clock. Our 30 behavioral interview questions and 15 Goldman HireVue questions give you prompts to practice with.
Markets and news: candidates have reported these at several banks. eFinancialCareers' 2023 list of Citi HireVue questions includes "Tell me about a recent development in the markets that impacted our business," and prep guides report a Morgan Stanley question about where the S&P 500 will be in 12 months. When you write your stories, pick one development in the division's world and learn how it works (who pays, who benefits, and what changes for the bank's clients), then decide what you think will happen. That way you can explain it in a sentence and spend the rest of the answer on your view. Refresh it the day before you record.
Situational: what you would do in a hypothetical situation. HireVue's FAQ lists situational judgment questions among the types candidates can expect, and one prep guide reports this one from Wells Fargo: "How would you handle a client request that conflicts with a deadline you've already committed to?" Say what you'd do first and why, then what you'd do next, so the reviewer hears your reasoning along with your answer.
Technical: occasional and basic. Mergers & Inquisitions lists the three financial statements, walking through a DCF, WACC, the trade-offs between debt and equity, evaluating a merger, and the Treasury Stock Method as the kind that come up. Prepare each one to fit the slot (for a DCF, the steps in order with one line of reasoning each), since nobody is there to prompt you through it. Our seven-step DCF answer is the version to practice out loud.
How to Answer Inside the Clock
Plan on about 150 words for a 90-second behavioral answer, told as situation, task, action, and result, and stop once you've given the result. Mergers & Inquisitions puts the maximum for 90 seconds at 180 to 190 words, "ideally closer to 150," and suggests a pace of 100 to 125 words a minute. When your slot is two minutes, the same 150-word answer still works, and finishing early is fine.
Use the 30 seconds to pick the story that fits and jot a word for each of its four parts, so you have something to glance at if you lose your place. Writing out sentences takes longer than the clock allows, and reading them back sounds read. The four parts give the reviewer what they need in order: where you were, what you were responsible for, what you did, and how it turned out.
Here's a 150-word answer to one of the Goldman prompts eFinancialCareers reported in 2018, "Walk me through a time you were working in a team and you took the initiative to make a change":
"A week before our investment club pitched a stock, the three of us building the model still had three different revenue forecasts, and I got us to agree on one. We were presenting it to our portfolio committee, and I was responsible for the valuation. Each of us had built our own forecast, so the valuation changed with whose numbers I used. I suggested we stop building and agree on the key drivers first. I set up a call, put the three forecasts side by side, and showed that the whole gap came from one assumption, unit growth. We agreed to use the company's guidance as the base case and treat our higher numbers as an upside case. I rebuilt the model around that over the next two evenings. We presented on time, the committee approved the position, and the club now asks every team to agree on drivers early."
The first sentence gives the whole story in brief, so a reviewer who skims the transcript or jumps in partway still knows what it's about. The next two sentences set up the situation and the task, with just enough to follow what you did. The action gets the most words, as the chart below shows, since what you did and why is what the prompt asks about. The result comes in one sentence with something concrete in it, and then the answer stops. At 120 words a minute, 150 words takes about 75 seconds, which leaves around 15 seconds of slack before a 90-second recording submits itself. If your practice recordings run close to 90 seconds, cut the setup rather than the result.
The action is 67 of the 150 words, close to half the answer.
A motivation answer uses the same budget with a different shape. Say the group or division you want in the first sentence, give one reason tied to something you've actually done, and finish with what you'd want to work on there. When a bank gives you three minutes, as BlackRock and Bank of America's UK process do, you don't need a longer story: add one more piece of evidence or what you learned, and stop.
How to Set Up Your Camera, Light, and Room
Put a light in front of you, the HireVue video window near the top center of your screen, and your camera at eye level. HireVue's tips page says to keep lighting in front of you, because "lighting from behind makes it hard to see you," and a window behind you does exactly that. Placing the video window at the top center, as HireVue's candidate FAQ recommends, means that when you glance at your own image you're also looking close to the camera, and looking at the camera while you talk is what reads as eye contact on the other end. On a laptop, a stack of books under it brings the camera up to eye level.
With the light in front, the lens at eye level, and your eyes on the lens while you talk, the reviewer sees a lit face that seems to be making eye contact.
Room: pick a quiet spot with nothing behind you that you wouldn't want a recruiter to see, because HireVue records everything the webcam sees and the microphone hears.
Device and connection: use the latest Chrome, which HireVue recommends, and a connection of at least 350 kbps, the speed HireVue suggests. Avoid a Chromebook, since HireVue's device page says "Chromium devices are not supported"; the same page lists the other supported browsers and the phone app. HireVue records at 480p, which is a good reason to spend your effort on light rather than a new webcam.
Dress: wear what you'd wear to an in-person first round, which is what HireVue's help center recommends.
Notes: HireVue says you can keep notes next to you, but eFinancialCareers, reporting Goldman's recruiter advice in 2018, wrote that Goldman doesn't want to see candidates "reading from hidden notes or uttering scripted answers." Keep one card by the camera with your five story names and your market story, and nothing in full sentences, so it reminds you without tempting you to read.
How to Prepare Before Your Deadline
Write your five behavioral stories, your motivation answers, and your market story before you submit your applications, because some invitations arrive right after you apply and some are due as soon as the next day. The chart shows the windows reported at each bank where the bank or prep guides give one, and your invitation's deadline, with its time zone, is the one that counts.
The shortest reported window is the next day, so your stories have to exist before the invitation does.
With about a week, spread the work so that each day builds on the one before:
Day 1: open the link, put the deadline in your calendar a day early, read the opening pages and the attempts message, and run the camera check. Don't press Start Now.
Day 2: write or update your five stories as bullets, a short "why this firm" and "why this division," and your market story with your view. Bullets keep you from memorizing a script that sounds read.
Day 3: record yourself on your phone under real timing: write practice questions on cards, shuffle them, and answer five with 30 seconds to prepare and 90 seconds to answer, a drill Mergers & Inquisitions suggests. Watch each one once and fix a long setup, a missing result, or eyes off the camera.
Day 4: do HireVue's practice questions in the room, at the time of day, and in the clothes you'll use for the real one, so the only new thing on the day is the questions.
Day 5: record the interview. The last two days are a buffer for a dropped connection or a bad night's sleep.
With 48 hours, do days 1 to 3 on the first day and the practice questions and the real interview on the second, while your setup is still in place. With a next-day deadline, run the camera check and practice questions, read over your story bullets, motivation answers, and market story, and record that evening, or the next morning if the deadline's time allows it.
For when applications open in each class year, see our investment banking preparation roadmap.
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