How HireVue Works
The JP Morgan HireVue interview is a critical component of the bank’s recruiting process. After you submit your JPM application and complete Pymetrics, the firm will ask you to complete its HireVue interview. The interview will ask you a series of questions, usually behavioral in nature. For each question, you have to record a video of yourself on the spot answering the question. Therefore, make sure your computer has a functioning camera and microphone. In the beginning of the JP Morgan HireVue, the system will automatically test your camera and microphone. It will only allow you to start the assessment if both are working.
The questions are set by JPM, not by HireVue. It will show you one question at a time. This means that you don’t get to see all the questions at once. You only get to see the second question after you submit your video recording for the first question. Each question comes with one retry. However, once you finish a question, you do not get to go back and edit it. Once the system shows you the question, it’ll give you some time to prepare your answer. Then the system will prompt your camera and microphone to start recording. When you see that the recording has began, you should deliver your answer.
Similar to an exam, the JP Morgan HireVue interview has a time limit. We’ll tell you JPM’s time limits for each question later in this article.
JP Morgan HireVue Questions and Answers
OK, so now we understand how HireVue works. In this next section, we’ll go through the real JP Morgan HireVue questions for the 2022 Investment Banking Summer Analysts. We’ll look at the exact questions, provide our analysis on the approach, and show you illustrative answers.
For past Investment Banking Summer Analyst HireVue, the system asked candidates 3 questions. Candidates had to record a video response to each question. Each question comes with its own specified preparation time and recording time. You don’t have to use all of the allotted time. There isn’t a single “right” answer to each question per se. The “right” answers are ones that are clearly delivered and highlight your positive characteristics.
If you have a technical issue or disruption, don’t worry – you’ll have another chance to record your response. However, your second response will be automatically submitted and you’ll progress to the next question.
When you work on the HireVue questions, do not reference any confidential information. This should go without saying, but JPM HireVue is a bit more stringent on the definition of “confidential information”. For example, if you cite past work experiences, do not include the client name in your answers.
Please remember that these are questions from a previous interview process. There’s no guarantee that JPM will use the same questions or assign the same time limit for future interviews.
JP Morgan HireVue Question #1
HireVue Question: Discuss a major world event and how it could affect financial markets.
Lumovest Analysis: This question tests your knowledge of current events and your ability to think critically about their implications. But here’s the tricky part: not all world events are equal. Picking the wrong event can completely ruin your answer. You have to pick ones that have clear and material impact on the financial markets.
To find these events, use three websites: Bloomberg, Reuters, and the Wall Street Journal. These three websites are all you need. Too many websites can be counterproductive. You don’t even have to read the full stories every day. Just read the headlines. You can read the full story and do more research only on ones that you find most interesting. Don’t dwell on describing the event. Instead, briefly describe the event. Then, spend most of your time discussing your views on how it will affect financial markets.
The JPM HireVue system gives you 30 seconds to prepare and gather your thoughts. This answer has a 2-minute limit. Hence, you should plan your answer to last between 90 seconds to 110 seconds.
Sample Answer
A major world event is the ongoing conflict between the United States and China. The conflict between the two major economies started with trade imbalance. However, it quickly expanded to human rights, military arms race, technology export controls, and investment restrictions. This has significant impact on the global financial markets.
First, the two countries imposed tariffs on goods from each other. Additionally, the two countries also made it more difficult for the other country’s companies to operate in one another’s territories. This increased many companies’ cost, dented their growth and decreased their profitability. The S&P 500 index in the US and the Hang Seng Index in Asia both declined due to the trade war.
Second, the US passed laws requiring funds to divest certain Chinese investments. On the public side of financial markets, major funds divested various Chinese stocks. On the private side of financial markets, CFIUS (Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States) blocked many Chinese transactions.
And third, the US passed laws requiring Chinese companies trading on the American stock exchanges to submit audit documents. The US stock exchanges will delist companies that fail to do so for three years. However, Chinese laws forbid Chinese companies from sharing audit documents with other countries. As a result, there’s significant delisting risk hanging over Chinese companies trading on the US stock exchanges. Due to this risk, the stocks of major Chinese companies such as Alibaba and Didi declined by nearly 60%.
So to sum up, the ongoing conflict between the United States and China roils the global financial markets. The higher tariffs and more stringent investment restrictions dented confidence and discouraged investors, triggering widespread declines in Chinese stocks.
JP Morgan HireVue Question #2:
HireVue Question: Provide an example of a project where you sought out relevant information and used it to develop a plan of action. Describe the situation, the actions you took, and the outcome.
Lumovest Analysis: The key is in the second sentence of the question. It tells you exactly how to structure your answer. Notice that it tells you to structure your answer in three parts. First, you need to describe the situation where you gathered information to develop a plan of action. Second, you need to describe your actions. And third, you need to describe the outcome. This is very much in-line with the STAR framework: Situation, Task, Action, Results. You can pick a project from academics, extracurricular or professional work experience. We recommend using this answer to demonstrate that you are someone who is proactive and thoughtful.
The JPM HireVue system gives you 30 seconds to prepare and gather your thoughts. This answer has a 2-minute limit. Hence, you should plan your answer to last between 90 seconds to 110 seconds.
Sample Answer
In school, I was part of the Environmental Protection Club. During my junior year, the club elected me as the Internal Vice President. In this capacity, I was responsible for recruiting new members. However, our club faced a big problem. We haven’t been able to recruit a single new member for the Spring semester over the last 4 years. My task was to solve this problem.
Unfortunately, this isn’t a problem where information is readily available, so I had to be creative. I looked through past event registration records to identify students who came to our recruiting events in the previous years. Since none of them ultimately joined, they were the perfect audience for me to speak with. I searched them on Instagram and Facebook to see if we have any mutual friends. Then, I invited them out individually so I can ask them why they didn’t join. I wanted to speak to each of them alone because I didn’t want one person’s answers to affect that of others. After 8 such surveys, a pattern began to emerge. Despite meeting me separately, all of them identified our club’s reputation as the main reason for not joining. Turns out, we have a reputation as a club that hosts many events and consumes significant time.
When the January semester started, I altered our club’s advertisements to specifically address the estimated time commitment. In our info sessions, I repeatedly emphasized that the time commitment is flexible. New members are free to choose to attend environmental protection events based on their availabilities. This alleviated many prospective members’ concerns. At the end, our club was able to recruit 15 new members in the January semester. It was one of my proudest contributions to the club.
JP Morgan HireVue Question #3:
HireVue Question: Describe a situation in which you learned something significant from a mistake you made at work or in a school project.
Lumovest Analysis: Here’s the secret sauce to get this question right. Talk about an honest mistake. Don’t try to be sneaky and turn that mistake into a strength. There’s a lot of interview advice online about twisting mistakes into contributions and weaknesses into strengths. That will come across as insincere. The truth is, everybody makes mistakes. Who are the interviewers to reject you because you made a mistake? They’re not perfect themselves. As a result, they are not going to reject you because you made a mistake. Therefore, be confident and open up your vulnerabilities and talk about a real mistake. It’ll come across as sincere and refreshing.
We recommend structuring your answer in the following manner. First, set up the context. Then, describe what you did. Third, show why that is a mistake. And lastly, explain what you learned.
Similar to the other questions, the JPM HireVue system gives you 30 seconds to prepare and gather your thoughts. This answer has a 2-minute limit. Consequently, you should plan your answer to last between 90 seconds to 110 seconds.
Sample Answer
In school, our engineering department required us to take a web development class. It grades students based solely on exam scores. Personally, I was passionate about software engineering since when I was 6. Over the years, I had already learned a lot about web development. Therefore, I was very confident in myself. Perhaps more accurately, I was arrogant.
I felt I was too good to be in that class. As a result, I skipped the lectures on a regular basis. For most of the semester, I didn’t even read the textbooks or lecture notes. I performed very well on the final exam and finished the class with a perfect A.
However, this turned out to be a grave mistake. While my arrogance didn’t affect my grades, it did ruin my reputation. Because of my actions in that class, my classmates thought I didn’t care about grades. They perceived me as someone who isn’t serious about his academic studies. The fascinating part about reputation is that it develops based on what people see and what people hear. I don’t really get a chance to explain myself or refute the perceptions. It just develops and sticks. This reputation followed me the entire year and significantly affected my life. For example, classmates didn’t want me in their group project for other classes because they thought I wouldn’t contribute.
From this mistake, I learned two important lessons. First, I learned not to be arrogant. Arrogance can be very harmful. It leads me to take actions that are detrimental in the long-term to feed a positive feeling in the short-term. And second, I learned the importance of reputation. Reputation is so important and it’s shaped by perceptions. From that point onwards, I try to be thoughtful of how others will perceive my actions.
What About Technical Questions?
Unlike other banks’ HireVue questions, JP Morgan HireVue did ask technical questions. You may get one technical question for summer internships and full-time recruiting. For students, the HireVue questions are mostly behavioral in nature. However, technicals may come up. They did come up in the past. We’ve seen some examples of these technical questions. The good news is that they’re very rudimentary. For example, they might ask you what the financial statements are or to explain Beta. They are not hard at all. So the takeaway here is that technical questions don’t usually show up in JP Morgan HireVue. Even when technical questions do appear in JPM’s HireVue, they’re super easy.
Preparing for the Next Round after HireVue
By contrast, technical questions for in-person interviews are a completely different story. They can be very difficult and challenging. We recommend developing a strong foundation in accounting, valuation (Enterprise Value / Equity Value, DCF, multiples), M&A, and LBO.
Here at Lumovest, we specialize in teaching technicals. Our curriculum is designed for candidates who want to work at a top bank, such as J.P. Morgan. It covers everything you need to learn for your interviews and will help you develop advanced financial modeling skills. You’ll learn directly from a former Goldman Sachs investment banker who sat on the campus recruiting team. At the end, you’ll receive our official blockchain-verified certificate.
You can sign up here.