Ace Your Behavioral Interview

Thursday, October 22, 2026 at 4:00 PM PDT. Hosted by Fiona Taft.

Fiona Taft, former Executive Director of UC Berkeley's MFE program and former Associate Director at Stanford University, explained what interviewers are…

What this session covered

Fiona Taft, former Executive Director of UC Berkeley's MFE program and former Associate Director at Stanford University, explained what interviewers are really evaluating in behavioral interviews and which red flags can disqualify a candidate. She covered the core questions to prepare, how to research a firm in depth, which stories to have ready, how to handle difficult questions, and common mistakes to avoid.

Key takeaways

Do not tell the same story for every question; even if you have only one internship or project, repeating the same answer can be a deal-killer.
Arrogance or an inability to take feedback, such as insisting you are right when an interviewer tries to steer you, signals that you lack a growth mindset and can disqualify you.
The three questions to practice out loud and nail are why quant or finance, why this firm and this role, and walk me through your resume, which is the same question as tell me about yourself.
Build a compelling why in three parts: the spark that started your interest, the logic of why the field fits your goals, and the fit that connects your personality and past experience to the work.
Prepare stories on leadership and initiative, challenge and failure, teamwork and conflict, precision and detail, and going above and beyond, structured as situation, task, action and result with the result quantified.
When asked about a weakness, state a genuine one and show how you turned it into a strength, and when asked about a failure, show that you can own up to it and ask for help.
Common mistakes include the I want to learn trap, generic answers, saying you want the job for the money, saying you plan to leave soon, not dressing professionally, not smiling, and reading from a script.

Questions covered

Answers are edited for clarity.

Do people working in different quant finance roles always know where they fit?

Not necessarily; it really depends on where you are in your career. In simple terms, there are three general buckets: quant researchers create the models, quant traders implement them, and quant developers build the systems for both. If you're unsure, a master's in quantitative finance, financial engineering or a related field can help, as can reading job descriptions, coffee chats with people in those roles via LinkedIn, and conferences where practitioners discuss their work.

What should you do if you blank on a question in an interview, and is it okay to ask for a moment?

Yes, I give this advice to my clients all the time. If you're asked a question and don't know the answer, stay live in the interview and say something like: That is a really great question, I haven't thought about that before; can you give me a moment to think about it? Then take 30 seconds to think and come up with your answer.

What questions should you ask the interviewer at the end?

I often suggest asking about the next steps in the interview process. You also want to ask about the team dynamic: is this a new role on the team, or are you filling a seat? You can also ask what challenges the team is facing right now, or how someone like yourself coming into the role can be successful in the first 30, 60 and 90 days.