Class of interview guide

Candidates’ ability to think on their toes, alignment with RMB’s culture and values, and ability to demonstrate an unparalleled excellence of character are tested.

A range of questions aim to test candidates’ technical and theoretical skills. So although one cannot prepare entirely for all questions that may be asked, a few previous interview questions and some comments are included and discussed below. We challenge you to show your ability to think on the spot, deliver watertight arguments and let your character shine through during the interview. Examples of questions we would typically ask a potential RMB Class Of candidate during an interview:

If electricity costs were to increase 25% tomorrow and you had a prepaid meter and could stock up, how much would you buy?

The answer depends on your personal opportunity cost. Key points to consider are:

• What returns could you get on other investments in the market? Twenty five percent is typically very high compared to other investments. And twenty five percent is also the return for the investment period. Thus, if you buy enough for one month this is in effect a monthly return
• How much electricity do you use? If you can’t resell it would be questionable to buy huge amounts
• Linked to this is your view on what future increases may be. Other interesting points to consider:
  
  
  • Is it possible to re-sell the electricity?
  • Will it expire?
  • Tax savings. Most other investments will lead to an income that may be taxable

If you had to invest yourself on the stock exchange, what would your PE ratio be?

The solution can be broken down into a number of interesting ways. The candidate could consider their own net present value, their current and future rates of earnings and growth, and what would attract investors to buy into their stock. They might put forward a market cap and suggest and motivate where their earnings will come from in the future. This may include salary, business interests, investments, properties, other assets or even an inheritance. The candidate may also correlate their PE ratio to other people/companies or industries with shared operating facets. They could also talk about hedging through insurance policies.

Other potential questions that we may ask:

• Why do you want to work at RMB?
• What’s the biggest risk you’ve ever taken?
• If you were a letter of the alphabet, which letter would you be and why?
• What company would you look at starting up if you couldn’t find a job?
• If you were an orange, would you have pips or not and why?
• Tell us about your last big party?