My Top 5 Coffee Chat Questions for Investment Banking

February 02, 2025

The Non-Target Playbook 

By Jack Kolb

In coffee chats for banking, the phrase “there’s no such thing as a stupid question” does not apply.

If you want referrals needed to land first round interviews, generic questions won’t fly.

The only way they’ll remember you over the countless other kids is if you find a common interest.

I did 70+ networking chats my sophomore year and know how awkward it is to try and connect on a personal level with random strangers over coffee / over the phone.

Researching their background only gets you so far because you have to be able to steer the conversation without making it obvious you stalked them.

Here were the five types of questions I used to help me land those referrals.

Question Type #1 - SMALL TALK / PERSONAL

Rule Number One.

When they ask how you’re doing in the first 30sec of the chat, never say “Good, how are you?”

You need to take advantage of that opportunity make small talk.

The personal, non-banking connection usually starts with this extended small talk.

I always responded with specific details that’d make them curious enough to ask follow-up questions.

Here are a couple examples.

Example 1

  • My Response: “…I’m doing pretty good…actually has been kind of a crazy day on my end…just got back from the doctor’s office not too long ago and turns out I broke my arm during our hockey game this past weekend…but besides that can’t complain…”

  • Situation: I saw that this guy played D1 lacrosse in college on his LinkedIn. Since I was also a college athlete, I wanted to steer the convo in that direction as early as possible. The next 45min were spent talking about his injuries from lacrosse and a ton of other random sports talk with a bit of banking sprinkled in here and there. That connection led to a referral.

Example 2

  • My Response: “…good..good..actually have had a pretty great morning so far..I’ve just been trying to plan out my schedule for next semester since class choices are due soon…but I can’t decide whether I want to study abroad so it’s not finalized but definitely made progress…”

  • Situation: I was talking to an alum that I saw studied abroad in Barcelona. I’ve traveled to places nearby, so we ended up talking about European travel for the next 30min. This also led to a referral and an eventual offer.

Question Type #2 - SETTING THE AGENDA

Small talk will typically die down after five or so minutes.

From there, it’s your job to take the wheel and set the agenda for the chat.

This is less of a “question” and more of a “here’s what I’m thinking” statement.

As soon as you feel that small talk slow down, use these four sentences to transition.

  • Sentence 1: “Yea so Jason I just wanted to say thank you again for taking the time to chat today…Really appreciate you being so generous with your time especially given how busy you guys have been like you mentioned earlier…”

  • Sentence 2: “…so I know I sent over my resume in that initial email, but what I was thinking for this chat is that I could start off by giving a brief overview of my background…”

  • Sentence 3: “…and then after that I’d love to hear a little bit more about you and your background and what brought you to where you are today at Bank of America if that sounds good to you…”

  • Sentence 4: “…and then I just had some questions as well that I’d love to ask after that if possible…”

After they respond, dive into your one-to-two-minute elevator pitch.

This Mergers & Inquisitions article does an excellent job explaining how to craft yours.

Question Type #3 - EXPERIENCE

After they share their extended background, give a 30sec response remarking on something they mentioned that resonated with you.

From there, ask open-ended follow-ups based on specific details they mentioned in that intro.

It should never be something that can be answered with a “yes” or “no”.

Here were a few of my go-to’s.

Transition Questions

  • “How has the transition been for you making the move from analyst to associate? What made you decide to stay on and how have your responsibilities changed?”

  • “Can you elaborate a little more on your decision to lateral over from XYZ firm? How would you compare the two so far and what made you want to make the move in the first place?”

  • “Do you think the internship did a good job prepping you for your first year so far as an analyst? What have the biggest adjustments been for you since making the move to full-time?”

Group Structure / Placement Questions

  • “I know you mentioned you’re in the consumer group…I was just curious what the placement process looked like for you and how you ended up deciding on consumer. Was the internship generalist or focused on an industry / product as well?”

  • “What other groups within your bank does your team work closely with? Are deal teams staffed across multiple offices?”

Question Type #4 - WHY [BANK NAME]?

Asking this is the biggest hack because it give you ammo for your personal answer to the “why this bank?” interview question.

Here’s an example of how it worked to my advantage.

  • What I Asked During Chat: Said I was wondering how he settled on Lincoln when re-recruiting from another bank

  • His Response: Told story of how Lincoln CEO called him out of the blue day after getting the offer and spent over an hour on the phone with him, offering advice on all his other options, not trying to sway him one way or another

  • How I Used This: In my superday, brought up how I learned of this story while networking. Emphasized that this type of supportive, tight-knit culture where the CEO takes time out of his day to do something like that resonated with me, which is something I’m prioritizing when looking for a career due to my small town values

  • Why It Works: Showed I went out of my way to network and was a specific story rather than generic reasoning for “why their bank”

Question Type #5 - ADVICE FROM SIMILAR POSITION 

When you ask for advice in the last five minutes of the call, make sure it’s specific.

Generically asking for “any advice they might have” makes you seem lazy.

Before the call, research how that indiviudal’s recruitment situation was similar to yours.

Emphasize how you are in a similar situation and see if they used any unique tactics to succeed.

Here are three examples.

  • Non-Target - “Being from a non-target school, I’ve learned how it’s tougher to break in and secure that first round interview…so knowing that you were in a similar position when recruiting…were there any tricks or tactics you used that worked well to help you be successful?”

  • Athlete - “Since you were in a similar position being a college athlete during recruitment sophomore year…I was wondering if you had any specific advice …whether it’s on managing the busy schedule with practices and games or maybe if you had any success trying to leverage your athlete background during networking or interviews?”

  • From Small Town / Midwest - “Knowing that you were also from the midwest, did you find any success trying to leverage that piece of your background during recruitment? If so, how?”

Immediately after the call, follow through with the exact advice they gave you.

This gives you an excuse to reach out for a second call a few weeks later to deepen that connection.

Cheers 🥂

- Jack