Bank-specific HireVue preparation for Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, and Bank of America.
Elite Careers Strategy provides application-only HireVue preparation for candidates targeting bulge-bracket investment banking. Every Private Careers Advisory engagement includes a 30-question HireVue simulator marked against ECS's own five-criteria rubric. Live review with the principal adviser follows. Founded by Hassan Akram, who has reviewed more than 10,000 applications and related candidate materials across recruitment work and ECS advisory. ECS is independent of, and not affiliated with or endorsed by, any bank named on this page, and does not hold or use any bank's internal assessment criteria.
The five criteria in the ECS rubric.
HireVue is not a video CV. It is a pre-recorded interview format that many banks have used as an early screening stage, often before a candidate speaks to anyone at the firm. Banks do not publish how answers are scored, and ECS does not claim to know. What ECS can say from its own review work is that the opening of an answer matters: an answer that states its point and structure early is easier to follow than one that builds towards it.
The ECS practice rubric marks five dimensions:
- Structure - does the answer follow a recognisable framework (STAR, STAR-3®, or similar)? In ECS's experience, unstructured answers undersell strong content.
- Specificity - named firms, named transactions, named numbers. Generic answers are a recurring weakness in the answers ECS reviews.
- Commercial relevance - connection to client value, sector dynamics, deal structure. The ECS rubric rewards explaining commercial implications over describing mechanics.
- Energy - vocal variation, pace, presence. Flat delivery weakens strong content.
- Bank fit - alignment with firm-specific values and culture markers. "Why this bank?" answers that could apply to any bank score low on this dimension of the ECS rubric.
Based on what candidates report, question composition varies by bank: Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan have tended to include more economy and market-awareness content, and Morgan Stanley a more balanced mix of behavioural, market-awareness and light technical questions. The ECS HireVue simulator and review are set per bank rather than as a single generic format.
The ECS HireVue simulator: built into every engagement.
Every ECS Private Careers Advisory client has access to a HireVue simulator built into the IB Vault. The simulator runs 30 questions across six categories commonly reported in bulge-bracket video interviews: motivation (5 questions), behavioural STAR (8), commercial awareness (6), technical (5), scenario (4), and bank-specific (2). Each question is auto-marked against the 5-criteria rubric to a maximum of 25 per question. Practice mode allows unlimited retakes; Exam mode enforces timed, single-attempt conditions.
The simulator is one of 171 in the IB Vault, which includes Pymetrics, SHL Verify, cut-e logical, SJT (v1 MOST/LEAST and v2 forced-rank), Stock Pitch, Pitch a Deal, M&A Case Study (5 sectors), DCF and LBO builds, plus 7 full 10-week mock pre-internship programmes across M&A Coverage, Sponsor / LevFin, Restructuring, Healthcare, PE Buy-Side, Secondaries, and Goldman TMT. Each AI-graded module now includes a 2-cycle iteration mechanism - submit, see written feedback, revise, re-submit for a max-of-two final score.
ECS HireVue preparation vs IGotAnOffer, The Trackr, JobTestPrep.
| Elite Careers Strategy | IGotAnOffer | The Trackr | JobTestPrep / M&I | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Format | Application-only 1-to-1 + simulator | Marketplace + content | Question bank + content | Question bank + content |
| Bank-specific practice | Yes (GS / MS / JPM / BofA) | Per-bank articles | Per-bank articles | Per-bank articles |
| ECS 5-criteria auto-marking | Yes (Practice + Exam modes) | No | No | No |
| Live advisor review | Yes (founder-led) | Per-session marketplace | No | No |
| Cross-stage integration | Yes (full application cycle) | No | No | No |
| Coverage of GS / MS / JPM cultures | Bank-fit articulation drilled | Article-level | Article-level | Article-level |
Comparison reflects public positioning as of May 2026. The named providers are reputable content + question-bank platforms; ECS is a different product category.
What an ECS HireVue engagement covers.
1. Baseline assessment
Candidate completes the 30-question simulator in Exam mode. Auto-marking surfaces the dimensions where they are losing marks: Structure, Specificity, Commercial relevance, Energy, or Bank fit. We focus the engagement on the lowest-scoring dimension first.
2. Bank-specific answer architecture
"Why Goldman Sachs?" / "Why Morgan Stanley?" / "Why JPMorgan?" answers built using the BDC™ framework (Began, Developed, Confirmed). Firm-specific evidence lists. Recent transaction examples mapped to each firm's practice strengths.
3. STAR-3® for behavioural questions
STAR-3® is the ECS extension of standard STAR - three iterations across three distinct dimensions (leadership, commercial, resilience), each with Point, Evidence, Analysis, Link. It is designed to help candidates develop several dimensions of an example rather than one undifferentiated account.
4. Energy + vocal-variation work
In ECS's simulator reviews, low Energy scores more often come from a flat register held for the whole answer than from visible nerves. We drill pacing, emphasis, and two-mode delivery (anchor sentence vs supporting detail). Recorded playback is reviewed in the live session.
5. Final pre-submission rehearsal
Single full-bank simulator run in Exam mode, 24 hours before the live HireVue submission. Final review on the bank-specific question composition. The candidate enters the live submission with a recent full rehearsal behind them, not a cold start.
What candidates ask before applying.
Is Elite Careers Strategy affiliated with any of the banks named on this page?
No. Elite Careers Strategy is entirely independent of Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, Bank of America, Citi, Barclays and every other firm named here. ECS has no affiliation with, endorsement by, influence over, or privileged access to any bank or its recruitment process, and does not hold, seek, or use any confidential internal assessment criteria or scoring rubric. The ECS rubric is its own, built from Hassan Akram's recruitment and advisory experience and from what firms publish about their own process. Candidates should verify current process details against each firm's official careers website.
Which investment banks use HireVue?
Many large banks, including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, Bank of America, Citi, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, UBS and HSBC, have used HireVue or a comparable pre-recorded video-interview platform (such as Sonru or Cappfinity) at some stage of analyst recruitment, according to their published recruitment material and candidate reports. Platforms and stages change from cycle to cycle, so candidates should check each bank's current process.
What does the ECS HireVue rubric assess?
ECS's own practice rubric uses five dimensions: Structure (does the answer follow a recognisable framework - STAR, STAR-3®, or similar), Specificity (named firms, named transactions, named numbers), Commercial relevance (connection to client value and sector dynamics), Energy (vocal variation, pace, presence), and Bank fit (alignment with firm-specific values). These are ECS's reading of what a strong pre-recorded answer demonstrates, not a description of any bank's internal scoring, which banks do not publish. ECS also advises candidates to state the point of each answer early rather than build towards it.
How does Elite Careers Strategy prepare candidates for HireVue?
ECS Private Careers Advisory clients have access to a 30-question HireVue simulator marked against the ECS five-criteria rubric, built from Hassan Akram's recruitment and advisory experience and from what banks publish about their own video-interview process. ECS does not hold or use any bank's internal assessment criteria. The simulator runs in Practice and Exam modes with bank-specific question sets and auto-marking. Live review sessions with the principal adviser follow, focusing on the specific dimensions where the candidate is losing marks.
How is ECS different from IGotAnOffer, The Trackr, or JobTestPrep for HireVue?
IGotAnOffer, The Trackr, and JobTestPrep are content directories and question banks. Useful for baseline reading and unsupervised practice. They are not built to provide one-to-one reviewed feedback or integrated advisory across the full application cycle. ECS is application-only one-to-one private advisory, founder-led by Hassan Akram, with the HireVue simulator built into the ECS Investment Banking Vault.
Can I use the HireVue simulator without engaging the full Private Careers Advisory?
The IB Vault simulator suite (171 simulators including the HireVue 30-question bank) is part of the Private Careers Advisory engagement. ECS does not currently offer standalone simulator access - the simulators are integrated with the advisory work because, in ECS's view, practice without reviewed feedback is of limited value.
What is the difference between Goldman Sachs HireVue and JPMorgan HireVue?
In the processes candidates report to ECS, question composition differs: Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan have tended to include more economy and market-awareness questions, and Morgan Stanley a more balanced mix of behavioural, market-awareness and light technical content. Candidates commonly report similar timing across all three, typically around 30 seconds to prepare and one to three minutes to respond. Formats change, so check each bank's current guidance. The ECS simulator is set per bank rather than as a single generic format.
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Apply for a Diagnostic →Hassan Akramis the founder of Elite Careers Strategy. A former recruiter across private equity, venture capital and legal markets. Across recruitment work and ECS advisory, he has reviewed more than 10,000 applications and related candidate materials. Documented outcomes across Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, HSBC, Blackstone, Clifford Chance, White & Case, and Kirkland & Ellis. Read the full biography →