You can apply for dozens of various jobs with Wells Fargo. As you can imagine, questions will differ in an interview for a position of a branch manager, product analyst, phone banker, or senior application developer.

In this article, however, we will look at some questions that refer to the brand of Wells Fargo, their working culture, and some question that test your attitude to various situations that happen in the workplace, regardless of whether we talk about a day of a Teller, Account Manager, or Analytic Consultant. You can face this questions in any interview with this financial services giant, and you should definitely prepare for each one. Let’s have a look at them.

 

Why do you want to work for Wells Fargo?

You should try and address two things while answering this one. One is the brand of the financial institution, things you love about Wells Fargo. It can be their customer oriented policy, wide portfolio of products and services for each group of customers, great reputation, or simply the fact that they are so big and can meet virtually any customer demands.

Each hiring manager will enjoy hearing your words of praise, and you should not spare them this luxury. Make them believe that Wells Fargo is your first choice, that you didn’t apply with ten other banking institutions (even when you did). You want to work for the best, and that’s why you chose them.

Secondly you should explain how your choice matches your career plans. Wells Fargo is a big organization, and options for promotion are almost endless with the bank. Think about your future, and how it relates to your present choices…

Sample answer:

I really like Wells Fargo. I, as well as other members of my family belong to the millions of satisfied clients of your bank. I believe this bank offers the widest portfolio of products, services and solutions for huge variety of clients, and the customer service is just spotless. What’s more, I have studied the careers section of your website carefully, and feel that I can grow here professionally down the road and stay with this bank for years on end.

 

Why this particular position? Explain it to us.

More than anything else your answer should make sense. Walk them through your resume, explain how your education and roles you had in the past prepared you for this new challenge.

You should simply tell them a story, and the next chapter in the story is the job you try to get with them. This is also an opportunity to show them your work portfolio (if you have one), explaining the projects you were responsible for, or jobs you had before, and how they prepared you for the role with the bank. You can bridge directly to the future, explaining how the new job will help you to eventually progress to a dream role you hope to have in five or ten years time.

Of course, if this is your first job application in the field, you should focus more on your skills and personal traits, things that make from you a good candidate for the job, at least in your eyes.

Sample answer:

I believe to have the right personality for this job, plus it is really something I would enjoy doing in a long run. With the motivation I have, it would be easy to do a good job of a teller (analyst, mortgage specialist, manager, etc), and I am sure I won’t get bored after a few weeks or months. On the top of that I feel it fits well with my future plans and goals, since I would love to specialize in this field and get a managerial position on day.

* May also interest you: Bank Teller Interview – Tell me about yourself.

 

Describe an ideal working culture/environment.

Now, your description should be as close as possible to what you will experience at Wells Fargo. This definitely changes from one branch to another, from corporate to retail jobs.

But in general you can expect to get a helping hand from your manager anytime you need it, and what counts here are results, and time spent at work. You can say that you enjoy challenging working environment, one that helps you to learn new things and grow professionally.

Another option is saying that you do not have many expectations, that you can do your job well in any working environment, and hope to have good relationship with your colleagues. You can say that relationships matter for you more than anything else.

Sample answer:

For me any place where one can rely on their superiors for guidance, and where results matter and count, is a good working environment. I do not mind whether I work in an open office environment, whether there is this or that perk for the employees. Of course, it is great to work in a clean and modern place like a banking branch, and it is definitely another reason for my motivation to work here.

Special Tip: What if I told you that you can practice your answers to all tricky Wells Fargo interview questions, getting an immediate feedback from a life-like AI interview coach? And that you can start doing it for free, and it is a lot of fun too? 🙂 Check out this page on our partner website, Real Mock Interviews, pick a question, enter your email, and start practicing for free, either on your mobile phone or on your computer. Check it out now and see for yourself!

credit cards as an illustration of a typical banking product

Describe a conflict you had with one of your colleagues in your last job.

Behavioral questions help them understand your attitude to various situations at work. Regardless of your position with Wells Fargo, you will deal with other people, and you may experience some conflicts (just like in any other company, or in life in general).

Ensure your interviewers that you try to be attentive to the needs and feelings of your colleagues. When describing a conflict you had before, do not hesitate to admit that you were wrong. Explain a conflict that you solved in a constructive way, without building a fence between you and the other conflict party.

Try to speak in a calm way, and analyze the situation. They should get an impression that you do not dwell on negative experiences and emotions. Conflicts belong to every workplace. You try to avoid them, but if they happen, they do not have a long term impact on you performance in work .

Sample answer:

I remember a situation from my last job in retail, a conflict about the methodology of work I had with my superior. I thought we were wasting time and resources, and suggested a better way of taking care of the specific duty. But they did not agree and we had a conflict about it. At the end of the day I simply obeyed, because I respect the hierarchy in the workplace, but eventually I decided to quit the job, since I prefer to work in places where managers are receptive to feedback and actually try to make the place better for everyone.

* May also interest you: Bank Teller interview – Why should we hire you?

 

How do you deal with rejection, or with bad words?

Many jobs at Wells Fargo are sales jobs, or customer service jobs. And people rarely call to praise you for something. They call to complain. What’s more, if you are the one making the call (while trying to acquire a new customer or upsell an existing one), many people will hang up before you even get a chance to deliver your short sales pitch. Or they will send you to some bad place and hang up after that.

This is a part of a job and unless you are ready for it, you will quit quickly. Hiring managers at Wells Fargo are well aware of the fact, and that’s why they often use this interview question (or a similar one with the same meaning).

Ensure them that bad words won’t touch you emotionally. You understand that customers do not reject you–they reject your offer. And if they are angry, it has nothing to do with you–just something doesn’t work for them with their product or service from the bank. You know that rejection and bad words belong to this profession, and can get over them quickly.

Sample answer:

I just feel it belongs to job and to life. If one was afraid of rejection, they would never ask anyone out, they would never try to get a better job, earn more money, achieve this or that thing in life. What’s more, I realize that people do not reject me as a person on the phone, they reject my offer. When you realize this distinction and keep it on your mind, it is much easier to simply move on to another client, after you’ve heard some bad words on the phone. That sort of sums up how I deal with rejection.

Special Tip: Download the full list of questions in a one page long PDF, and practice your interview answers anytime later:

questions for Wells Fargo interviews, PDF

Talk about a difficult goal you met, or failed to meet in your last job.

Managers at Wells Fargo set goals for almost all employees. This can be certain number of phone calls made or received each week, certain number of loans approved, credit cards sold each month, etc. These goals are typically ambitious but realistic, since managers use historical data to create their sales predictions, and goals for their subordinates accordingly.

Just like with most behavioral questions, your attitude to goals (and to failure) matters more than the actual situation you narrate in your answer.

Try to speak about a big goal, however. Ensure them that you enjoy setting goals, that they help you stay motivated and move forward. You can describe how you created daily or weekly goals, or how someone else from your team helped you to achieve the final goal (ability to give credit to your colleagues is highly appreciated at Wells Fargo). And if you failed to attain your goals, you can explain what you would do differently if you had another chance, and what you actually learned in the process.

Sample answer:

I failed to meet my sales target in my last job, and it is actually one of the reasons why I am here. My failure cost me my job. However, I have no regrets, because I gave it my best. Stayed in work longer than others, did more phone calls, worked on Saturdays, tried to improve my sales techniques, you name it. It just that I wasn’t perhaps the best person to sell this type of a service, or maybe it just wasn’t meant to be, for one reason or another. The sales targets were extremely ambitious as well, but some people from the company managed to meet them, so it wasn’t impossible. In any case, I believe I learned a lot in this job, and I prefer not to dwell on the past.

scene from an interview, female applicant and HR manager, modern white office

How do you deal with a crisis of motivation?

Most jobs at Wells Fargo are quite repetitive. Stress levels can be both low and high, it really depends on many factors, but the repetition is almost always there. With repetition comes boredom, and one can easily experience crisis of motivation.

The most important thing is to admit that you struggle with motivation sometimes and experience low days–everyone has this problem. Then you can refer to your personal goals, or your loved ones, or the feeling of responsibility for your colleagues and employer, or even to support of your colleagues who typically help you overcome a crisis.

Crisis will come, in every occupation. Once you know why you wake up to work each day, however, and have around you at least one person to confide in, you can always overcome it and enjoy your work again.

* Note: You may also leave when a hard crisis hits you, or when you feel exhausted, or when the job at Wells Fargo isn’t such a good match as you expected. This is normal and they count with that option (that’s why they are always hiring new staff), but you should not refer to this option in your interview answer…

Sample answer:

To be honest, I experience low days at work sometimes. But I know why I go to work: I have my goals and plans in life, and of course also bills to pay. In my opinion, nobody is motivated every single day at work. But once you know why you get out of bed in the morning and have some goals in life, you can get over every crisis of motivation. It also helps to have good relationship with colleagues, so you actually look forward to meeting them at work, and you can support each other in tough times. Regardless of whether I get this job or work somewhere else, I will try my best to build good relationship with my new colleagues.

 

How do you imagine a typical day in this job?

The key is to show proactive approach to work (to making calls, to writing new code, to analyzing certain data, to managing employees–depending on the job you try to get with Wells Fargo), and to ensure them that you expect to be busy in your work.

Tracking your activity to time sheet is a big thing at Wells Fargo recently, and you can also mention that while answering this interview question.

Then I suggest you to read the job description carefully and also check some reviews from former employees of the corporation on websites like Indeed or Glassdoor (people who had the same position you are trying to get). This should give you a good idea of a typical day in the bank.

You do not have to include coffee breaks, lunch, or cigarette break in your description of a typical day. Surely you will enjoy these pleasant distractions (at least most of the time), but it doesn’t make sense to mention them in your idea of a typical day…

Sample answer:

I imagine spending most of my day on the phone with clients, because that’s the core of this job, that’s how we generate sales and bring new clients onboard. Besides that I am sure we will have some meetings with the managers, and do some administrative work, as well as some reporting. In any case, I imagine to be pretty busy every day, and I actually like it, because when you have something to do the time passes quickly in the job.\

 

Other questions interviewers at Wells Fargo may ask you

  • Where do you see yourself in five years from now?
  • Do you use any products or services of our bank?
  • What would you do if you saw one of your colleagues was stealing something?
  • When you hear “Wells Fargo”, what do you imagine?
  • What are your strengths and weaknesses?
  • What do you consider your best strength, and your biggest weakness, in relation to the job you try to get with us?
  • Are you willing to travel/relocate?
  • Do you have any questions?

 

Summary

Wells Fargo is always hiring, and you can always try your luck with the bank. Try to prepare for the questions from this article, but research the internet also for questions for particular job titles. You can also hit the search button in the footer of our page, to find your position. Or check the following:

Antony
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