Lazard HireVue: 5 Motivational Questions and the One-Sitting Gauntlet (2026)

Lazard's HireVue is a motivation screen with no technical hiding places. Candidate reports describe 2 to 5 recorded questions with about 30 seconds to prepare and 2 minutes to answer, all circling why Lazard, why banking, and who you are. The most-reported decider is purity of motivation: at an elite boutique, a generic answer is an instant fail. Everything below is built around that reality.

For the wider banking map, see the investment banking HireVue questions guide. For the rep method behind every prompt here, use how to practice HireVue.

Format at a glance

Your invite overrides the table. Spring Week, Summer, and Asset Management tracks already differ on counts and timings. Train the 20-second-prep variant: if you can open cleanly with almost no preparation, the standard 30 seconds feel generous.

The Lazard questions to expect

Reported prompts cluster into three lanes. Build one skeleton per lane before you record anything:

• Motivation. Why Lazard, why investment banking and M&A in particular, what sets Lazard apart from competitors. Aim every answer at the independent-advisory model: no balance sheet, advice as the product, senior exposure early. Name it or fail it.
• Self-portrait. How others would describe you, your hobbies and passions, something outside your CV. Prepare one third-party story that proves a Lazard-relevant trait (judgment under ambiguity, stamina, intellectual honesty) and one genuine interest with a result attached.
• Competency. Teamwork, a recent deal that interested you, a current event with your take. Keep each under the timer with one situation sentence, three action moves, and a quantified result.

Say each answer out loud against a timer on HireVue Practice before you record.

The one-sitting gauntlet

On tracks where tests and HireVue share one sitting, sequencing is the skill. Candidates report behavioural plus aptitude tests first, then the video. Do the tests at a steady pace and protect 10 minutes of composure before the camera starts: stand up, reset your posture, and run your why-Lazard opener once out loud. Candidates who sprint the tests arrive at question one already depleted. Rehearse the full order on weekends: 30 minutes of reasoning, then a full question set in one take. The second half of the session is where boutique screens are won. Spring Week candidates get a lighter variant with fewer questions and shorter prep, but the same rule applies: motivation purity decides, so spend the saved reasoning energy on one more why-Lazard repetition rather than relaxing. Asset Management candidates follow the same screen with division-specific motivation swapped in. Whatever the track, record every rehearsal and review each take once against the timer.

A prep plan that respects the order

1. Motivation first. One paragraph each: why banking, why Lazard, what sets it apart. Say all three daily until each fits in 90 seconds from a skeleton.
2. Self-portrait second. The third-party story plus one genuine interest, rehearsed until they sound discovered rather than memorized.
3. Reasoning third. Timed numerical and non-verbal sets, because the same sitting punishes candidates who prepped only video.
4. Full mock last. Tests plus a full question set back to back, single takes, then rerun only the failed prompts once. Steal the spacing method from the common questions bank.

What gets Lazard candidates cut

• Prestige motivation. Fits every bank and therefore none, and boutiques smell it fastest.
• No Lazard difference. Unable to say what sets the firm apart from the bulge bracket.
• Hobby answers with no result. Passions probed directly need proof, not adjectives.
• Second-half fatigue. Sprinting the tests, then mumbling through the video.

Compare adjacent screens before you finalize prep: Evercore for the closest boutique comparison, Blackstone for the deal-fluency variant, and Morgan Stanley for the bulge-bracket contrast.

Reported Lazard questions to rehearse

These prompts recur across candidate reports. Rehearse each from a skeleton, never a script:

• Why investment banking, particularly M&A, and why Lazard specifically.
• What sets Lazard apart from its competitors, and how you see yourself fitting in.
• How others would describe you, answered with one third-party story.
• Your hobbies and interests, each with a result attached.
• A recent Lazard deal that interested you and its logic.
• A current event with your take, kept under 60 seconds.

Sources (checked September 11, 2026)

• Glassdoor, Lazard Spring Week interview reports (2 to 3 questions, 30-second prep, 2-minute answers)
• Glassdoor, Lazard Investment Banking Intern interview reports (4 questions, one-sitting tests plus HireVue)
• Glassdoor, Lazard Intern interview reports (5 motivational questions)
• Glassdoor, Lazard Spring Insight Week interview reports (motivations and passions, 20-second prep variant)
• PrepLounge, Lazard HireVue candidate thread (behavioral and motivational focus)
• Wall Street Oasis, Lazard analyst interview reports (phone screen plus assessment centre sequencing)