Airbnb Business Analyst Interview Questions and Answers

Round: Test
Experience: There were questions on general aptitude like work and time, probability, and some questions were on data interpretation, coding and decoding, etc., most of the questions were very simple...but I felt the data interpretation questions to be a bit tricky (completely my opinion though).. ON THE BASIS OF THIS TEST THEY SHORTLISTED ROUGHLY 15 OUT OF 150 (again a rough figure)
Tips: Manage your time wisely...start with the type of questions you feel comfortable...try to attempt all the questions....improve your speed while practicing.
Duration: 45min minutes
Total Questions: 45

Round: Test
Experience: We were given 3 questions to solve in 30 min duration.Later we were told to walk them through our solution . Two of them were on probability(one random variables and the other on basic probability) and one was on estimating the area of an irregular figure , given some tools.
Tips: Get all the doubts regarding the questions clarified .As you have to explain your solution, it would be helpful if you could pen down all the steps clearly ( as it shows them that your thought process is an organised one). Use pictorial representation if needed. When they propose some other method be open to it and be open to any method they propose and be clear with the method you adopted. Even if you didn't arrive at the final answer, try to communicate your idea on solving the problem( most of the times they will listen to what you say).
Duration: 30min minutes
Total Questions: 3

Round: Other Interview
Experience: They were basically looking for quantifiable factors...so think of some quantifiable factors like the number of Times they are available to you in a day and the number of service providers they engage with. etc.,
For the second question again use quantifiable factors which make sense.
Tips: They patiently listened to what I said . So, be calm and don't be in a haste.

Skill Tips: Be a bit quick while solving the Aptitude questions....Know about the company before you go in for the interview process....No need of any prior knowledge in R language ...They just tested my Willingness to learn new things.
Skills: Aptitude Skills, Communication Skills, Structured thought process, Out of the box thinking, Basic programming skills ( very basic)
College Name: IIT KANPUR

Interview preparation tips for other job seekers - Always speak first answer like perfect and effective answer without any hesitation...

Interview preparation tips for other job seekers - Understand any city's demographics for instance. Take most busy road and assume that 70% supply will be on food -tech (MArket Standard). Open Sw / Zo and see the supply available in that area in peak time. There can be more than one way to solve for these question

Interview preparation tips for other job seekers - So Key Takeaway is You have to be good with your Technical Knowledge (SQL Expert, Python, Overall Stats Knowledge) and That is not really enough. What differs a Business Analyst from other Developers/Statisticians etc. is Business acumen, Problem Solving Skills etc. To have a Business Knowledge and Understanding such that you find the problems/solutions/ Metrics and then solve them using the Technology.

Interview preparation tips for other job seekers - Tension free
Practice, practice, practice.

General Tips: Ola cabs visited our campus for Management Trainee Profile. The process started late in November with a written test; the test was conducted on HackerEarth and consisted 40 questions (Verbal, RC, Quant & LR) to be completed in 60 minutes. About 40 students (20ish waitlisted) were shortlisted based on the test. The written exams of most of the companies predominantly test quant, verbal, DI & LR; and I would strongly suggest practicing Arun Sharma & other CAT materials.

Moving forward, the interviews were scheduled for Dec 1 and consisted of three rounds. It is important that you smile, exude confidence and engage the interviewer and get them interested in you. I would suggest taking up roles involving public speaking through clubs, events, competitions, etc and hone your communication skills. Also, try having mock interviews with your friends and exchange feedback. Also, PORs really help in showcasing leadership qualities.

My first round started off with my introduction and resume walk-down. Since my resume had concentration in Economics & Finance, I was questioned on Micro-Economics, Financial terms, Pricing strategies and so forth. By now I had built up a great rapport, and the interview felt more like a conversation. I was asked on the economics behind the surge pricing, and how and when the price for customer increases & decreases and was asked real-life cases to vary the pricing (Price increases when Demand-high Supply-low; and price decreases Supply-high Demand-low. Then, I was asked to estimate the number of people chewing pan at that particular moment in Varanasi (My interview was happening around 9:30 PM). [Segment by gender and age, estimate no of ppl who chew pan, the frequency of chewing pan, and allocate a percentage who chew pan at that particular moment]. The interview ended with questions from my side and at last, I ended up giving a product suggestion to improve Ola, which was very highly appreciated (with a promise to take it up with the product team).

Second round: Resume walk down, asked again on financial terms, financial statements, valuation, etc [be completely thorough of your resume, don't fake anything], asked to suggest a couple business opportunities in Varanasi, the business model of Ola [read the difference between business model & revenue model of a business], then a mini-case/problem on increasing the revenue of a small space & budget constrained restaurant. This was followed by couple more factor questions - metrics on which drivers can rate Ola; even after increasing no of drivers we are unable to fulfill demand/increase no of booking (there is unfulfilled demand), identify all the metrics/places you'll look at to identify the problem source. Tips for case questions & factor/metrics questions: Be composed, ask permission & take time to write down your thoughts before blurting out, they are always going to ask for more metrics - don't fluster & be prepared to think and give more & more metrics/solutions. Lastly, the interview ended with questions from my side [google up interviewer profile while waiting and frame ques accordingly; my first interviewer was in product team and my second was in analytics/ML; right questions can excite the interviewers and leave an impact].

Third round: HR based questions; questions abt different Ola services - their business model, target customers, feasibility in diff regions; your goals, expectation from Ola.
Other interviewees were also asked puzzles. Finally, eight candidates were offered full-time positions.

Go through Case in Point, practice guesstimates, and puzzles[Mt Fuji, Geekforgeeks, etc] with your friends [do mocks & exchange feedback].

Best of luck!!!
College Name: IIT BHU

Interview preparation tips for other job seekers - Be prepared for your domain and read well about job profile,good luck.