CapitalOne Analyst Interview Questions, Process, and Tips

Interview preparation tips for other job seekers - More like a conversation so try to relax

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: Don

Round: Test
Experience: There was a written test followed by 5 rounds of interview.The written test had 40 Data Interpretation questions and 10 Logical Reasoning questions.Duration for written test was 1 hour.

Round: MATHS ROUND
Experience: The 5 rounds of interview consisted of 4 Maths based rounds and 1 HR round.The first two interviews were held in the night .Mine particularly was at 2:30 am and 2:45 am .The next few rounds were in the morning(9 am).Questions were mainly case studies,logical reasoning and probability(Basically to check your comfort level in maths).

General Tips: Exhausting journey as there were nearly 5 interviews in a span of 10 hours (through the night) with hardly any sleep in between. It'll definitely be a good learning experience irrespective of how things turn out.
Keep in touch with aptitude. Decent speed in maths is necessary .Familiarization with Simple Interest and Profit Loss problems will come in handy during the interview stage.
Skill Tips: Books really won't help,just have to make sure your not too rusty at the time of the test and interview.The interview questions are all maths oriented,there's nothing to worry about.Don't have to solve everything just have to leave a good impression with the interviewee.
Skills:
College Name: NIT Surathkal

Round: Test
Experience: This was a test based on Data Interpretation. There were 6 passages with various questions, Each passage had 2-3 charts which had to be analysed and then questions had to be answered on the basis of that. Because each passage had so many charts, anyone could easily be confused by the amount of data thrown at them, it is key to keep yourself calm and go through the questions without missing anything important. The devil is in the details.
Tips: Practice Data Interpretation Problems. I solved the CAT Data Interpretation book by Arun Sharma, The ten minute papers were really nice as they give a feel of the time constraints that you have in solving such a paper. You could also solve Data Interpretation Manhattan GRE.
Duration: 35 minutes
Total Questions: 30

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: I had 4 case Interviews, The first case interview was a small one - It went on for about 15 minutes, The second was about half an hour long, the third was also half an hour long, and the fourth case was 1 hour long. It was a really nice experience. Key to cracking a case interview is to interact a lot with the Interviewer. Ask meaningful questions, Give logical hypothesis and feasible solutions. You can be slow, but do not make any math mistakes. Ask clarifying questions, Understand the problem correctly and then give answers, Do not hurry
Tips: for case Interviews - You should read Case in Point, other than that, you should see the sample cases given on Capital One's website, and read cases from IIM A,B , Wharton Casebooks.

Skills: Data Interpretation
Duration: 2
College Name: IIT Kharagpur

Round: Guesstimate Interview
Experience: Company 2:Capital One   Was asked a very simple guess-estimate about the earnings of a credit-card company with the launching of a new scheme. Did well ,but the next question about how a change in one of the variables would affect profit, was ill- explained. Realised I had become over-confident about solving the guess-estimate easily and hence messed up the second part. Most importantly, at one point during a casual conversation with the friendly interviewer, I let slip that my first interview was with BCG.I think that was uncalled for and raised the bar of his expectations and might have even seemed slightly boastful. Something any sensible candidate should avoid. I was never very keen on Capital one, and so they weren't keen on me either :) .Good Chemistry, but no job offer!

College Name: IIT BOMBAY

Round: Test
Experience: The process of selection included a written aptitude test (DI based), followed by an online psychometric test.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: There were 2 case interviews and a HR interview Interview 1: Case Study on home loans. I was asked to consider all the sources of revenue and expenses of a firm involved in home loans. The second part involved calculating the default rate the firm can afford. The interviewer was quite helpful and gave me hints by saying ‘are u sure?’, ‘u can look at the calculations again, the numbers seem too out of the way.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: Interview 2: HR. The interviewer had a collection of the answers of the online psychometric test of every candidate. Situational cases based on the replies were constructed and grilled upon. A few general questions “Why CapOne?” etc were also asked

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Interview 3: Case Interview, The first 2 interviews were absolute crack so I was immediately called for the third and final interview. It was a case on Pizza (the second favorite topic of CapOne). I was asked to analyze a scheme in which Pizza Hut is considering the option of giving 30% discount to customers to which it is unable to deliver in time (30 minutes) instead of the free pizza (100% discount) option. The revenues and market size in both cases was calculated. The profits for both cases and break even point was calculated (on the basis of the no of customers that the firm can afford to lose to have the same overall profit in the second case.) The interviewer was looking for the term ‘profitability’ to explain the results obtained through calculations. That was a take away. After the interview, the interviewer (who was an IIMA alumni) discussed (for 15 mins) the scheduling process of the placement cell and suggested the dream job funda as is followed in IIMs.

General Tips: The first 2 interviews went amazing. The key idea being good practice and following case study tips (think
aloud, organize your thoughts properly etc.). I messed up the last part of the second case interview and that made the difference, I kept revolving round the point and confused the interviewer. Prepare well, don’t get over confident. The process of resume short listing might sound weird to a few, but one should never compare himself to others. Don’t stress yourself too hard, don’t get disheartened. Reach the venue at least 15-20 mins before the interview. Ensure that your formals, shoes, copies of CV etc. are in place a day before the interview. And most importantly stay cool headed!
College Name: IIT BOMBAY

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: First step involved writing down everything that I had accomplished in my tenure at IITB. Then, grading each point on the basis of accomplishment and innovation involved along with details in about 4-5 lines. Carefully went through 10 resumes from the previous year to get an idea of the prevailing format. Prepared a resume and got the feedback from 4- 5 people and then on the basis of the feedback finalized the resume. I attended the Pre-Placement talks of companies, I was interested in. It was a good exposure for understanding the skill sets and the values that companies were looking for in a candidate and the possible future paths in the organisation. The talks also helped in  increasing the overall awareness about the different companies  
.

Round: Test
Experience: a) Written DI based test with emphasis on interpreting graphs, calculating percentages etc. 100 people shortlisted. Candidates go through psychometric test
Tips: Interview preparation was best done in groups of 2-3 at a time: One interviewer, one interviewee and one observer. Tests were best prepared for by referring to the CAT study material

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: c) ~40 people selected after this stage d) 3-4 interviews –first case study , second HR , third and fourth case study. 3 people made final offers. a) First case study involved understanding the details of two marketing strategies. Then, comparing the effectiveness of the two in terms of revenue generated incase of limited budget and in case of specific no. of customers to be contacted. The final task involved calculating the point at which transition occurred in effectiveness for the two strategies for the two cases.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: b) Second interview consisted of HR questions like a. Why capital one? b. Why not research? c. An instance of working under time and resource constraints? d. An instance of leadership. e. An instance of innovation and thought leadership.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: c) Third interview was again a case study involving credit card strategies. The task involved calculating the effect of reduction in the credit limit or an increase in the rate of lending for high risk customers. In both the cases, it was required to calculate the % reduction in customers for the profit to remain same. Then a question was asked regarding which strategy I thought was better and how would I decide it? Note: Capital one case studies are simple mathematical case studies with a focus on understanding and calculations. These are different from the ones asked by consultancy companies like Mckinsey BCG etc. where the candidate is expected to ask the right questions before supplying any data. All the data for case studies in Capital one is provided at the start itself. If someone wants to appear for this company, what all should he/she ideally prepare? Someone preparing for Capital One should practice numerical case studies like the ones gives in Tucks Case study book 2002. They should also try the case studies available on the capital one website. Its important to prepare the HR based questions well because they might ultimately decide whether you are in or out. Another important advice is that you should think aloud while solving the case studies. It helps a lot in avoiding silly mistakes as well as in keeping the interviewer interested.

College Name: IIT BOMBAY

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: I actually made one mistake in my calculations, but was able to identify it on my own and eventually correct it.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: This interview went really well for me – mainly because I had prepared really pretty well for questions to ask the company after going through their site and discussing it with my friends – so I had 4 good questions to ask them. What also helped me was that I could take 2 very big things off my resume to talk about when asked about my experience in a specific HR situation. After I mentioned the outline of my experience in both situations I was asked 5-6 more probing questions to find out more about the incident and I answered them pretty well.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: It involved a lot of calculations. There were 3 different credit card offers with different costs and profits and we had to choose the best offer for the company. I was told later that my formulation of the problem was good since I set it up and then just put the numbers in the same setup to get the answers.

Skill Tips: a) DONOT lie in your resume
b) Know your resume through and through – you should be able to take 5 minutes on even the most insignificant point of your resume
c) Make it as balanced as possible (in terms of academic, extra curricular, etc)
d) Put specific thought into the words used for all your points – don’t be generic anywhere.
College Name: IIT BOMBAY

Round: Test
Experience: Capital One conducts a DI/DS type quiz which contains questions ranging from compound interest to inflation, before announcing a final shortlist of 200

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: After that there is an online psychometric analysis plus resume based short listing which leaves around 50 candidates for the interview.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: ROUND1:
CASE STUDY: The first study lasted for as long as 20 min. My case was that of dominos evaluating a new scheme wherein they would offer a discount of 30% instead of 100%, in case wherein pizza could not be delivered within 30 min. I was asked how this would change the revenue and the profit. They stressed on the reasoning that I gave in the first half of the study and the calculations in the second half.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: ROUND 2:
CASE STUDY: The second was harder and very extensive. It was a customer acquisition scenario in which a credit card company has to choose from amongst three strategies. They gave me a set of data such as cost of sending out fliers, lending rate, default rate, average spending per customer, annual percentage return etc. and I had to evaluate all the three strategies in term of long term and short term profit and then choose one of them.
Tips: The thing to be kept in mind with the cap one studies is that there is no end point for any study and they will keep asking questions after questions as long as there is time. Hence those who answer correctly and quickly will get to solve more of the case. This is were knowing the jargon really matters, because otherwise a lot of time will be lost trying to understand what each term actually means.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: The first question for me was to describe an experience wherein I proposed a creative idea in front of a team and then how I went about convincing people about that idea. Next I was asked to describe a crisis situation which I faced and also my response to it.
The reason for success in this round for me was choosing the right incidents and then reporting them exactly.
Tips: 1.Rehearse with friends for all expected questions such as Tell us about yourself? Why this job? Why this company?
2.Do not cook the script and mug the answers.

General Tips: 1.PPTs:
The best way to start is by getting to know all the jobs that are out such as consulting, analytics, tech, banking and financial services etc. and then deciding about the nature of job that suits you the most.

2.RESUME:
Going through the resume of your seniors is a good way to start. Try to convey variety, team work and leadership and try not to overdo it!

3.CASE STUDIES:
Apart from the routine case studies which the consultancies ask, you might also need to prepare the ones that some of the financial firms love.
College Name: IIT BOMBAY

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: I had my resume which I used for the internship purpose, I used the same resume. While applying in different companies I used the same resume but only ameliorated my areas to make them compatible with the requirements of the profile.

Round: Test
Experience: I had prepared for CAT earlier which helped a lot. All the tests were easier than CAT examination. In the written test for Capital One, we were allowed to use the calculators. The questions asked were pretty simple and were based on graph interpretation. To solve those questions required speed and precision. Nearly 400 people appeared for the written test out of which 80 got selected for the case study round.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: The first phase was a preliminary case study round. The topic of the case study was based on comparison between diesel cars and petrol cars, which is more preferable to be purchased. Then we had to perform a break even analysis regarding which car is a better purchase in a particular year. Then they added a clause that if the car was to be purchased with a loan at a given rate of interest, then which is more preferable. They also asked me to guess the constraints that should be put on mileage, servicing and maintenance. The data given was the Distance traveled per year, the cost of servicing, the rate of interest on the loan taken and the rate of depreciation.
25 candidates got selected for the next phase of interviews.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: In the second phase of case study, the case study was held in front of a panel. There were two sets of panels. My case study was about the credit card users, I was told about two types of user the transactors and the revolvers and I had to find out which type of user is preferable among the two considering the given constraints. The constraints given were the amount of money they were allowed to withdraw, the time allocated to pay the dues after each month and so on. We had to do a break even analysis of the case. Due to the lack of time I was asked to do the quantitative analysis only.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: For the next case study the topic was on the spectrum allocation. I was told about the call rates as a function of time and I was asked to comment whether the implementation of the plan would be successful or not. The person taking supervising my case study helped me by dropping hints. He asked to state the number of minutes an ideal user should use so that the plan would be successful. I came up with a figure. He immediately asked me the procedure I would undertake to implement this plan without giving me any data whatsoever, I was terribly confused and could not reply. He then told me that I could ask for any data that I think would prove to be fruitful in getting to the answer. I asked him to give me the distribution of the customers based on the call rates of each customer. This data proved to be helpful and I managed to arrive at the answer.
Tips: In the case study just do your mathematics properly, do not commit mistakes in doing that.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: We had an H.R. interview in which only 2 questions were asked. Both the questions were situation based
questions.

College Name: IIT ROORKEE