CapitalOne Analyst Interview Questions, Process, and Tips

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: I had a standard resume for this company as per our institute placement cell norms. Also my seniors advised me that for an analyst profile they would definitely look for consistent academic performance as well as academic achievements (at school/Olympiad level). So I had taken care to include the same in my resume (since the resume in our case is a standard one and does not change from a company to company basis).

Round: Test
Experience: Since I was aware of the profile they were recruiting for, I had anticipated the test. There was also guidance from my seniors as well as peers in other colleges. The written test had 30 questions and the total duration of the test was 35 minutes. The questions focused on data interpretation. Data about a company’s revenue, profit and sales in the form of graphs and pie charts was given and students were asked to analyse the same. Questions were simple and the use of calculators was allowed. The cut-off was around 23 questions (based on discussions/feedback from various students). People who have prepared for CAT would have a good idea about the kind of questions and are also aware of the relative difficulty level of various questions.
Tips: In these tests the focus should be on accuracy. Since a lot of people prepare for CAT there is high probability that a lot of candidates would be able to attempt all the questions in the written test. The focus then shifts to accuracy.
Duration: 35 minutes
Total Questions: 30

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: The first round was a case study round held in the month September (three months prior to the actual placement process). This interview lasted for approximately 15 minutes. It dealt with the break even analysis of a credit card company’s marketing and promotion campaign. The company had the option of sending letters of promotion to prospective clients via simple postal mail or through courier. The data provided was – cost of each promotion strategy, the probability of reaching the correct client and the conversion rate of a prospective customer into a customer for the particular case. There was a constraint on the marketing budget and hence one needed an optimized solution to maximize the profits.
The first part involved giving pros and cons for both the strategies and thereafter giving a data based analysis for the given promotion strategies to come up with one which was more profitable.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: The second round of the interview was held at the time of the main placement season – this time a one on one case study interview. This case focused on the break even analysis of a telecom company. The data given was the cost to company for a call (on a per minute basis), fixed price paid by the customer for the first 10 minutes and the price paid per minute of usage thereafter.
After analysis, I found that there were two break even points. Up to the first point the company was making a profit. Then there was an intermediate call duration period when the company made losses and beyond the second break even point, the call was again profitable.
As the head of the telecom company I had to decide whether to take the plan or not based on the probability distribution of the call duration and also analyse the probabilities of profit/loss.

College Name: IIT ROORKEE
Motivation: I learnt about the company and the profile from the seniors working at the company and the pre-placement talk. The placement talk was useful in getting to know about the job responsibilities and the expectations from the candidate.

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: I had a standard resume for this company as per our institute placement cell norms. For an analyst profile at Capital One, they do look for a consistent academic performance, scholarships, Olympiads etc. So I did make sure to include all my academic achievements in my resume.

Round: Test
Experience: This was the first round and was conducted in September itself, well before the final placement process held in December. The test was based only on Data Interpretation (DI), quite similar to DI questions asked in CAT. It was a 35 minute test comprising of 30 questions. The questions were divided into sets of 4-6 questions, each set based on different data. Typically a set used to have 2 bar graphs/pie charts/line graphs and questions were based on them. Most of the questions were easy but were calculation intensive. Use of calculators was permitted. The cut off was about 22-23 questions. About 80 students were shortlisted for the first case study interview.
Tips: Be accurate. Often it might not be possible to attempt all the questions. So do not spend much time on a particular question.
Duration: 35 minutes
Total Questions: 30

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: The first interview was relatively short – a one to one case study interview was held on the next day of the written test. The case study was mainly quantitative in nature and was based on calculation of break-even point (concept from Profit and Loss). In the case study given to me, a kiosk owner providing delivery of products to dial-in customers wished to expand his operations by setting up an e-commerce platform on the kiosk’s website. Data about the existing number of customers, new distribution of customers, profit per customer, and cost for setting up the e-commerce platform and scaling up the operations was given. I was asked to carry out break even analysis for different cases.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: 24 students got shortlisted for the next interview round which was again a one to one interview. Like the previous interview, this too was mainly focused on the analysis of the quantitative data in the case.
In the case given to me, a bank had two types of credit card customers – ones who paid off their due balance completely within the due date and those who paid only the minimum amount required before the due date and carried forward the remaining amount to the next month. There was a short discussion with the interviewer to identify the sources of revenue and costs for the two types of customers. After all the sources had been identified, I was given the data for all the costs and was asked to calculate the profit/loss the bank makes on each customer. The interview concluded with a short discussion on the possible ways of marketing the credit card. The interview lasted for about 40 minutes and because of a couple of calculation mistakes during the quantitative analysis, I couldn't make it to the next interview round.
Tips: Go through some sample case studies. Get a basic idea of how to prepare for a case study interview. Prepare well for the written test. If you are preparing for CAT, that should be more than enough in almost all the cases.

College Name: IIT ROORKEE

Round: Test
Experience: The test was purely based on Data Interpretation. Every page had 3 charts and 5 objective questions based on those charts. There was severe time constraint in the paper and my selectivity among the questions proved beneficial in clearing the cut-off.
Duration: 60 minutes
Total Questions: 30

Round: Interview
Experience: Preliminary Case Interview: Duration -10 minutes (Just after the Written Test) - One on One Case Interview.

"Tell me about yourself" was the first question asked to me. I just told him a few things about myself mainly focusing on the financial projects I did. Then he gave me a trivial case study as follows, "There are two economical classes, Prime and Sub-Prime, and I had to give a Motorcycle loan to one of them. Whom should I give?" I was supposed to ask him any information that I would require to solve this case study. Whenever I used to get stuck he gave me hints to work upon. And finally, based on the value he gave me I could compare the profit from both the classes. The main thing about the case study was the way of solving it and how interactive was I with the interviewer.
After this, the next round was held during the placement time. They had given us the link for few practice case-studies. The Case Study given at their website is the most important one. It helps you understand the standard approach they look for in a candidate.

Round: Interview
Experience: 1st Case Interview: Duration – 50 minutes

My interview was of the longest duration compared to others, so if your interview is a lengthy one then be happy :). The case was based on Credit insurance involving simple mathematics to reach a logical conclusion. 
The Case Study: - "Capital One reached its customers for new offers through postal mail. They had 2 kinds of postal services, A class and C class. In A Class, if the customer had changed his address then the postal service would update the address on the letter and it would reach the customer at the new address. In C Class, if the address is changed then the customer would not get the mail. I was supposed to tell which one of the postal service was better in two conditions, 1st when no. of mail to be made is fixed and 2nd when amount to be spend in mailing is fixed."
I found this case simpler than the earlier one. I managed to complete the case in just 20 minutes. The interviewer was very impressed with the speed with which I was able to solve the case. It was enough to make me realize that I had made it.
Tips: The main thing that you need to remember in Case Study of this sort is that you need to speak your mind. It helps the interviewer understand the way you are thinking. So if you have made some calculation mistake he wouldn’t mind that because he knows that you are going in the right direction. This was something the interviewer told me that he liked about
me.

General Tips: The Biggest question that all of us face in final year is "WHAT NEXT". With the options like CAT/GRE/CORE/FINANCE/CONSULTING it becomes extremely difficult to select just one. Initially I had no idea what it was going to be, but after my internship I knew that I wouldn't be going for either core or higher studies. After talking to seniors, I realized that doing MBA after one or two years of work experience would be better - you know what you have to focus on and would also give you a smoother platform to change your field of job if
you are not comfortable in it. So my choices just narrowed down to jobs in either finance or consulting. Looking at the job scenario in our placement season, I knew I had to prepare for all of them. That is one of the reasons I appeared for CAT because it is always good to have an option and also preparing for CAT helps a lot in placement preparation. One needs to be thoroughly prepared for each of the placement processes.

Resume:
A resume is one of the most important things which mark the first impression upon the interviewer. You should devote ample time to work upon it. Every company looks for a different kind of candidate to suit their purpose; make sure your resume fits that profile. Prepare resumes separately for each sector with some minor changes for companies of same sector. Get your resume checked and rechecked by some alumnus in the company you are
applying for.

PPTs:
The best way to know about the company is through its PPT. It gives you the details of the work profile and also tells you what kind of candidate the company is looking for. It is an opportunity to get all your queries, regarding the company and the work profile clarified.

Written Test:
Usually the CAT preparation is more than enough to crack the data interpretation and aptitude tests (excluding the technical tests). Practice plays an important role here to be able to solve the lengthy tests speedily and accurately. People aiming the finance companies must read Economic Times (specially the editorials) regularly to form a broader perspective of the financial situation all over the world.
Group Discussions:
I used to think that GD is just another formal bulla session that we have. But it turned out to be a complete disaster when I had a GD round during an Internship process. It is just not what you speak that matters, but also how well you convey your points, how well you work in a group, do you understand the group dynamics, your body language, and other group etiquette that matter. The most disappointing thing was that when SPO had started this session for GD practice very few people turned up. It is through these sessions that you learn
the Do's and Don’ts of a GD. With every GD session that we used to have, I used to learn some new thing or the other.
Case Studies:
At first case studies seem to be highly intimidating. The workshops on Case Study by SPO helped me clear all my apprehensions, and then the process became a lot easier. Initially we used to solve a case in a group of 2-3 people and afterwards we did it individually discussing the methodology that we adopted and the different solutions that we approached. The discussions were the most important part as we learned what mistake we committed. It helped us frame our mindset in the right direction.
HR Interviews:
To be able to do well in an HR interview one needs to do a lot of introspection about one’s own self. This helps you in answering some very basic questions like your strengths, weakness, your future objective etc. You should be able to modify your answers according to the company profile. I prepared for HR interview in a group of 3. Initially, we gathered all the questions that the interviewer is likely to ask. We divided our answers based on the
company profile and also prepared examples to support our qualities. Finally we conducted 3-4 rounds of mock interviews.
College Name: IIT KANPUR

Round: Group Activity
Experience: There was initially an interview of about 5 mins in which they asked me to describe a situation where I worked in a team.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Then there was a case study round. It was a slightly involved case on the credit card industry and involved a lot of
calculations. There were 3 different credit card strategies with different rates of interest and credit limits and we had to choose the best strategy for the company. I came up with correct strategy and hence got through the first round. 

The 2nd case was that of Dominos evaluating a new scheme wherein they would offer a 30% discount instead of 100%, in cases where the pizzas could not be delivered within 30 minutes. Next the discount was changed to 70%. I was asked to evaluate the on-time delivery that they can risk not to have in order to make the same profit as they make when they give 100% discount and have 90% on-time delivery. Then I was asked to plot a graph between on-time delivery and the discount offered and interpret it. It was there that I lost track and couldn't come up with the right conclusion. Nevertheless I was selected for the next round.

Round: Behavioural Interview
Experience: It was a behavioral interview wherein I had to describe them 3 situations in detail. During the entire interview the interviewer kept writing something on the paper. The key to this round was choosing the right incidents and then describing each and every point in detail. It lasted for about 30 mins. Ideally there were to be only 2 rounds of case interview and one behavioral interview but I was again called for a 3rd case interview round. It was very similar to the 1st case except that the credit card company was replaced by a dish-tv one. This one didn't go very well as I was very much exhausted and hence faltered at several places.

College Name: IIT KANPUR

Round: Test
Experience: DI based questions were asked. Guys preparing for CAT will breeze through the test. Just make a note that the cutoff of Cap One Test is pretty high (Around 22). So try and attempt as many questions as possible.
Duration: 30-45 minutes
Total Questions: 30

Round: Interview
Experience: It was a general HR cum Case interview. 
I had done my internship in one of the analytics companies. So, he seemed interested in the project I had done. Then there was a case “I had to estimate the profitability of a car loan in the city of Texas. Given was the population of
Texas and the Loan amount. Any further data required was to be asked.
Tips: I had breezed through one of my mock interviews a couple of days ago. So I got a bit over confident and made calculation mistakes. These guys are edgy about calculation mistakes and don’t expect you to commit one. So be a bit careful while solving a case.

General Tips: I would like to start this article by telling you something about your major concern, and that is “Will this economic crisis has a telling effect on your job prospects ?”. And the answer is both Yes and No. I am a 5th year Mathematics student and have closely seen the placements of 3 batches and from my experience, I can surely say that “One who prepares well , gets through, No matter how tough the situation is". It happened with my batch and your batch won’t be an exception (Unless a catastrophe happens).


Dilemma:
Most of you guys sitting for placement shall be in your 7th semester which is considered to be one of the most hectic of all the semesters. Many of you might be preparing for CAT, others for GRE, some of you would have got a tough guide for your final year project. So you need to prioritize things. You need to think it through; “A Realistic Self Analysis” always helps. 
I’ll share what I did. I did join coaching classes for CAT but my first priority always was placements and accordingly I planned and executed things. Getting a 99+ percentile and then clearing the GD and PI’s was too much of a risk for me to take. So this might be one of the better times to go for your MBA but always have other options ready just in case.


Resume for Analytics Companies:
Most of the analytics companies have a lot of Statistical Analysis and Data Management work. So, candidates having an experience in Data handling are preferred. If some project of yours involved Data Handling, mention it in detail. If you have done some of the applied Statistics courses in the Maths/IME department, mention it in your resume.
College Name: IIT KANPUR

Round: Test
Experience: The questions were related to Data Interpretation. I felt severe time constraint in the paper.
Tips: Selectivity among the questions proved beneficial in clearing the cut-off.
Duration: 60 minutes
Total Questions: 30

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Preliminary(Long before Placement Season) 
It was a 10-minute one on one interview. They had given the link for few practice case-studies. The Case Study given at their website is the most important one. It helps you understand the standard approach they look for in a candidate.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: This was a 50-minute interview during the placement season.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: This was a 20-minute interview. It was a case interview similar to the first one.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: It was a behavioral Interview.
Tips: Questions were expected to be answered in detail.

College Name: IIT KANPUR

Round: Test
Experience: I got shortlisted for Capital One but could not make through the interview comprising mainly of number crunching questions. Later, I interviewed with Flipkart and got selected.

General Tips: 1. I was inclined in clearing CAT from my second year onwards.
2. I did a summer project in the second year and simultaneously joined Career Launcher.
3. I didn’t prepared much for the placements and was only focussed on CAT preparations during the seventh semester.
4. I did not give as much time in resume building as given by mates since I knew that I have nothing to mention about except my CPI.
5. CAT preparations helped me strengthen my aptitude and quant skills.
6. I was able to clear the tests of various companies just with my CAT knowledge.
7. I practised maths for entire month and was pretty confident in English and a week before the main exam, I did one or two mock papers daily.
College Name: IIT KANPUR

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: I started my placement journey by getting shortlisted in Capital One on Day 1. They shortlisted 125 candidates on the basis of resume.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Then, they took a case study interview and reduced the number to 30.

Round: Test
Experience: Then, they again took an aptitude test and selected none of them. But, on the day 2, I sat for the GDs and interviews of Coca Cola and got selected.

College Name: IIT KANPUR

Round: Test
Experience: There was test which was purely data analysis and calculator was allowed. So the procedure that they follow is that first they shortlist 50 people and a small case interview is followed. The case I was asked was to calculate the change in the cost of a grocery store if it has changed its model from cash on delivery with a physical store to an online portal which has cash on delivery option. As I had practiced it already I took some time to give structure and then gave 3-4 reasons for change in cost and then he gave me some numbers based on which I had to calculate the break even time period or amount . But I think he expected a little bit different approach or was searching for a different solution as I wasn't selected for the final interview sessions. I think 22 people were selected for the final interview session out of which 2 people were finally selected in Cap One.

College Name: IIT KANPUR

Round: Test
Experience: Written Test ( DI questions, each involving 2-3 plots)

Round: Interview
Experience: Started with a “Tell me something about your-self question”. I believe it was just to set the ball rolling and was not evaluated. The interviewer then gave me a case question wherein I had to make a choice between a diesel and a petrol car. There were 3 parts to the question (some candidates were asked 1 / 2 as well). The first dealt with finding the breakeven point given the basic set of cost, fuel price and fuel consumption data. Next was to find breakeven considering the money was acquired at a certain rate of interest (bond/loan). Both these results involved basic calculation and I was comfortable with them. The final part was about calculating the breakeven, again, but this time considering depreciation. This is where I was caught off guard and though I did turn up with a figure, the interviewer was not completely satisfied.

General Tips: Do get a basic background of the firm and also about terms in the related field.
Skill Tips: I was not hesitant and was reasonably confident while answering. What went wrong was perhaps the fact that I was caught unaware of how depreciation works and how it had to be included in the equation. I fumbled a lot with the equation and puzzled as to where to include terms for depreciation etc.
College Name: IIT KANPUR