CLSA Analyst Interview Questions and Answers

Interview preparation tips for other job seekers - Don't waste time. Fools din't read JD or my CV before asking questions. Waste of time.

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: 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: 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