Deutsche Bank Interview Questions, Process, and Tips

Round: Test
Experience: They were very similar to CAT type questions.
Cut-off is very low compared to mock-CATs. So if there are about 35-40 questions, answering 18-20 correctly should suffice. Soft skills play an important role here.I think there was no negative marking. Build a strategy how you are going to mark the questions you couldn't attempt.
Some questions are tricky. Don't fall for them.
Tips: Preparing for CAT will help anyone to clear the written test.
Total Questions: 40

Round: Group Discussion
Experience: All the shortlisted students were given some 5 topics to prepare for. They were the current financial issues across globe.
Tips: This was different from last year.Never ask any questions about work life-balance, work hours or get too much into detail about their project (asking about their risk management practices, etc).

Round: Behavorial Interview
Experience: Two MDs took my first round of interview. My interview was about 50 minutes (30 mins is average). Reason for lengthy interview was one of my financial projects. I explained at length to them, which itself took about 25 minutes. Otherwise they concentrated on some basic questions like what is CDF and its properties? Integrate arctan(x). Bayes theorem based problems.
Tips: Some of my friends were asked puzzles. Substantiate everything on your CV. Read the basic concepts of your branch. Prepare for some HR questions - have unique and different answer. Avoid using words like passion, etc.
Read some basic subjects - no matter what department you are in.Avoid bookish answers for HR questions. Rather relate them to your past and answer.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: Rest of the content of my CV was covered.More questions were asked about subjects, certifications, projects etc.

General Tips: Puzzles are very important for non-finance people.
One important note : Certifications ( CFA, NCFM, FRM, PRM or actuaries) doesn't fill all the voids in your profile. A good profile without CFA will get you the shortlist but not the other way.
Completing 1 or 2 financial projects is beneficial. Make sure you know everything about the project and beyond. What more could have been achieved? What is the expected result?
Anyone with low CG should be involved in a lot of extra-curricular activities and elaborate how the experience will help in the financial industry.
College Name: IIT KHARAGPUR

Round: Test
Experience: Jumbled but can be classified into 3 major categories: Quantitative (CAT level), Data Interpretation and Current Affairs in Finance (e.g. India's GDP, Nifty's Year High level etc.)
1 subjective question (Compulsory) e.g. Identifying most suitable acquisition target for a firm using the information presented in a table. There is no correct answer to such questions.They were interested in the approach the way you justify your answer.
Tips: Follow financial media regularly over the Autumn semester (Economic Times, Reuters). Each candidate is given an opportunity to ask questions to the desk Heads. Make sure that you ask relevant questions. You will have many of those as you try to understand the business in detail.Do not spend too much of time on a particular question (this particularly applies to DI questions).
The pattern of the test may vary year to year.CAT preparation helps.
Total Questions: 40

Round: networking session
Experience: It was held in Kolkata in early November for shortlisted students. Heads of various desks were present to introduce their business and to answer queries. It is supposed to be non-evaluative. It turned out to be an excellent platform to understand the exact nature of the job.
They had given some GD topics based on latest financial happenings.
Tips: It was very informal and the purpose was to emphasize the importance of keeping updated with the news.
Dress well. It is extremely important.

Round: mentor interaction
Experience: Every shortlisted student was allotted a mentor for a month post networking session. Mentors typically comprise of KGP alumni currently working with GMC.
Tips: Personally, mentor interaction turned out to be very amicable for me. You can get all the queries resolved directly. It helps to seek a feedback on your preparation from the mentor.

Round: Behavorial Interview
Experience: Around 15 minutes long. I was quizzed about the resume. Major emphasis was on coursework since ours was only the 2nd batch of MSc Eco. Internships were also covered in detail. This was followed by a few current affairs questions and my intention of joining DB etc,
Tips: If you have multiple shortlists, they try to ensure that you are really interested in DB.

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: This was around 20-25 minute long. It was held by 2 senior managers. For the initial part, it was purely technical. Given my finance background, I was asked questions on binomial option pricing and option trading strategies. Since my MSc project was closely related to one of their desks, major part of the interview involved discussion about the same.
Tips: They made us feel very comfortable. Most of us were made spot offers at the end of the interview.Make sure that you are comfortable explaining you internships/projects in a lucid manner. Be sure about your career goals as they are really interested in this particular area.
Be careful while using finance jargon in your answers. This may invite new questions. If you answer them, it reflects extremely well. But the opposite also applies.

General Tips: They do not have a bias towards any particular background as such. However, a few pointers definitely set your resume apart:
1) Decent CGPA (Not a prerequisite though)
2) Projects/internships involving quantitative work
3) Financial Certification like CFA/FRM (The importance is overstated on campus. Clearing the exam is not enough and does not guarantee a place in the shortlist. One has to defend the finance background in a grueling interview. On the contrary, people with no finance background can do well by scoring handsomely in the written test.)
4) Relevant coursework (Finance courses from VGSOM/HSS).
A quality leadership/teamwork experience is a plus. They are interested in the lessons you learnt during your tenure in the position of responsibility you handled.
No specific criteria is used on the projects front. However, internships belonging to one or more of following categories set you apart:
1) Quantitative nature of work (either a research project or industry project)
2) Significant responsibility
3) Strong outcome (Publication, appreciation etc)
Make sure that you can speak at length about your internship experiences.
Skill Tips: Quantitative ability is a must. It supercedes all other parameters (including financial certifications). Above average performance in the written test is a must. For people with no finance background, do practice puzzles from 'Heard on the Street' and 'How to Move Mount Fuji'. Both the books are available on LAN.
Programming skills is NOT a must. However, experience of working with statistical packages and relational databases is a plus. If your resume says that you are proficient in Excel, they may ask you to write macros for simple tasks.
Written test: CAT preparation (even if you are not serious about IIMs )
Current affairs
Interviews: Know your CV well, practice puzzles and brush up your finance fundamentals extremely well if you portray yourself as one with a finance background.
Skills: Quanitative ability, Puzzles, Statistical packages help, Soft skills
College Name: IIT KHARAGPUR

Round: Round 1
Experience: My first interview started off with a quick chat with a VP on Ideatrics (which was indeed a confidence-booster, showing that they had done their homework). There were 2 other interviewers on the panel, one of which didn’t pose any questions throughout the interview. Thereafter, a couple of quick questions were asked on cities which I enjoyed travelling to while I was in Europe. This was followed with a composition of a 30-second ad campaign for Tourism Barcelona. Hence, I was all softened up for the rigors ahead. What followed was a barrage of puzzles from an IIT-K alumnus, who fired approximately 10-12 puzzles in a 7-8 minutes span. She made sure to test most of the areas. Though I was able to do them, the time given to come up with a complete solution was pretty short. Hence, it was imperative to give a gist of the solution and explain the approach in a concise manner. One thing which was visible was that the puzzles had some variations or provided incomplete information (though I am not very sure that was intentional or not). So, you are required to ask questions which fill up the gaps. This also acts as a check to see whether the candidate is reproducing mugged up solutions or not. I was well prepared for this, hence this round passed off on a positive note despite its pace. With things such as current affairs and finance still untested, I was pretty upbeat.

Round: Round 2
Experience: I waited a bit for my second round and interviewed with Opera in the meantime. The panel at DB this time comprised of 4 people, with another one who kept moving in and out. This round was on basic prob. and statistics, with questions on skewness and kurtosis, wherein I was asked to draw and compare their plots for securities with different characteristics. A couple of puzzles were asked as well, though there was nothing out of the blue regarding puzzles. A 4-person panel was indeed daunting, with constant challenges being raised on the solutions provided by me, probably to ruffle me up a bit. Again, working up from the basics helps in this case to illustrate the correctness of your solution.
After this round, I was slightly less confident. I was informed that I would not be having any more interviews
and I approached to interview with Diamond.
One thing which bothered me was the fact that no questions were asked on current affairs, neither on economics nor on finance. This was my strongest point as I had done enormous amount of research on everything ranging from DB to markets in general. Even the CFA L1 material was hardly touched upon. Before I was presented with the offer, I was asked some questions on my strengths and weaknesses and why I wanted to join DB. I was adequately able demonstrate my interest in DB and that was the end of it.

General Tips: Campus Placements can be an excruciating experience, but an in-depth analysis of your strengths and
weaknesses beforehand can help you focus on your goals. I had an inclination towards Finance since the
beginning of my program at IIT Kanpur, illustrated by the fact that I have done all my internships in related
fields. Time spent in Munich strengthened my belief and I decided to pursue opportunities in Finance, both in campus and off-campus. But as there are a significant number of consulting companies which visit our campus, I decided to undertake a 5-month internship at KPMG, which provided me with a flavor of both the worlds in an international setting.

General Prep.:
Being an economics student, the options have been neatly narrowed down for you. One can apply in companies which are only open for all the students; hence Finance, Consulting and Analytics (as they are known at IITK) were the fields where I had to concentrate upon. I started preparing solely for finance, with Deutsche Bank and Capital One topping the charts on my list. Preparations were focused on preparing for the aptitude tests taken by most of the companies. Reference materials comprised of the CAT preparatory material and a few websites for puzzles. Apart from that, constant feedback and review of the CV was an ongoing process. Appearing for some mock tests arranged for by the SPO was indeed helpful.
Skill Tips: I was interested in DB, having done some research on the company in general and the profile they offered at IIT Kanpur in particular. DB conducted a white-paper challenge by the name of ‘Ideatrics’ during August-September. This provided me with an opportunity to visit CIB Centre, Mumbai in person. I feel that this experience motivated me further towards preparing for placements in general and DB in particular. Being selected as the campus winner proved to be an icing on the cake. I would advise you to actively take part in such activities if time permits. Apart from the obvious brownie points which you earn on winning the
competition, it gives you an insight on the day-to-day work which you may be doing if recruited.
College Name: IIT KANPUR

Round: Interview
Experience: They are essentially looking for enthusiasm and courses you have taken.
Tips: One must know one's courses properly.  Read newspaper

Round: Interview
Tips: They spoke about general things and asked me what other interviews. Also, they storied speaking about why DB is a good choice.

Skill Tips: Know your content better. A little bit of economics and a bit about stock markets. Practice some puzzles and probability questions. Brush tip courses on Accounting, economics,marketing and maybe one core course
Skills: Finance fundaes, Presentation of facts in Resume, CGPA
College Name: IIT Madras

Round: resume shortlisting
Experience: The profile offered is not solely based on number crunching; rather, it is also focused on building industries by buying and selling market commodities. You are judged on your drive or excellence in any field, and on how good you are at convincing the panel.
Tips: Your resume will be scrutinized thoroughly and whatever you write in it must be well thought out.

Round: Interview
Experience: The interview is more like a conversation and you should try to direct it in the direction you like.
Tips: For puzzles: Approach important, not final answer,think aloud,take cues from interviewer,do not panic! They look for the ability to show that you can create an impact. Have knowledge on current affairs and happening around you- Overview + details about a few topics,take a stand on issues. Watch economic & political debates. Read blogs by economists, journalists as well as economic Times and magazine and discuss topics with friends.

Round: Interview
Tips: Have good appearance and posture,be professional and confident,know your resume well,relax and be yourself!

Skill Tips: "Need to be aware of the current affairs. One should know the top 5 headlines of the day before the interview and also on the day of the interview. As far as DB is concerned, there is no written test and CAT preparation should suffice. Even DB has a buddy program for shortlisted candidates. Brush up Probability & Statistics.""
Skills: Domian excellence, Ability to convince
College Name: IIT Madras

Round: interview
Tips: At the end of the day, its number crunching. But, in the finance sector, you are your own boss. You would have to come up with ideas and initiatives on your own. They also look for some experience in money markets, econometrics and optimization. Most importantly, the job involves coding experience and knowledge of algorithms and data structures. Again, read the newspaper daily, check out articles on Reuters, Bloomberg, etc. Refer Investopedia to understand the jargon. They seek personal impact and commitment. The resume must be a one-page resume and should be clean and only relevant parts must be highlighted. Your candidature defines you. The resume is your first point of contact. It also gives the interviewer stuff to talk to you about. Always try to show that you are an all-rounder. Use numbers to show impact. Most importantly, they look for a clear reason for why you chose finance. They also look for other hobbies and interests that you have. Prepare algorithms, order of runtime and data structures.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: The objective is to get to know you better.
Tips: One of the most important questions would be “Why finance?”. It all comes down to, would they like to work with you. Try to make them remember you.

Skill Tips: "Exams & Certifications are needed to improve your resume and exam like GRE or CAT will improvise your English skills. Financial knowledge is a must along with coding. Communication : Oral & Written is what looked for by financial corporations."
Skills:
College Name: IIT Madras