HDFC Sales Management Trainee Interview Questions and Answers for Freshers

Topics to prepare for American Express Management Trainee interview:

• Credit card economics
• Econometrics
• Statistics

Interview preparation tips for other job seekers - Please read about the business model of amex, closed loop model and credit card economics. Knowledge of coding is not compulsory but be thorough with the projects mentioned in your CV.

Round: Curriculum vitae submission
Experience: Only an initial shortlist of around 30 students was done based on CV.
Tips: Mention your academic credentials, math/statistics based work done (if any).

Round: Test
Experience: It consisted of two subjective questions based on probability theory and some common understanding of credit card division (like 'What is score card?'). Students were free to ask any specifics in the questions. One question was solely based on conditional probability and the second one was intuitive with general probability fundamentals.Quantify your results, don't leave them halfway through. State your assumptions clearly.
Tips: Quantify your results, don't leave them halfway through. State your assumptions clearly.
Duration: NA minute
Total Questions: 2

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: 10 students were shortlisted. The interview started with a general overview of the CV and common questions like 'Why American Express?". Then they discussed about my project and internship, why I opted FRM and why I did not apply for higher studies. It concluded with a case study question on credit card division and a puzzle.
Tips: Practice puzzles and case study questions. One must have good communication skills.Have a good understanding of your projects, especially if it is based on statistics/quant/pattern recognition.The people who come for interview know their stuff very well.

General Tips: At one point of time, the interviewer himself was trying to convince me that Iam better suited for the profile offered by Nomura because of my interest in finance. Luckily,I had done some good background study of the company and stated a few facts about thefirm which made them realize that my FRM is also a very good asset for their credit carddivision as it involved credit risk management. It was a very peaceful/friendly interview. Beconfident with your resume and use the hints they give you during the case interview.
Skill Tips: "Practice puzzles and case study questions. One must have good communication skills.Have a good understanding of your projects, especially if it is based on statistics/quant/pattern recognition.The people who come for interview know their stuff very well."
Skills: Probability
College Name: IIT Kharagpur

Round: Test
Experience: Very difficult.
Duration: 60 minutes
Total Questions: 20

Round: Interview
Experience: Data analysis questions, questions on resume - internship and project.

Round: Interview
Experience: Data analysis questions, questions on resume - internship and project.

Skill Tips: Read up about company. HR prep, resume prep, company groundwork.
Skills: Multivariate data analysis, Probability and Statistics, Linear Algebra, Machine learning, Algorithms, Python, R
College Name: IIT MADRAS

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: Resume fitting for a data analysis profile are shortlisted. So writing R, Python and programming skills in the cv should help you getting shortlisted.
Almost 200 students were shortlisted for the test
Tips: Make sure you mention your courses or projects related to data analysis in the resume

Round: Test
Experience: The test was on mettl.com
It was a very easy test which judges your quantitative aptitude and logical reasoning (find the next shape, find the missing number). Questions like "find the least no to be multiplied by 100! such that is its divisible by 3^50?" , "find the probability of dice rolled three times to sum up as 10?".
Tips: Preparing for CAT would do. It is a very easy test. You need you ensure that all ur questions are correct as there was a lot of time.

Duration: 60 minutes
Total Questions: 20

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: I expected a very technical round with all sorts of questions on statistics and data analysis. But it was soft spoken interview. They literally want to know why you want to join data analysis and Why Amex? And how passionate are you towards work?
Interview is taken by very experienced people from the company and is more of a discussion about ur cv and projects related to data analysis. They listen to whatever code or piece of programming you have done and how well you know.
I talked about the courses I took to learn data analysis on coursera, my MTP project on optimization and its algorithms and why i wanted to join Amex.
My interview ended with a puzzle which was "There is weight balance and i want to measure from 1 kg to 100 kg. So what is the minimum no of stones and their weights required to measure any material with weght between 1kg to 100 kg.". I solved the problem and then he asked me why do you think this is the most optimum way. I answered it a bit and then he made my problem difficult by adding a information that "we can put weights on both sides". I was not able to solve it but defined the strategy should be used to find solution. My interview ended with my interviewer helping me solve the problem and explaining me the answers clearly. He said he will talk to HR but no HR round happened and I got selected. I would suggest to check with others about the kind of HR questions they ask.
Tips: Be confident, talk about what you know. I started my data analysis in the last semester but was really amazed with the things I studied. So, most important thing is to find out if you like the domain or not. If the domain fits you, its the matter of showing interviewers the enthusiasm towards the subject genuinely.
Knowing data analysis obviously helps but company expects you learn and grow rather learn in the company from most experienced people itself :).
All the Best

General Tips: Placement is the matter of the interviewer understanding your motivation to work with the firm. So show them what you got for them.
Skills: Logical Reasoning, Quantitative Aptitude
College Name: IIT Kharagpur
Motivation: Well, I heard its the best company to work in. The very statement motivated me to work with such a firm.
Funny Moments: After my interview, they asked me to have some cashew nuts which they were eating as it was late and they were hungry. So, I took one and also said that "the whole day was so hectic and I was so hungry :P ". So they asked me to take the whole packet with me and I took.
I came outside with a packet of cashew nuts in my hand with motion of chewing and everyone was like "WTF seriously, did u just come from an interview :P "