Sand Martin Consultants Risk Analyst Interview Questions and Answers

Round: Test
Experience: Syllabus for written test is CMA Syllabus, general knowledge in Computer.

Round: Test
Experience: Offline test. Mostly concerned with data sufficiency, geometry and age relations and such apti questions. In verbal part there was sentence equivalence and completion questions. Small RC passages were as well.

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: I was mostly asked some problems and approaches of mathematics and I had been asked about an algorithm I implemented in one of my research project.

College Name: Jadavpur University, Kolkata

Round: Manager + Lead round (not sure what kind of round is this)
Experience: details about the work profile, most of which never happened post joining.

General Tips: If you come from technical background, please do not join PwC SDC and jeopardize our career. There is no technical setup, neither any infrastructure, technical work wont just happen except for few bits n pieces UI work here n there. This is not a company for technical people.
Skills: Communication
Duration: 1-4 weeks

Round: Interview
Experience: Quizzed on opinions of the Construction Industry.

General Tips: 1. Be prepared on the courses and project works that you mention in your resume2. Read newspapers, blogs about the construction industry and keep yourself updated
Skill Tips: """"
Skills: Infrastructure Planning, Infrastructure Management, Construction Management, Project Management
College Name: VIT Chennai

Round: Test
Experience:  Written test was CAT based primarily with no negative marking.
Tips: Almost everyone felt the time crunch., but the key is to maintain focus and yes no negative marking so informed guesses are a must.Prepare well for the test especially Quant+ RCs+DI.
Duration: 60 minutes
Total Questions: 60

Round: Group Discussion
Experience: GD was case study based. We were divided into groups of 8 and then we were allotted around 20 minutes to discuss the problem among ourselves and then finally come up with a solution which was to be demonstrated on a flip-chart and then was to be presented in about 8-10 min
Tips: Prepare for case studies from HBS Case Study and Wetfeet Case Study guides.
Duration: 30 minutes

Round: HR Interview
Experience: Only one round of interview was conduced. It was mostly HR based and the resume was discussed along with some common questions like the biggest failure and sucess in life, etc.Only one technical question was asked & the interviewers were very supportive and encouraging.
Tips: The key is to be yourself and take your time to properly frame the answers and then reply withconfidence.

Skill Tips: ""
Skills: Research Skills
College Name: IIT Roorkee

Round: Test
Experience: Deloitte selection procedure involves a written test which is
same as CAT format (certainly not that tough). Though I had not joined any test series to prepare for it, but I must strongly recommend that you should actually join a test series (provided by Career Launcher or
TIME). This test series will actually help you to synchronize your mind to the format and moreover it would help to refresh the question solving skills which you used to exercise while preparing for JEE.

Round: Group Discussion
Experience: general topic is given (mostly it is as to how you would go for implementing a new type of technology in a company, and hence you all have to decide the stepwise procedure for the implementation), then whole of the group is called in presentation room where each one is told personally to speak about the same topic as that of GD. This constitutes
second round. Finally, if you clear it, you get to face the interviews.
Tips: From now onwards, start reading newspaper daily. Just give at least one hour reading the editorials from newspaper and make it your habit. Not only for GD's, but for life in general, its very important that you should have a certain view about things happening around you and in the world and newspapers are the best thing which help you form your views and also know about the expert opinions on day to day topics. So, make sure that you read newspaper daily.

Round: Other Interview
Experience: For interview, main thing is that you should be well conversed about everything you have mentioned on your resume. So, before you go for any interview, just make sure that you can speak about for 5 minutes on
every single thing in resume. Deloitte is a company which is open for all the btech students and hence its mainly looking for the students who have a right attitude and are good at their interests.
Tips: have a perfect set of communication skills. I had not done
any special type of preparations for the interview or group discussions but all these skills actually developed during these years. I would advise that in order to gain more confidence at speaking, you should start taking challenges from now on and should actively participate in any sort of debates and GD.

College Name: IIT Roorkee

Round: Resume Shortlist
Tips: Have a well prepared resume that suits for the role you are applying for.

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: They asked me a lot of questions based on my resume. I had done a lot of projects and courses related to Finance. I infact wanted them to ask me questions related to that as i was very well prepared. I told them about my passion for finance and the director who was from IIM Ahmedabad started asking me questions related to that. That i answered pretty well.
Tips: Be good at what you do. Prepare all your resume points in detail. Theres no excuse to that. Doesnt matter if its related to the profile you are getting interviewed for.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: Except the background and about me I was asked more so of why I was not applying for a finance company and why only Deloitte. I was frank and told them that because of the recession ( euro zone debt crisis at that time ) very few companies came on campus. Hence Deloitte. But also explained them that I liked Deloitte Consulting profile as well because of the kind of work profile it offered.
Tips: Be honest and clear about what you want. They can easily catch you otherwise if you are faking or not.
Do not be hesitant to tell them why you really like them - it could be the work profile / money / etc or a combination of these.

General Tips: Be calm and Cool ? - No. You cant be i think if you are serious about getting placed. [ I feel ]
Prepare smartly ! The more the hardwork, higher the chances of getting your dream job. Many think that it just goes waste but I feel that more than the interview and getting a job you develop a lot of skills under that placement pressure and you should be very positive about it. 

Many of the people just chill out completely after placements even if they get a job they dont like.
NEVER GIVE UP ! You spend 70 % of your life at work, hence do not compromise or settle for less. You will regret later on that you did not try enough.  

I did get into JP Morgan - Equity Research after Deloitte :) Its a separate story that I left that company as well in 4 months and started www.AmbitionBox.com :P
Skill Tips: Most of them you would know but revise well before the interview so that you dont get stuck anywhere while answering. You should at the bare minimum know the very basics of Finance, Infrastructure planning and Management and Bidding. Also it depends on the coursework you have done. The interviewer might ask you questions related to that.
Skills: Communication, Infrastructure Finance, Financial Modelling, Infrastructure Management, Project Bidding , Valuations, Cost Analysis
College Name: IIT MADRAS
Motivation: The profile was good. But frankly that time since i was more inclined towards finance I wanted Bombay as my location being the financial capital and the office at 30th Floor excited me :) Also there were a lot of investment banks in the new Indiabulls Office building, I just thought I could apply off campus there and get in. In retrospect all this sounds very immature. Net net it was all worth it to help me decide what i really wanted :)
Funny Moments: After being rejected and told over qualified by Credit Suisse and Nomura backing off from placements at IIT Madras because of slot issues I was directly going to sit for UBS Verity.Had prepared the least for this company. Had not changed my resume for the profile it offered. Was not well dressed. ( Not that its VERY important ) Did not prepare anything much. Had given the interview in the most causal way. But against all odds someone had already decided that this was the company i would get placed in - DESTINY ! Felt very strange at that time because had prepared really hard for other companies.

Conclusion - After seeing a lot of my friends getting placed and reading a lot of reviews on AmbitionBox of seniors - 70% of the people get placed in companies they least expect to get into :)

PS: Doesn't mean you stop trying :) Keep trying ! There's immense satisfaction when you get something you truly wanted after a lot of Hard and Smart Work !

All the best ! Most of the advice we give at AmbitionBox and that you probably get elsewhere are just hints to solve the equation and not the solutions themselves. So make your own recipe for success.

Hope this helps :)

Round: HR Interview
Experience: 1.Start by telling ur name, your family background, ur strengths and weaknesses, likes dislikes, about ur schooling. A brief introduction about yourself.Smile. :)2.Tell them the qualities which you possess, without getting nervous, tell them that you believe in "Vision and then Action" to complete all your tasks. Try to convince them with the fact that you and ur skills completely match the job profile.3.Start with your strengths. Don't exaggerate ur weaknesses. An apt answer could be "Icecreams, chocolates", depending upon the mood of the interviewer. Another answer could be, "I believe in perfectionism".4.Ask some questions related to the organization. Try to show them that u are keen and interested to join their organization.  :) Listen attentively while they speak  :)
Tips: No need to exaggerate. They don't have to do much with ur family background nd all..Put up everything in brief.Never ask about the perks,salaries and all.

Round: Group Discussion
Experience: Mainly, you need to have sufficient knowledge about the topic that has been given to u. For that, read newspaper, search Google and latest newsfeed.
Tips: Never interrupt, wait for ur turn. Try to conclude the topic by summing up all the points. Sometimes it may happen that someone else may speak the points which you were about to speak. Do not panic in that case. Try to modify the same point in a different way. Smile :)
Duration: 10 minutes

General Tips: 1.Believe in yourself2.Have faith in GOD3.Be confident and clear4.Do not panic 5. Never try to show your nervousness
Skills: Communication skills, Confidence
College Name: KIIT UNIVERSITY
Motivation: You never lose. Either you win or you learn :)
Funny Moments: Nope. Nothing  :)