The Cosmos Co-operative Bank Sub Staff Interview Questions and Answers

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: This year we had a resume based shortlisting across all IITs. There were around 35 students who were shortlisted form IITK. But, most probably DB would be continuing with its aptitude test based shortlisting, like the previous years (they ask around 25 aptitude questions, and 1 essay on some current topic).
Tips: DB resorts to resume based shortlisting again, they give a tremendous weight age to your CPI , any background in finance (intern in financial firms or on some related topic, so you see a lot of ECO and Maths Students being shortlisted.) Also, they look at the overall profile as well, but the above 2 factors were the most important this year. A comprehensive study of any of the CAT Maths material of CL or Time will suffice your preparations : focus more on how fast you can solve a problem.

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: 1.This was a mixed interview of both HR and Technical.
2. It lasted for 30 minutes. I entered the room and was greeted by 3 people, shook my hands with all of them.
3. They asked me if I was hungry or not, I told them that I was thirsty rather and they offered me a Tropicana. (The reason I am citing this is, after my selection, in the night Mr. Nishant told me that this had set up the tone in the room, because the earlier 4 candidates whom they interviewed were too shy and refused to have anything, they judged it as my confidence rather, though it was never an intended one).
4. I was asked about how many companies I was interviewing in slot 1, and they seemed to be impressed on hearing the number 7.
5. They asked me what my preference order was, and I told them the truth that I would definitely interview with DB, Credit Suisse and Worldquant, and if time permits maybe with BCG or Opera.
6. Then they asked me to give a brief introduction, and asked me to stop when I was talking about my intern at Morgan Stanley and the paper I published over there. Mr. Nishant asked me if I was offered a PPO by them, and I told them the truth about my mentor not finding any position for me. He gave a sarcastic remark at MS, that going by the markets, its evident that they are not in a good shape now, and all I did was smile.
7. I was asked that if I got an offer from Morgan in my 8th sem, would I go. I told them, that if I got into DB/WQ/Credit Suisse/BCG , then definitely no, o/w yes. The reason I cited was that, inspite of all the money, I had to go through the entire placement procedure which in itself was a big pain, then an offer after that doesn’t help, they could have given it earlier. All three of them laughed and I seemed to have convinced them. I was asked to explain my work there, which I did pretty well.
8. I was also asked if I sat for DB during the intern procedure and I again told them the truth, as I have written earlier.
Tips: They weren’t judging me on finance or quant, because of my CPI and previous background as an intern. A lot of people were grilled on these though, if they said they were interested in these and all. They were trying to have a conversation with me, and testing my confidence, and when I came out of the room, I knew I had done well.

Round: Other Interview
Experience: 1. It was the second technical interview and the panel was of Mr. Vikram Khanderia (Business Head) and a senior person from algo- trading. It lasted for 20 minutes.
2. I entered the room, greeted them and was asked to describe myself in one minute.
3. I did that pretty well as I thought. Mr. Vikram asked me to explain my paper in Morgan Stanley to the two of them, I took a pen and paper and tried explaining them the whole of it. I actually did pretty bad (I had explained this to others quite well earlier, maybe I became a bit nervous.) They didn’t get the full essence of the work, though understood that it was very valuable to the firm.
4. Then I was asked a very trivial question as to rank the Bonds, CDS and Loans in order of the interest rates they offered, and give an explanation on the same. (I had worked on these instruments during my intern, so was asked this). I knew the order and told them that, but struggled for around 5 minutes with the answer. Then they told me the reason for it, and I was just repenting the way my interview was proceeding.
5. Then Mr. Vikram asked me to tell three important things that were currently happening in the world of Business. (I never used to read ET, but read it the previous day). Told them, that Cinemax had just acquired PVR , and as soon as I told it, he just stood up and lashed at me that how could a small Indian company acquisition affect Wall Street. I then understand what a mockery I had made (and was mentally prepared for the Credit Suisse interview after this, because I was sure to be kicked out from here.)
6. Continuing, he wrote three things on paper : Fiscal Cliff, Euro-Debt Crisis and the Palestine war and asked to me explain all of them. I knew the 1st two very well, and started. Though I wasn’t very convincing because I had become a bit tensed, but still I told all that I knew about them in any order though not very confidently. I was asked some counter questions, which I answered and a small discussion followed as to how could the war affect the oil prices in India and gave some logical explanation.
7. Then, the other person took a piece of paper and told that If he folded it 100 times , what would be its total width, if the width of one side is 1 unit.
8. I found it out and told the answer was 2100 . He asked me to calculate it, and I still can’t believe I told them it was 1024 (210 ) * 1024, and then he asked me re calculate it. I immediately realized what a fool I was making of myself, and told it was 1024* multiplied 10 times ~ 1030. (which was right :P). I was asked to leave.
9. I came out and told the volunteers that I had messed it up and there was no chance I would get selected. So I was going for the CS interview. I was asked to wait for a minute and then the volunteers entered the room and after a minute asked me to go and meet Mr. Vikram.
10. He asked me what my concern was, I told him that I was sorry to have messed his round after such an awesome round 1 and that I won’t get selected. He gave me a smile and said that they had really liked me. I asked them if I would get an offer, because it would be my dream come true so early in the morning, He told me that there were SPO clauses that he couldn’t tell me, but ‘You are intelligent enough to understand. If I were you, I would put my suit off and go out for a drink :P’ ). I was overwhelmed, had a firm handshake with the both of them , and there it was at 9.50 AM. in the morning.

General Tips: I have watched this year’s placement process very closely and would like to point out a few things to the readers, which are very important.
1. Be Realistic : This is perhaps one of the most important factors in the placements. I have seen so many people expect so much from them and when they don’t get shortlisted somewhere, it’s the end of the world for them. You must understand that there are certain limitations on you because of your CV till date (however intellectual or Bakait you might me). The key to this is be realistic, like Being a person from MME or BSBE, its actually difficult for you to crack a quant firm like Goldman/Morgan because of your curriculum here (however good you might be at Algos or Maths), the good thing is to accept it. Not having tremendous peaks in your resume will in not place you among the 20 shortlisted in BCG for instance. So, on a very serious note, everyone knows inside out what he/she is capable of, so please be realistic in your ambitions and try to excel in the options you have. Believe me, the goals may not be sky-high, but definitely are achievable.
2. Resume : Over the years, all the firms tell us that IITB/D resumes are well made than IITK ones. Get some of the resumes from your friends over there, ask some of your IITK seniors for their resume, SPO is always there to help you out. But Please denote at least 2 weeks in preparing your master resume and sub-resumes for every company.
3. PPTs : Try and attend the PPTs of the companies. You can actually get to know a lot about the work culture there and what is expected of you in your initial years. It will help you decide if this is actually the thing for you or not.
4. Don’t Speculate : During October-Nov. , most of the students actually waste a lot of efforts in just speculating ‘Yaar yeh company toh ise le hi legi’. Believe me , it happens a lot, confuses you and wastes a lot of your time (especially if you are a 4 Year student.)
5. DPC : Please form a good DPC at least for your own sake. Yes maybe the post might not be of value, but a hard working student can make a lot of difference to his department placements. You cannot expect the OPCs to call in every company of your department.
College Name: IIT KANPUR

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: Started with an informal chit chat. I grabbed my opportunity. In my first line I told them that
I had done my internship with Lehman Brothers. (Remember I wanted to drive my
interview). No wonder the next 5-6 questions were on my internship. There were followed
by a couple of questions on swaps, spreads etc which I had mentioned in my resume (Note
questions were not out of the blue

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: Firstly, studied the resumes of seniors who had a similar profile like me and had secured good jobs. Then, attended the Mckinsey resume writing workshop which also helped a lot. I had also looked up the Mckinsey website for tips on resume writing. After doing all the homework, drafted a resume on my own and passed it on to a trusted senior who suggested changes. After making changes, passed it on to at least 4-5 seniors who also suggested changes. So, finally, after getting it reviewed by several experienced persons, drafted the final version.Frankly, I attended very few (only 3) PPTs. Only those which I was serious about. I do admit that going to a PPT does give you a good idea of what the job is going to be like and will help you choose between two jobs. However, I also believe that missing a PPT does not actually blind you and you can easily ask people around you about the details of the PPT which actually gives you enough information for the time being.Resume shortlisting close to 80 people were shortlisted.First interview (25 minutes) close to 40 were shortlisted. Second interview (10-15 mins) 20 were recruited.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: This was always going to be easy for me I presumed, and it actually was. Frankly, since I have good communication skills and PR skills, I only had to look up certain standard questions which my seniors sent me by email. However, eventually, the HR part I handled on the spot.
Tips: First prepare your answers to certain questions which you think you will be asked. Then get your friend/senior to ask you those plus any other questions he thinks are relevant and take feedback from him after the session.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: I looked up a lot of PDFs (available on institution servers), of which I would say the most useful was Kellogg_casepack2001_CASES. The others were also pretty good, like the Harvard one, but the best thing about the Kellogg casepack was the way they presented the solutions.
Tips: The best way to do case studies is in pairs. Pick you partner, pick some case studies which each will ask the other on that day (say 3-4 per day or more). The person who is going to play the interviewer should read the case well and come prepared before presenting it to the interviewee.

Round: Puzzle Interview
Experience: I only looked up puzzles at the end of the first day, after losing out on Mckinsey. Googled for a lot of puzzlesall night and prepared as much as I could.

Round: Group Discussion
Experience: I was pretty good at that already. So, left it to myself.
Tips: Obviously should be done in groups of 5-8.

Skill Tips: Dress well. It matters a lot. Especially for these big Ibanks and consults. Of course, what you do in the interview matters, but looking good will always add to the overall effect. Do not overlook this. It is better to wear a suit for the ibanks and consultancies. For the rest, formal shirt, tie would do.
College Name: IIT BOMBAY

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: DB directly shortlisted from resume. There was no test. After the initial shortlisting procedure, I had a months time to prepare.
Tips: I had started preparing for my resume from August when SPO had asked to send in master resume. After making a rough draft I had sent it to a lot of seniors from my department who were placed in different companies and edited it accordingly.

Round: Test
Tips: I had used the material from T.I.M.E and also from CL to prepare for it. Also,there were some classes arranged by SPO and CL which I had joined.

Round: Group Discussion
Tips: I did not prepare much for the GDs. I just participated in 3-4 mock GDs organized by the placement preparation cell.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: I had prepared all my interns and projects along with the courses written in the resume. I had prepared my answers from all the basic questions which are generally asked in an interview and was very thorough with them. I had also gained sufficient knowledge about the work profile of DB along with all major deals in the past year. Specially, for DB's interview I had also prepared for the current affairs by reading newspapers daily for about 3 months and also kept up to date about some major happenings in and around the world such as Syria happening, US shutdown, crisis and bubbles, etc.


I had my interview scheduled at 6:30 in the morning with DB. My first interview went really well and the person told me that I should definitely see the next panel.
Tips: Please do not write those courses in your resume which you found tough as it will create problem at the end moment when you have to prepare so much.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: My second interview was fine and most of the questions were from current affairs and my resume. They also asked me to guesstimate in this interview.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: In my third interview  I messed up some economics related concepts.I thought they wouldn't like me but I was called again

Round: HR Interview
Experience: My fourth interview also did not go well but then somebody from the HR hinted that they liked me for a certain profile and would want to know my take on that.

General Tips: Be yourself and give your best shot. Have faith in yourself. Do not panic.
College Name: IIT KANPUR

Round: Puzzle Interview
Tips: Go through basic puzzles.
1) Heard from the street
2) gurmeet.net/puzzles


College Name: IIT Bombay

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: I think they were looking for Analytical ability (more in terms of thought process of approaching a problem), good awareness of financial crisis and general gyaan and willingness to work in markets (i.e. how convincing my reasons were etc). I wasn‟t tested too much on derivatives and puzzles, but I believe a few others had lots of questions in this area.

I think the personals & financial crisis questions went very well, pretty decent with the puzzles too. Started a bit slowly on the problems, but was able to arrive at the solution quickly once I had the hang of the question.
Tips: I prepared pretty well for derivatives & financial crisis. Though my approach was not very quick for the former, this was not a problem because I was not hurried for these questions and they were also seeing how I was approaching the solution. I was well prepared with the personals section – very clear on why I wanted markets, not consulting etc and I think I gave them nearly 6 reasons for Why Deutsche 

Round: Technical Interview
Tips: For most banks, and for Deutsche especially, be prepared with personals at three levels (Tell me about yourself etc | Why markets, why not consult / IBD etc | Why Deutsche). I had done my homework by speaking to seniors in this respect and I think
Name
Ashish Viswanathan
Educational Qualification
B. Tech Chemical Engineering, IIT Madras
Workex
Shell Global Solutions (1 year)
Summers Company & Role
Deutsche Bank Global Markets, London Associate

Networth Fin Summers Guide 2010 6 | P a g e
my clarity of thought on these questions clinched it.

Round: Technical Interview
Tips: Make sure you understand what you are preparing in case of derivatives. Don‟t get caught up and confused by the math, learn the basics of why and how the derivatives work

Round: Technical Interview
Tips: Make sure you are well prepared with financial crisis / current affairs / bailout and efforts to fight the crisis. Have an opinion on issues like „Do you think it was right to not bail out Lehman?‟ etc and be prepared to defend your opinion

Skill Tips: Curiosity, “can-do” attitude, Gyaan on derivatives, basic excel skills, willingness to learn in a sometimes chaotic environment
Skills: basic excel skills, Curiosity To Learn
College Name: IIM Bangalore

Round: Test
Experience: There were 4 sections: Maths, Finance, English, DI and Quant, No negative marking. 
The Maths section had questions on basic probability and statistics. Also the Maths section had a higher weight age than the other sections (Questions carrying 3 marks each while other sections had 1 or 2 marks for each question. They were here, offering a quant profile so that justifies the distribution.) 
The DI/Quant (2 marks each) and English (1 Mark Each) section were similar to CAT. 
The finance section had questions on Basic Accounting.
Tips: Anyone who did well in the Maths section could find his name in the shortlist.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: It was a 20-25 minute round. There were 2 interviewers, one of them was the HR manager and the other was a Quant Guy.
In the first question, they stopped me mid way when I mentioned the finance course.
The puzzle was also asked in last year’s interview.
Tips: I’m still not sure about why I did not qualify for the next round but one of the possible reasons was, I had mentioned my short temperedness as my weakness and later I came to know, this is considered to be a highly undesirable trait in the Investment Banking jobs. So be a bit careful while answering this question.

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: I thought I had not done very well. They were looking for good performance in the Quant Section which had many questions on Probability and Statistics. I did not do well in this section. However, I was short-listed.

Round: Interview
Experience: By the time my interview turn came for the interview, the interviewers were running out of time. They just had 10 minutes per person. (They had a flight from Lucknow!). As I entered, I was told to quickly tell about me, why finance and why not a PhD. He asked a question from the test paper. I think the interview lasted less than 10 minutes.

Round: Interview
Experience: This round also lasted for about 10 minutes. This time it was more finance oriented. He asked some basic questions on Forwards, Futures and Options.
Tips: Deutsche Bank did not select me. I thought it was mainly because of my test score. I was later told that it was because they thought I did not fit the profile well.

General Tips: The Decision Making Process: Like most people at IITK, I was in a dilemma of what to do after my graduation. Broadly, I had two options in front of me – Core (PhD/Job) and Non-Core (MBA/Job). I had already had some research exposure. I had worked on some good research projects during my internships and also at IITK. Although I thought I was good at research, I wanted to explore working in a corporate environment as I had never done that before. Also, the life as a PhD and thereafter, seemed less action packed and less dynamic for me. Maybe I could do it at a later part in my life, but for now I decided to explore the Non-Core sector. I was looking for a company which would give me business exposure as well as an opportunity to learn and develop my skill set.Amongst the non-core sectors, Consultancy with its varied exposure seemed the best to me. I thought FMCG gave a wonderful leadership experience and was my second preference. Finance involved too much numbers and probability (something I’m not good at). But still it was my third preference (amongst the options available) as I am quite interested in the financial world. Analytics and then IT followed. Despite the heavy pay-package, the Oil sector did not attract me a lot. I did not prepare for it but still applied as we had very few good options this year.

Experiences:

1. In general, I would say that my preparation was good as 5th year had a lot of time.

2. It’s fun to prepare, especially HR and giving and taking mock interviews.

3. Shocks and Surprises – I was told that anything can happen during placements and it turned out to be true. The McKinsey shortlist came out in early October and I was not short-listed. I had not expected this at all and had even started practicing case studies long before. This left me really disappointed.

4. Try to do things early, November gets really busy – End Sems, CAT, Revise everything (I was not able to revise Fluid Mechanics).

5. Prepare for tests well, they matter a lot – if you score very well in the test (top few), the interview process would just check that you can talk, solve puzzles and you are interested (you will join). Besides, sometimes it is difficult to judge who is better by the interview process – the tests score matter then as they are the only objective score that they have (apart from CPI).

6. Know Probability well – learn Probability and Statistics and maybe even Stochastic Processes if you have not done these courses and you want a job in Finance/Analytics.

7. Don’t just prepare for consultancy / finance / FMCG – less than 10 people got placed in these companies. Prepare for other companies as well. Have a backup plan ready and do not lose hope, the scenario is bad – it’s not your fault – things will improve!
Skill Tips: 1. Make a good resume – bug your seniors.

2. Practice for aptitude tests – otherwise the one’s preparing for CAT have distinct advantage.

3. Improve communication skills – do lots of mock interviews and GDs.

4. Hope for the best and prepare for the worst – the scenario is bad – even the best can be in for a long placement season, and feeling bad about it will only make matters worse – it’s just your first job – in the long run of your career, these fluctuations won’t matter; what will matter is, how you handle these fluctuations.
College Name: IIT KANPUR