Typical jr equity analyst phone interview Q's

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DC Zanini

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I have a phone interview tomorrow with a buy-side firm for a junior equity research analyst position.
What are some typical phone interview questions for a position like this? This will be my first phone interview for this type of position, so any insight is greatly appreciated.
Any advice would be appreciated as well.
Thank you in advance.
 
Do you know if it’s with HR? I think there is a good chance it will be in which case they will probably run through your CV and effectively ask you why you think you’d be good for the job.
If it’s with someone from the research department you might get more technical questions like pitch a stock you like at the moment, but my gut feeling is this will be a run of the mill HR interview.
Expect the usual nuggets such as what are your 3 greatest weaknesses, give an example of a situation where you showed leadership, what motivates you etc.
 
Yes, it is with an HR person. She said it should take about 15 minutes.
 
If it’s a HR person, you can be more liberal with finance BS to impress them. It also means, they will probably not ask you many technical questions. Here are a few things that I would prepare for:
1) Why do you want to work here?
2) Tell me about this activity from your resume.
3) How would you value this company? (Just recite textbook answer)
4) Why do you want to be in this field?
5) Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
6) Greatest strength/weakness
7) Random math question
8) Tell me about yourself
9) Do you have any questions?
Don’t interrupt the person, enunciate, don’t say “like”, don’t freak out when they are silent as you answer questions (sounds stupid, but it’s an issue if you are not used to phone interviews), be polite, etc.
Good luck.
 
if you’re employed would add…
Why do you want to leave your current job
Scratch (3) and (7) above if its with HR, those will be face-to-face questions with the hiring manager, although you never know
 
HR Interview should be piece o cake, just general stuff, they want to make sure you aren’t a complete idiot. I’ve interviewed Associates on the sellside and Junior guys on the Buyside, my interviews would go like this on the buyside:
1. “Whats up dude, how’s it goin’?” I’m still young and I have a casual interview approach in the way I speak to young guys.
2. So tell me about your current job or internship (whatever they have)
A. Ask questions based on what they talk about, the goal is to figure out if they think
about business the way I personally think someone should for an investment position
B. Direct the line of questioning to asking what they read and how they track the markets
1. This is one of the most important questions to me because the best investors I know are voracious readers of news, whether it is from economic blogs or finance books the best investors read, read, read. I’m sure i read hundreds of pages a day from one
source or another.
C. “well cool man, seems like you are following the markets, so lets get into it: what’s your best long idea and what’s your best short idea; debt, equity, commodities, I don’t care, just give me a long and a short and why”
1. If they can’t answer this question they are not ready for the buyside, it shows they weren’t prepared and they aren’t really interested in investing. If this question can’t be answered I end the interview, sometimes this means the interview is 5 minutes long.
D. If I know about the industry their picks are from I can grill them, if I don’t know I have to stick to more basic stuff but I know enough general info to be able to speak intelligently on most sectors. I would recommend always pitching small cap stocks if you can because the chance of someone knowing a lot about the name is reduced. DO NOT PICK LARGE CAP STOCKS UNLESS YOU THINK THEIR IS A HUGE MOVE COMING.
1. Part of this is to see if you can generate a unique idea on your own, saying buy Apple because Ipods are awesome isn’t going to cut it.
After that I tell them about my day to day work constantly asking if that sounds cool, I tell them the pros and the cons then I ask them if they have any questions.
E. While they are asking questions I continue to ask questions based on what they ask me.
F. To be honest, it is pretty obvious to spot young guys who are interested in the markets and guys who were good at school and had a good job but not passionate about the markets. Usually within 5 minutes I have a good feel for someone.
final advice, always, always, always work numbers into your answers, for instance if your interview is tomorrow and you’re asked what direction is the economy heading, you need to say something about GDP growth being reduced to 2.8% and the fact that Florida still has 18 months of distressed inventory even though official inventory is only 7 months. Things of that nature, also when you mention numbers drop them in your conversation very casually so it appears that everything is just flowing out of your brain not because you memorized a couple of numbers. If I am on the other side interviewing for a job I go in with 5 or 6 economic numbers in my head from the last couple of weeks so if we talk about the general economy I will look like I know my stuff.
If you can answer everything I’ve mentioned here you should do really well at interviews on the buyside unless you go to one of those places that asks brain teasers and what not, those are pretty rare in my experience, buyside shops are looking for people who can pick investments, for the most part they don’t care if you are good at brain teasers.
I Hope that helps you prepare
 
phenomenal post from undergrad. i’ll be bookmarking this in case i ever decide to interview for buy-side equity investing (probably not likely given i’m not “passionate” about the public markets right now, but you never know)
 
DC Zanini Wrote:
——————————————————-
> Yes, it is with an HR person. She said it should
> take about 15 minutes.
Seems others have given much better advice than I could. Anyway, I had an interview for FI analyst position the other day and it was also through an HR person. All the questions were focused on my resume and why I want to work at the company. If you have your story straight you should be good. After HR is where you need to be prepared.
 
I went through 4 rounds of interviews with a big bank recently:
Round 1 – 45 minute phone interview with HR
She asked me to walk her through my resume from top to bottom and had specific questions lined up for each job. From the experience side she wanted to get a sense of my leadership experience, ability to work under pressure, and ability to come up with new ideas/ways of thinking about things. Then she asked what my general investment philosophy was and asked for some picks but didn’t really go into detail as to why I was bullish or bearish on each. Finished up with me asking her questions about her role in the firm, culture, more about the job, etc.
Round 2 – 90 minute office interview with Research Director
Met with the head of the group I was interviewing for. Spent a few minutes going over my resume again and discussing how one job led to another. I worked on both the buy and sell-sides so I always spend a lot of time explaining how I got from point A to point B to point C, etc. Then the majority of the interview was spent discussing investment ideas. He started off by asking me what my top picks were, and unfortunately for me one of the ones I discussed was one that he was personally covering so I went through an @n@l probe on that one but did ok with it. Then he asked me what my best ideas in different sectors and geographies were and spent a few minutes discussing each. Lastly he asked about some ideas I looked at recently but decided not to invest in and why. Thankfully I’d already gone through interviews in the past where that question’s been asked, otherwise it is difficult to come up with one on the spot because you generally don’t prepare yourself to discuss ideas that you pass on. The interview ended with me asking questions about his background, the team, his experiences with the firm, and his expectations for new hires. I tried to ask him about his investment philosophy but he said he wanted to bring me back and didn’t want to tip me off to what future interviewers would ask me about.
Round 3 – 4 hour office interview with 2 Research Directors, a Senior Managing Director, and 1 Operations Director
I first met with the same guy I interviewed with in Round 2. Basically from the getgo it was all investment questions, but unlike last time he focused more on general process as opposed to actual ideas. I spoke about how I sourced ideas, what steps I took to research and analyze them, and then how I come to a decision and size them in the portfolio. Then I talked about how I monitor positions, manage risk, and make recommendations for adding to or selling out of them.
The next guy was the research director for another group that I was not interviewing for, but was closely related to the first group. His questions were more softball; again I went through my resume with him, then we discussed investment ideas within his strategy. I knew his strategy pretty well coming in but didn’t have a ton of ideas so I stuck with some “safe” names that I was familiar wtih. Ended the interview with questions about his background, experiences, team, investment philosophy, etc.
The third guy was a Senior Managing Director and head of the entire asset management division. He showed up about 15 minutes late and left 15 minutes early, so I basically had 30 minutes with him. We went to the same school and talked about how bad our football team sucked this year so that was a good lead-in to the conversation. Again we went through my resume to start with. Then we talked about investment philosophy; he didn’t ask about specific ideas at all but about general process, and he had some pretty specific “what if” questions to see how I would respond to different scenarios I encounter during my daily research work. Ended the interview with questions about his background, experiences, team, expectations for how the business would go, etc.
The last guy was head of operations for the group. Went through my resume for the fourth time that day and then spent a lot of time talking about how I would select positions for various mandates. He was asking because the company had just acquired the asset management group of another bank and one side ran an institutional business while the other side was private wealth management. The group I was interviewing for was responsible for making investments for both sides. He was a recent hire for the firm so I asked him a lot of questions about being the new guy and what his experiences were so far.
Round 4 – 60 minute office interview with a Managing Director
Interviewed with a guy who was basically the level of management below the Senior MD in the asset management group. Again went through my resume, then went straight to investment ideas. This guy was actually really friendly so no hardball questions but we discussed a lot of different sectors and geographies. He then broke out a list of ideas he was currently working on and asked me what I knew about each. He was also a recent hire in the group so I asked him new guy questions.
 
Thanks IHIHM. That is some good insight. It seems like the position you interviewed for is an experienced position. I’m interviewing for an entry-level position and don’t have a ton of experience outside of the CFA program and some personal investing.
What were your first couple interviews like back when you first started in the industry?
 
Great great post undergrad. I have interviewed at a few buyside shops for a research associate position (entry level-junior gig), and this was how the interview usually went. Preparation is the key to these interviews, be on top of trends in the market, the sector you are interviewing with, and know key numbers/articles to discuss.
 
IHIHM
Blackstone? Morgan Stanley Smith Barney?
PS,
Some awesome stuff in here, on par with Numi’s BSD post. Bookmarked
 
undergrad Wrote:
——————————————————-
> HR Interview should be piece o cake, just general
> stuff, they want to make sure you aren’t a
> complete idiot. I’ve interviewed Associates on the
> sellside and Junior guys on the Buyside, my
> interviews would go like this on the buyside:
>
> 1. “Whats up dude, how’s it goin’?” I’m still
> young and I have a casual interview approach in
> the way I speak to young guys.
>
> 2. So tell me about your current job or internship
> (whatever they have)
> A. Ask questions based on what they talk about,
> the goal is to figure out if they think
> about business the way I personally think
> someone should for an investment position
>
> B. Direct the line of questioning to asking
> what they read and how they track the markets
> 1. This is one of the most important
> questions to me because the best investors I know
> are voracious readers of news, whether it is from
> economic blogs or finance books the best
> investors read, read, read. I’m sure i read
> hundreds of pages a day from one
> source or another.
>
> C. “well cool man, seems like you are following
> the markets, so lets get into it: what’s your best
> long idea and what’s your best short idea; debt,
> equity, commodities, I don’t care, just give me a
> long and a short and why”
> 1. If they can’t answer this question they
> are not ready for the buyside, it shows they
> weren’t prepared and they aren’t really interested
> in investing. If this question can’t be answered I
> end the interview, sometimes this means the
> interview is 5 minutes long.
>
> D. If I know about the industry their picks are
> from I can grill them, if I don’t know I have to
> stick to more basic stuff but I know enough
> general info to be able to speak intelligently on
> most sectors. I would recommend always pitching
> small cap stocks if you can because the chance of
> someone knowing a lot about the name is reduced.
> DO NOT PICK LARGE CAP STOCKS UNLESS YOU THINK
> THEIR IS A HUGE MOVE COMING.
> 1. Part of this is to see if you can generate a
> unique idea on your own, saying buy Apple because
> Ipods are awesome isn’t going to cut it.
>
> After that I tell them about my day to day work
> constantly asking if that sounds cool, I tell them
> the pros and the cons then I ask them if they have
> any questions.
>
> E. While they are asking questions I continue to
> ask questions based on what they ask me.
>
> F. To be honest, it is pretty obvious to spot
> young guys who are interested in the markets and
> guys who were good at school and had a good job
> but not passionate about the markets. Usually
> within 5 minutes I have a good feel for someone.
>
> final advice, always, always, always work numbers
> into your answers, for instance if your interview
> is tomorrow and you’re asked what direction is the
> economy heading, you need to say something about
> GDP growth being reduced to 2.8% and the fact that
> Florida still has 18 months of distressed
> inventory even though official inventory is only 7
> months. Things of that nature, also when you
> mention numbers drop them in your conversation
> very casually so it appears that everything is
> just flowing out of your brain not because you
> memorized a couple of numbers. If I am on the
> other side interviewing for a job I go in with 5
> or 6 economic numbers in my head from the last
> couple of weeks so if we talk about the general
> economy I will look like I know my stuff.
>
> If you can answer everything I’ve mentioned here
> you should do really well at interviews on the
> buyside unless you go to one of those places that
> asks brain teasers and what not, those are pretty
> rare in my experience, buyside shops are looking
> for people who can pick investments, for the most
> part they don’t care if you are good at brain
> teasers.
>
> I Hope that helps you prepare
You sound like one cool cat.
In all seriousness, though, this is what most buy-side interviews are like. And I agree that the most important part is the long/short idea pitch. It’s the easiest way to determine how talented a potential analyst is.
 
undergrad Wrote:
——————————————————-
> >
> B. Direct the line of questioning to asking
> what they read and how they track the markets
> 1. This is one of the most important
> questions to me because the best investors I know
> are voracious readers of news, whether it is from
> economic blogs or finance books the best
> investors read, read, read. I’m sure i read
> hundreds of pages a day from one
> source or another.
This is where I mention AnalystForum (not on top of the list though).
 
Hey guys, great post. I am also interviewing for a junior associate position at a buyside firm. Could you guys further elaborate how should we structure a long/short pitch analysis? Obviously, we need to give the interviewer a sense of our ability and investment analysis. How do you approach these kind of questions?
For example, if you are going to pitch a stock, do you start with current financial overview of the company and then go into more detail with valuation metrics to support why you think this is a good investment or an under-valued stock? How would organize and tackle these kind of questions.
Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
 
I would say for a long pitch do a condensed top down analysis.
For a short pitch tell the story, a few supporting fundamentals and valuation targets. For a good sense on ultra short pitches download a few Bloomberg Audio Analyst Call Podcasts.
 
nuppal Wrote:
——————————————————-
> IHIHM
>
> Blackstone? Morgan Stanley Smith Barney?
>
Good guesses.
Re: entry-level interviews, if you get past the resume screening process it’s mostly just a who-wants-the-job-most game. in my first job out of college I got the offer after telling them I bought a one-way plane ticket (true) to interview with them and if I didn’t get the job I would be stuck in new york with nowhere to go.
 
Wow, some really top-notch posts here. Thank you very much undergrad and IHIHM - I have copied those posts to read over and over again.
 
Great suggestions.
Any insight in questions that one might get for a fixed income analyst position?
Thanks
 
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