Research Associate Interview--Help Needed

Water Cooler Careers
#1

Hello All,

I’m in need of some advice. I work at an asset manager and had what I would call an “informal interview” with the equity analysis group. I was more-or-less told that I’d be welcome to come back in a few months and have a formal interview. However, because of my unrelated background, I was also told that one big thing I should be working on in the meantime are my excel skills, and that I’d furthermore have to prove I took the time to develop them. My questions are: How exactly do I go about doing this, and also, what do they mean by “I’ll have to prove it”? Should I be expecting them to give me some sort of excel proficiency test?

University classes don’t seem like an option because its already mid-semester and some of the classes that are geared towards excel aren’t available to visiting students anyway. I was thinking I could go with something like WSP or Breakingintowallstreet to learn excel, but I’m not sure how I would go about “proving” I did this.

I would really appreciate any advice…

Thanks in advance!

#2

WSP or BIWS I think have certifications. It’s not going to blow them away, but it at least shows you attempted to learn excel. These are actually what most top undergrad/grad programs, as well as some I-banking firms use anyway.

In fact, some of the WSP/BIWS content is actually more advanced than the excel courses at the I-banks I worked. They just assumed you’d learn a good chunk of the industry-specific modeling on the job. As such, they just wanted to make sure everyone knew the core functions of excel/basic modeling, which is probably what you will be asked.

If you have time though and a sense of what sector you’re going to focus on, why not learn both the excel basics and the industry-specific modeling.

#3

Double post…