Clueless in canada here. Scenario: 90 minute final round interview. Equity research associate in alternative energy for a big bank. first 30 minutes is with the director of research. then 1 hour of “testing”. what sort of testing does the forum think one can generally expect? I wouldn’t think a model as they would give that as a take home. so for one hour while i’m there??? brain storm away. and thanks in advance.
could it be a psychological test to determine whether you fit the profile of successful ER associates?
I’m INTP, what are you?
probably modelling.
i don’t think modeling - if it was modelling they usually give you an overnighter (from my past experiences)…it could be a very simple model though but in an hour you can only do so much modeling… Bchadwick - what’s INTP?
Introverted iNtuitive Thinking Perceiving It’s a category of the Briggs Myers personality test. Look up Briggs Myers on google and have fun burning 30 mins or so. It’s interesting, although I wouldn’t get to religious about it. In sum, there are four dimensions of a person’s personality that are supposedly independent. Introverted vs. Extroverted - This is not whether you are sociable or not, it’s about where you find your principle sources of strength and energy - do they come out of yourself (and therefore you need quiet time to recuperate), or do you get it from interacting with people. Both forms are present in virtually everyone, but typically, once source is dominant, like being right or left handed. iNtuitive vs. Scientific - This tends to be about how much you need hard data vs a general intuitive understanding of things before coming to a conclusion. Again, both types are present, but one is often dominant. Thinking vs. Feeling - When making decisions, how much do you gravitate to “this is logical, and therefore is the right solution,” vs. how much do you feel that (usually other) peoples’ feelings need to be taken into consideration. I turn out to be right on the border between Thinking and Feeling. When I’ve taken this test, everything else is stable, but sometimes they rate me as Thinking and sometimes as Feeling. Thinking comes out a little more often though. Perceiving vs. Judging - when you get information, typically about some business or social factor, do you tend to absorb it and just perceive what’s happening, or do you feel the need to come to a judgment quickly about whether it is good/bad, right/wrong, smart/dumb, etc.
In case anyone was wondering, I’m ENTP. Extraversion, Intuition, Thinking, Perceiving.
Hey bchadwick, I’m also INTP. We make good analysts no?
I think you will have a one-hour modeling test. It will probably be pretty simple. Based on my past experiences, you might be given you a 10-K or a press release/transcript from a recent earnings call and have you populate the model. They will be looking for mechanical proficiency (is the excel model well-formatted, are the formulas good, etc.) as well as your financial intuition (like what the projections look like, why you’re assuming certain growth rates or whatever, etc.). The model may be pre-populated or may be totally blank, but usually you’ll just have to put together a simple P&L and link it with the proper working capital and cash flow items. Just my guess. BTW, strikershank, I got your e-mail from a few weeks ago. Sorry I’ve been so negligent about responding. I have a bunch of stuff I need to catch up on but will write back soon.
thanks numi - i hope you’re right cuz that would be a joke of a test. no worries about the email. we all lead (mostly) busy lives. i also think they might give a quarterly/press release and have it written up with the numbers/model provided…that just came to me as well and would be a great 1 hour excercise since often in the AM you have about that before markets open to give the traders your opinion.
I got INTJ…no surprise.
Numi- Just a heads up…Please disregard my last email (gretz…) Thanks.
strikershank Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > thanks numi - i hope you’re right cuz that would > be a joke of a test. no worries about the email. > we all lead (mostly) busy lives. > > i also think they might give a quarterly/press > release and have it written up with the > numbers/model provided…that just came to me as > well and would be a great 1 hour excercise since > often in the AM you have about that before markets > open to give the traders your opinion. Yeah – I’m really not sure what else it could be, especially if it’s excel-based. Maybe it’s a personality test like someone else said, but probably just a task to evaluate your ability to put together a basic three-statement model. With your background, I’m sure it’ll be fine. Let us know if it turns out to be something else.
Here (also a big bank in Canada) we have Associates put out a one-pager based on a company press release when interviewing. You’d be surprised at how writing skills are almost as important as accounting skills in ER
ah, I forgot about that part. Alayle is right - you should expect putting together a short investment memo too, maybe 4-5 key bullets. If you’ve ever seen any of those one-page research briefs or “quick comments” or whatever you call them, it basically starts with a first bullet point that recaps the key event; bullets #2, #3, and #4 talking about key incremental takeaways; and the remaining bullet summarizing what it means for the stock and how you should act on the news (if at all)
Well here’s the answer to the thread: it was a test that you cannot prepare for. it was an hour long as mentioned and comprised of writing a synoposis on a quarter, and doing some basic graphing in excel with data provided. It was a pretty vague test other than the excel graphing and again, nothing that can be done before hand. So if anyone in the future gets a test, unless its a take home, don’t sweat it. you’ve prepared as much as you can up until this point in yoru life and can’t do anything special to prepare further.
bchadwick Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I’m INTP, what are you? ENFJ to the tee. I revived this thread because Im actually very curious about the Biggs-Myers personality test. Do employers put much credence into it? I know my mother’s company always does personality testing for senior hires but she works in industry. Some claim that you can game these tests but I found that my results pretty much defined me perfectly. That brings another question, what do you think most employers are looking for in candidates personality wise?
Sometimes employers are looking for a personality type that fits the position description, on the theory that certain personality types are better suited to different jobs. Other times they are just trying to get diversity of types. I had a co-worker rejected from a job because “we already have too many of your personality type here, and we need something different.”. I was pretty shocked to hear that, even if it wasn’t said to me.