What is the worst/longest test you'd had to take in the interview process?

CFA General
#1

One of my buddies says that he has to take a 2-3 hr standardized test as part of the interview process at a bank. That seems like a lot. I’ve had some brutal interviews, but I’ve never had to take a test like this. What is the worst/longest test you’d had to take in the interview process?

#2

waiting 10 weeks for the results of a multiple choice test!!!

#3

.

#4

phone interview being tested on probability and statistics for over half an hour - which doesnt sound bad until you realise you cant re-read anything or have time to use a calculator - you have to work it out in your head while the interviewer was talking Nightmare!!

#5

I failed one of those personality tests. Didn’t get the job even after like 4 interviews. Probably a good thing though.

#6

I had to take a series of tests for a hf. Not in one sitting thoug. I would get the test in a link or email, and then have to complete. Did: 1 hour general finance test 1 hour personality test 1 hour excel test.

#7

for one interview i had: half an hour phone interview half an hour writing test in front of a computer where i had to write a report half an hour math skills test two separate brain teaser interviews (each half an hour) where i was asked questions like “how many disposable diapers are there in china”

#8

It wasn’t an interview, but it was yesterday. I was refused a telephone service in my bank (where I have my account and credit cards) because my voice does not coincide with the voice of the owner of my account!

#9

I got a call once from a firm and this is how the conversation went: Me: “Hello?” Firm: “Hello Immanuel. This is Dewey, Cheatem, and Howe. A friend of yours, Hugh from Playboy University, said you are interested in an analyst role at our firm.” Me: “Oh yes, I spoke to Hugh and I am very interested in your firm. You have really hot secretaries and I’ve heard they all put out” Firm: “I’m glad to hear it; yes we make it our business to ensure we only hire the most talented hoezy’s for our secretarial positions. Do you have a few minutes to talk?” Me: “I’m at a nice thai massage parlor, but of course. Let me just tell them not to send the girl in yet.” Firm: “Fantastic. Ok, let’s start with the finance questions first.” Then the guy started asking me questions about finance, economics, and real world events. Needless to say I was completely taken by surprise because I wasn’t expecting it. I thought it would be a normal stupid phone interview about my resume. It wasn’t my best interview…

#10

The most annoying test was CapitalOne. I still remember it from 5 years ago when I was a junior in college. They have a 300+ online personality test that you had to take before you even went in for the interview. First there’s a 50 question test about random stuff (personality still). You think it’s over after you’re done with that, but then, WHAM, 300 question test afterwards. After question 80 I just stopped caring and started clicking randomly. Edit: I didn’t get that job.

#11

There was this bank that gave me a derivatives FAS133 test, written and math sections. Also a VC that gave me a three question Excel test of which I failed two and got the job.

#12

1,000,000,000.00 rough POPULATION of China 333,333,333.33 Male 333,333,333.33 Female 333,333,333.33 Babies (M or F) 33,333,333.33 10% Mortality Rate (constant turnover) 300,000,000.00 Babies 20 2 week supply of diapers 6,000,000,000.00 disposable Diapers How I would logically think that through… Im sure there are gaps there but not bad for off the top of your head…

#13

purealpha Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > There was this bank that gave me a derivatives > FAS133 test, written and math sections. > > Also a VC that gave me a three question Excel test > of which I failed two and got the job. Can you describe the FAS 133 test? What bank or role was this for? How much were you expected to know or what was your background going in. I’m in a similar situation.

#14

fxguy1234 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > 1,000,000,000.00 rough POPULATION of China > 333,333,333.33 Male > 333,333,333.33 Female > > 333,333,333.33 Babies (M or F) > 33,333,333.33 10% Mortality Rate (constant > turnover) > > 300,000,000.00 Babies > 20 2 week supply of diapers > 6,000,000,000.00 disposable Diapers > > > How I would logically think that through… Im > sure there are gaps there but not bad for off the > top of your head… 30% of china is babies between the age of 0-3. i’m going to have to put that in doubt. the largest error lies in that your estimation of 33% grown man, 33% grown woman may be justifiable in a underpressure troubleshooting scenario (i believe the actual ratio is 55% men, 45% female) but the other 33% is all children, not just those between the age of 0-3. i’d say 3 years / 18 years in the range = 1/6 of 33% of the population which equals 55 million babies at 10 a week = ~26,000,000,000 annually. but we all know that the poor in the mainland don’t use disposable diapers so you may need to cut this number by 80% or so based on the fact that 60% of China is Agricultural workforce alone and at least another 20% is going to be so poor that they don’t use disposable diapers. so a liberal estimate is 5,200,000,000 annually and conservative of 2,600,000,000 annually. then you could estimate inventory turnover for these and get the actual # in the country at the time. and the chinese population is 1.3B+

#15

Right… I used a lot of liberal assumptions but I think its the approach that matters with brain teasers - NOT the actual number you come up with. I’d stick to round numbers to avoid an embarrassing math error.

#16

yeah i hear ya. i’m much less busting your balls and more less bored.

#17

purealpha… you out there? curious to hear about that FAS 133 test…

#18

jimjohn Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- “how many disposable diapers are there in china” haha that’s random. Answer is 0

#19

yeah- they do split pants: Awesome. Never seen so may cute bums in my life

#20

my estimate was pretty close. my estimate: 2.6B-5.2B diapers per year actual 2004 data: $200M / $12 * 60 = 1B but at a 30%ish growth rate, they say 50%+ for some brands, so i’ll go with 30% for the industry, we get 3.7B in 2009. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-07/16/content_349150.htm