Cambridge Associates, LLC Consulting Associate Interview Questions & Reviews

Interview Details – First step was a generic phone interview, i.e. favorite class in college, where do you see yourself in 5 years, why CA, etc. Next round is 1:1 with a current Consulting Associate and it has a similar course as the phone interview, but is more to see how you interact with people, and then there was a simple case study about choosing investment managers for a client. Final round is a series of interviews with each interviewer covering a specific portion of you background (College, work experience, interest in investments, what type of person/worker you are, case study (mine was about hedge funds)) given by current Consulting Associates, HR manager, and Consulting manager.

Interview Details – Background:
The position is for their newly opened Beijing office

I send my resume through email. Three weeks later, I recieved a phone call to set me up for a phone interivew and to inform me the approximate length of the interview (30 mins).

1st round : The call came on time. The interviewer begins with "tell me something about youself" and then perceed to the usual resume runthrough, and then ask a few behavior questions like: what are your strength? Later switch to general questions about the company just to see if you have done any research on the company and investment consulting industry in general. "what are Cambridge Associates' competitors?", "why do you want a career in investment consulting?"
My general impression is that they want to see if you are serious enough about the a career in investment consulting. the entire process took about 17 mins. I was told the decition will take a week, but I got a call the next day informing me that I have advanced to the 2nd round.

2nd round: the 2nd round consists of a written test and a case study ( not the case study you see for management consulting firms) More behavior questions but this time it goes really deep. you have 20 mins for the written test. I was given two topics. One is to write some afterthought on the recent finance related news I read, and the other one is to write the steps you will take to communicate with institutional clients. I took choice number one.
The case study has lots of materials. One of the consultant walks me through the entire process. It was about how to pick stocks, managers for institutional clients. ( sharpe ratio, diversifcations, athrimatrical means, covarience, effiency porfolio frontier) There were many graphes to get you going, but i kept thinking afterward that it is almost impossible to keep saying the right answers if I did not major in Finance. Afterwards, I met the other two staff ( small operation) mostly they want to see if you are a good fit for the firm and if you want to stay in Investment Consulting for long. (behavior questions go deeper)

Again, I was told the decition will take a week, but I got a call the next day informing me that I have advanced to the next round.

3rd round: By this stage, I guess the job has come down to only a few candidates (3 or 4) and I know that I have to distinguish myself, but I really don't know how. I know everyone on the shortlist must have the same problem. Anyhow, I prepare the best I could. The first half of the interiew was with someone I think would be the direct supervisor of this position. The qustions are like the ones I encountered on the 2nd interiew, but some easy questions related to Finance as well. The other half of the interview was with the director of the consulting group. Again, More behavior questions like round 2.

Overall, the interviewers were very pleasant and respectful. Most questions are aimed to discover whether your goals and interests are in line with the company's.

Interview Details – Fairly straightforward interview process. Starts with a phone interview with a current consulting associate who has a year or two's experience, it's a very relaxed conversation about your background, then some basic questions on investments.

Interview Details – Submitted an application and cover letter via campus recruiting. First had an on-campus interview with a 23-year-old Consulting Associate. Very informal. Then had a sort of super-day at their offices in Boston. It consisted of five 30-45 minute interviews, and then an informal lunch off-site with a current Consulting associate. The interviews were as follows:
1. Behavioral - about academic background
2. Behavioral - about work experience
3. A sort of case study. You are given a hypothetical client institution (University) and asked how you would develop a an investment strategy that suits their goals
4. You are handed a short article about how Harvard, Yale, and Stanford have changed their investment strategies since the financial crisis. You are asked to read, analyze, and discuss the article. Not a high pressure environment, though.
5. 30 minute interview about why you want to work at Cambridge, what your goals are, etc

Interview Details – Just had a first round interview at a recruiting event. Interviewer was extremely friendly and nice. It was just a 30 minute interview during which we went through my resume and talked about me. They said it would take 2 weeks to hear back but I still have not heart anything 2 months later.

Interview Details – 1st round phone interview.
2nd round on-site interview with 4 different people.

Negotiation Details – None.

Interview Details – Interviews with other associates and consultants. I did 5 rounds because it was done purely by Skype. Applied through the website. Emailed me back.

Negotiation Details – No negotiation.

Interview Details – First round interview was in August, with two consulting associates. They said that I would hear back from their HR dept within 2-3 weeks. 5 weeks later I heard back positively and scheduled a final round interview at their office in Boston. The final round consisted of 5 half hour interviews with two Cambridge employees. Most were Consulting Associates. The 1st was about my personal/academic experiences. The 2nd was about my work experience. The 3rd was a hypothetical client problem on risk vs return. It was not a traditional case interview but they gave me time to study the materials and then i presented to the interviewers. The 4th was a conversation about an article on asset diversification. The 5th was about Cambridge Associates and its Consulting Associate program. Afterwards, there is a 6th "interview" over lunch to see how you handle yourself in a social setting. Again they said that I would hear back 2-3 weeks later. A month passed with no word, so I sent an email to their HR dept. Their response was that they were finishing up the final round and would get back to me in a couple weeks. 3 weeks later I sent another email and got the same response. Finally 2 weeks after that, in December, I got a call from them letting me know that they were moving ahead with other candidates. Overall a good experience. I would have enjoyed working with anyone with whom I interviewed. The only negative was that their HR dept kept giving false deadlines.

Interview Details – The first round was a 30 minute experience interview. Very casual and relaxed:all standard questions: why my university, major, past work, why Cambridge, etc.
Second round was in their Boston offices. 5 30 min interviews + lunch. Interview topics: academics, work, a case (walk-though), analyze an article and finally why Cambridge/Investment Consulting.