Compass Lexecon Interview Questions & Reviews
Overview |
| |
Salaries |
| |
Reviews |
| |
Interviews |
| |
Photos |
| |
Jobs |
| |
|
Updated May 2, 2012 – Interview questions and reviews posted anonymously by interview candidates.
|
Difficulty Rating [?] Based on 9 ratings 
“Average” Interview
|
Interview Experience [?] Based on 9 ratings
|
Compass Lexecon has 127 connections on Glassdoor
See Who You Know
| 1–9 of 9 Compass Lexecon Interviews | Sort by |
Analyst at Compass Lexecon
Posted May 2, 2012
|
4.0
Difficult Interview
|
Overall Neutral Experience
|
Interviewed and No Offer
|
Interviewed May 2011 (took 4+ weeks)
Initially submitted application (with required writing sample of an economics research) through my university's job listings site. Got an offer for phone interview (about 30 min) that asked basic questions about my background, why I'm interested and one general question on antitrust/competition. The first in-person interview was at the office for a total of 2 hours, with 2 analysts and a phD economist, who administers the 45min case study, which u analyze and answer 3 questions (including some spreadsheet work) and present it to the economist. The last interview is also around 2hours with 2 other analysts (who asked some specific regression/stats questions) and some senior staff (VPs etc). Overall the office and culture seemed like a library, with professional and serious staff.
Interview Questions
Other Details
I Applied Online and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview, a 1:1 Interview, a Group/Panel Interview and a Skills Test.
More Compass Lexecon Analyst Interviews
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Analyst at Compass Lexecon
Posted Apr 10, 2012
|
3.0
Average Interview
|
Overall Neutral Experience
|
Interviewed and No Offer
|
Interviewed Mar 2012 in Pasadena, CA (took a day)
Interviewer was looking for Analysts to fill positions at the newly expanded Pasadena location. Basic interview questions (what are your skills, why are you fit for the job, where else have you interviewed, walk me through your resume). There was a short brainteaser given at the end, but nothing too difficult.
Interview Questions
Other Details
I got the interview through a College or University and the interview consisted of a 1:1 Interview.
More Compass Lexecon Analyst Interviews
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Summer Analyst at Compass Lexecon
Posted Mar 14, 2012
|
4.0
Difficult Interview
|
Overall Positive Experience
|
Interviewed and No Offer
|
Interviewed Mar 2011 in Oakland, CA (took 2 weeks)
Applied thru on campus recruiting, received phone interview 2 weeks later which was fairly straightforward (they asked me basic economics questions about supply/demand and complements/supplements). The second round interview took a total of 4 hours at the office; I spoke to two analysts, one senior economist, and one VP.
Interview Questions
Other Details
The interview consisted of a Phone Interview and a 1:1 Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Consultant at Compass Lexecon
Posted Nov 3, 2011
|
3.0
Average Interview
|
Overall Negative Experience
|
Interviewed and No Offer
|
Interviewed Sep 2011 in New York, NY (took 6 days)
one of the groups within the company. It was a small group and they were looking for an immediate position. They were trying something new and had me write an essay about the european debt crisis, take a problem-solving test and looking at a valuation of an oil company on excel. This took about 3 hours before I met anyone at the company. Then two guys came in, talked about themselves for a while, asked me a couple of questions, then wanted to know more about the valuation. It seemed they were looking for some particulars of corporate finance.
Interview Questions
Other Details
I got the interview through an Employee Referral and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview, a 1:1 Interview, a Group/Panel Interview, a Presentation and a Skills Test.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Intern at Compass Lexecon
Posted Sep 1, 2011
|
2.0
Easy Interview
|
Overall Positive Experience
|
Received and Accepted Offer
|
Interviewed Apr 2011 in Chicago, IL (took 1 week)
Sent in a resume. Interview was short - some questions about my resume, mostly conversational and discussing the position. The process is pretty opaque on the hire side, but you'll never know what they think about you until they hire you or not.
Interview Questions
Other Details
The interview consisted of a Phone Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Analyst at Compass Lexecon
Posted Jun 16, 2011
|
2.0
Easy Interview
|
Overall Positive Experience
|
Interviewed and No Offer
|
Interviewed May 2011 in Oakland, CA (took a day)
Got a call from their office, interviewer was a current analyst at their firm. Very interested in my research and econometric work, as well as my experience in other consulting. Lots of discussion about statistical nitty-gritties and some about using Stata. Definitely helpful to have experience with economic research and statistics, and the ability to talk about it on the spot. Case study questions should be easy if you've had intro econ.
Interview Questions
Other Details
The interview consisted of a Phone Interview.
More Compass Lexecon Analyst Interviews
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Analyst at Compass Lexecon
Posted Jun 8, 2011
|
4.0
Difficult Interview
|
Overall Negative Experience
|
Interviewed and No Offer
|
Interviewed Jun 2011 in Oakland, CA (took a day)
I got the job interview by sending an unsolicited email to the recruiting staff. A couple weeks later, I got an email from the recruiting staff telling me that they'd like to set up a phone interview for an Analyst position. When it came time for the interview, I felt totally prepared. Since graduating college, I have had 2 years of work experience in consulting, analysis, document preparation, and even quantitative research using an economic model that I was able to teach myself to use. I was ready to discuss my work experience and how it would relate to the job.
The phone interview was extremely cold. At the start of the call, I was not even greeted with a friendly "How are you?", which was fine (though, a little rude and against basic conversation etiquette), but probably also indicative of the type of company this is. The person they had interview me was an Analyst, and started the conversation by saying that she recently graduated from college herself and had been working there for one year, and then she jumped into questions. It was clear that she had no experience in being an interviewer. Despite all of my work in consulting that would have been extremely relevant to the position, all she wanted to hear about was my undergraduate experience (!?!) and the type of research I encountered there. She even cut me off when I started to explain that I have had much more extensive research experience since graduating college, and said "I'm sorry, I only meant that I wanted to hear about the experience from undergrad." They are extremely interested in quantitative research experience, which is interesting because the job description does not list it as a requirement. Also, if you mention a research project that you did using a quantitative model (i.e., Stata), be prepared to discuss it at length, including what controls were used to conduct the study, etc.
Not once during the whole interview did she ask me what my strengths were, what I would be able to bring to the position, why I should be hired, etc. All she wanted to know was what the extent of my quantitative research was in undergrad and then wanted me to answer a case study question. I did not feel that she was able to get an accurate sense of who I am or what I would be like as an employee, which should be the whole point of the interview, right? The interviewer, who was acting as a representative of the company, came off as very unprofessional. I also got the feeling that since I did not go to Stanford like she did, that she never really gave me a chance from the start. I ended the call with a horrible feeling about the company as a whole, and also the feeling that if this is what the people are like here then this is not where I belong.
I'm not sure what the point is for the company to have what they call a "recruiting team" if they just delegate actual interviews/screening to lower-level staff members.
Interview Questions
After I listed various potential concerns that would need to be looked at, she then said "Let's say there are two scenarios: 1) You have a market with 10 firms and the largest two firms have 20% and 30% of the market share, respectively, and then the rest of the firms split the market share equally between the rest of them; and the other scenario is that you have a market with four firms and the top two have 20% and 30% of the market share and the rest of the market is shared equally between the other two. Which of these two scenarios is more troubling?" Mind you, this is said all over the phone and she is stumbling over her words trying to explain the situation that seemed like she made up on the spot. Later in the conversation, the second scenario somehow became a market comprised of "three firms" instead of the four firms she had initially described. It was obnoxious. After I gave her an answer (Scenario 1 would be more troubling) she responded with "Why?" so I explained how I reached my conclusion, and then she asked "Why would scenario 1 necessarily result in that?" So I said explained that it wouldn't "necessarily", but it could for the following reasons (yada yada yada), and then she asked me an additional question that was some derivative of "Why do you think that?" She basically beat the question into the ground trying to break down my thought process. At the end she said "I tend to agree with you that Scenario 1 would be more troubling."
I felt like she was stringing the question along hoping I would make a mistake that she could zero in on.
Other Details
I Applied Online and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview.
More Compass Lexecon Analyst Interviews
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Analyst at Compass Lexecon
Posted Apr 21, 2011
|
1.0
Very Easy Interview
|
Overall Neutral Experience
|
Interviewed and No Offer
|
Interviewed Feb 2011 in Chicago, IL (took a day)
I basically applied through an email and was offered an onsite interview right away. I interviews with 3 people and they asked me behavioral questions mostly and about my background and work experience. It was like a casual and pretty laid back conversation, no pressure at all. Although an easy interview, I was frustrated that they did not offer a formal entry-level position training.
Interview Questions
Other Details
I Applied Online and the interview consisted of a 1:1 Interview.
More Compass Lexecon Analyst Interviews
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Analyst at Compass Lexecon
Posted Mar 15, 2011
|
3.0
Average Interview
|
Overall Neutral Experience
|
Interviewed and No Offer
|
Interviewed Feb 2011 in New York, NY (took a day)
First interview merely consisted of basic behavioral/tell me about yourself type questions. Firm extremely interested in any programming and econometrics experience you might have. From firm insider heard that culture was "like a library", quite with nice accessible people but with limited social interactions. Questions included: What do you know about the company? What do you know about the industry? What can you tell me about the position?
Interview Questions
Other Details
I got the interview through an Employee Referral and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview.
More Compass Lexecon Analyst Interviews
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
RSS Feed for Compass Lexecon
Interviews
Embed
