FactSet Consultant Interview Questions & Reviews
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Updated Apr 23, 2012 – Interview questions and reviews posted anonymously by interview candidates.
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Difficulty Rating [?] Based on 65 ratings 
“Average” Interview
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Interview Experience [?] Based on 65 ratings
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| 41–50 of 65 FactSet Interviews | Sort by |
Consultant at FactSet
Posted Dec 13, 2010 — 1 of 1 people found this helpful
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1.0
Very Easy Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Nov 2010 in San Mateo, CA (took 3 weeks)
The big thing with interviewing with FactSet is being a personality match for what they are looking for. I was flown out for a day of interviews which consisted of 1:1 interviews, a presentation and a group problem solving question with the other interviewees. None of the interviewers at any level of the process asked any technical questions and I feel that this is because the company is not an I-Bank looking to hire the top financial savvy candidates. Instead they are trying to hire people who they feel simply fit into their culture, which makes the whole process unfortunately very subjective. Assuming you prepare yourself with typical interview question knowledge such as what are your strengths/weaknesses, explain a time when you dealt with a problem etc etc, you will be set to answer every question as well as possible. Taking the step from answering the questions to getting an offer is an unknown since there are no technical questions/exams given that separate one candidate from another on a quantitative level. The presentation was odd, you are asked to create a ten minute presentation on the company's acquisition history without a computer for a presentation aid (IE powerpoint). The environment is very relaxed and you present to one person who follows up the presentation with questions about how you found your information, which acquisition was the most interesting etc. One common item between most of the interviewers is that they seem interested in having you ask questions as opposed to them drilling you for the 30 minute interview. Be prepared to ask questions of the interviewers themselves during the process, as a couple of them had a 15 minute of I ask you 15 min of you ask me format. Remember the entire interview process is essentially a personality matching process, so you want to be prepared to present yourself as someone they want to hang out with more than someone who knowns finance and accounting inside and out and can perform the job very well, which I feel is what I did poorly on. The majority of the people interviewing with me had no finance background and none of them had any accounting background, which demonstrates what the company is looking for even though the position entails meeting with and working along side financiers.
I felt the interviews went well, but received no response from thank you emails or cards and received a generic thanks but no thanks email two weeks after my interview, which was unfortunate. The interview process ended on a semi unprofessional note where there was no kind of summary given to the candidates such as a simple, "Thank you for your time, was nice meeting with you, we will contact everyone within the next 1-2 weeks." This was odd considering there was a handful of people interviewing and while one manager gave us the group problem, the others disappeared and were never seen again and never offered a thank you.
The culture seems great and the job seems really good for any college grad. The company offers a CFA program where you can take their in house exam and then have the company pay for your actual exam as well as offer a bonus for passing. Contrary to what a lot of people have said about growth potential, the company trains employees throughly on their systems then quickly moves the employees into customer facing positions where they are allowed to schedule travel itinerary to visit clients around the United States. Employees also gain experience working with analytical software as per job description as well as practice with financial modeling. So with a CFA, travel and customer relation experience and strong experience with financial modeling if you cannot use the experience to lever a better position with the company you would need to be brain dead if you could not find better work elsewhere with that 1-2 year out of school resume. The office also provides lunch for the employees and the company has a good benefit package.
Interview Questions
Other Details
The interview consisted of a 1:1 Interview and a Presentation.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Consultant at FactSet
Posted Dec 3, 2010 — 1 of 1 people found this helpful
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4.0
Difficult Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Received and Declined Offer
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Interviewed Oct 2010 in San Mateo, CA (took 2 days)
I heard about FactSet though a career fair. I am a HR management Major. The recruiter said that they are not looking for a specific degree to fill the Consultant position. She was very nice. I then applied though my colleges website and got a response back from a lady on the HR team. We scheduled a phone interview. She asked about stuff on my resume and how it pertained to the position I was interviewing for. The phone interview took about 30 minutes. She said she would talk to the mangers at the San Mateo office and get back to me. I heard back within 2 days. Factset offered to fly me out for a more detailed interview. The interview consisted of 4, 1:1 interviews with different people in the company. Also had to prepare a 10 minute presentation on how the past acquisitions have generated growth for factset. Only had to present to one person. Also had a group brain teaser that we did together with the other interviewers. It was about finding which potion was which based on clues. I felt I completely rocked the interview. I flew back with confidence. I did not hear anything from anyone for over a week. I sent follow up emails and all. I then got a a rejection email. Was very bummed.
All the people I met seemed very nice. The office is very welcoming. Seems like a great place to work if you get accepted. Very competitive though. Good luck
Interview Questions
Reason for Declining
Rejected :(
Other Details
The interview consisted of a Phone Interview, a 1:1 Interview, a Group/Panel Interview and a Presentation.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Consultant at FactSet
Posted Dec 3, 2010 — 0 of 1 people found this helpful
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3.0
Average Interview
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Overall Neutral Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Oct 2010 in Boston, MA (took a day)
The phone interview was basic and boring. "What is your interest in finance?" etc
Interview Questions
Other Details
The interview consisted of a Phone Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Consultant at FactSet
Posted Nov 8, 2010
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3.0
Average Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Oct 2010 in Norwalk, CT (took 1 week)
The interview began with a simple phone interview that lasted 30 minuties. I was told they would contact me after the phone interview a week later with a decision whether or not they wanted to continue. To my surprise, they got back to me within 2 hours to set up an in person interview the following week. The interview took 5 1/2 hours and consisted of meeting with 5 executives each for 30 minutes. Overall a great experience.
Interview Questions
Other Details
The interview consisted of a Phone Interview and a 1:1 Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Consultant at FactSet
Posted Nov 1, 2010
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3.0
Average Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Received and Accepted Offer
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Interviewed Aug 2010 (took 1 week)
It was very nice interview process. I felt at ease and comfortable during the interviews. I was called for two days. In the first stage it was one interview and some tests. The second stage was three interviews and three different tests. The tests was excel, finance and numerical. All very basic if you ask me and if you just prepare a bit it shouldn't be a big problem. If you are not from a financial background I suggest you click around at wikipedia a bit and learn some common financial words.
Interview Questions
Negotiation Details
There was no negotiation.
Other Details
I Applied Online and the interview consisted of a Group/Panel Interview, a Presentation, a Skills Test and a Personality Test.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Consultant at FactSet
Posted Oct 28, 2010
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3.0
Average Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Received and Accepted Offer
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Interviewed Jan 2008 (took 5 days)
I had about five 1-on-1 or 1-on-2 interviews, and was them taken out to lunch with the other people being interviewed and some current employees doing the job I was interviewing for.
They did take me through an Excel test and asked me a few brain-teasers. They said it wasn't important that the answer was correct, but they wanted to understand my though process.
Interview Questions
Negotiation Details
They said they wouldn't negotiate on salary, but I was able to get them to increase the signing bonus.
Other Details
The interview consisted of a Phone Interview, a 1:1 Interview, a Presentation, an IQ/Intelligence Test and a Skills Test.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Consultant at FactSet
Posted Oct 20, 2010 — 3 of 4 people found this helpful
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3.0
Average Interview
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Overall Neutral Experience
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Received and Declined Offer
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Interviewed Jan 2010 in San Mateo, CA (took 2 days)
The first interview was at the university campus which involved general interview question mostly about my past experience. The second interview was at FactSet which involved meeting with five different managers and a presentation about their acquisitions. Critical were the brain teaser questions and "potion" puzzle.
Interview Questions
Reason for Declining
There are a few reasons I will never work for FactSet. 1. The first manager I met with was unprofessional and I will not tolerate working with people of her type. 2. They are dishonest. They talk about growth opportunities when none exist. They push for CFAs and people who hold Masters degrees when they know that is just a wasted resource in that company. You will never use a CFA nor a Masters degree in any of the positions they offer. 3. I am a person with high interest in the field of finance not technical support. And after speaking with a employees there, they either have a economics or finance background yet none pick up the WSJ at least once a week. I would like to work with people who have the same interests as me. ---- Only work for this company if you have no future goals set out. This company does NOT offer a career as they claim. This company offers a job.
Other Details
I got the interview through a College or University and the interview consisted of a 1:1 Interview, a Group/Panel Interview, a Presentation and an IQ/Intelligence Test.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Consultant at FactSet
Posted Oct 18, 2010
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3.0
Average Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Oct 2010 in London, England (United Kingdom) (took 3 weeks)
First Stage:
Consisted of and assessment test which had 3 parts to it:
Finance Test: Asked pretty basic questions, such as what is the London Stock Exchange for ?
Math Test : Pretty straightforward, nothing too technical
Excel Test: Basic excel skills tested (freeze pane, formulas , functions, vlookup, nested if's )
Interview Questions
stocks are commonly known as ?
Other Details
The interview consisted of a Skills Test.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Consultant at FactSet
Posted Oct 4, 2010
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3.0
Average Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Received and Accepted Offer
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Interviewed Sep 2010 (took a day)
Started with a phone interview, then they invited/paid for me to go up to the office. I interviewed 5 different people. they were friendly and asked alot about my past work experience and why i wanted the job
Interview Questions
Other Details
I got the interview through a College or University and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview and a 1:1 Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Consultant at FactSet
Posted Sep 24, 2010
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3.0
Average Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Received and Accepted Offer
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Interviewed Jan 2008 (took 2 days)
Interview by several levels consultants managers, sales people. The thought is to get a feel for the candidate and if they will be a right fit.
Interview Questions
Other Details
I Applied Online.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
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