MasterCard Business Analyst Interview Questions & Reviews

Interviewed May 2009 in Saint Louis, MO (took a day)

Initial phone interview was quick and seemed more of a formality than anything. The phone interview consisted of 3 or 4 questions recapping some of the highlights from my resume and then moved on to scheduling a panel interview. An email was sent by the HR representative requesting that an online application be completed prior to the face-to-face interview.

The group interview began with a 20 minute meeting with an HR representative detailing the benefits offered should I get the position and I was then led to a small conference room. The group interview consisted of 4 Business Analysts from that particular team, as well as the Senior Analyst. Each panel member was permitted to ask questions.

The questions were pretty standard such as "Can you tell me about a time when you gathered requirements and it wasn't enough?" an "Have you ever worked on project with tight deadlines?" and "How do you handle stress?". The project life-cycle for MasterCard was 6-12 months... sometimes longer. This seemed to be a major talking point for the team, as was their concern for making sure revisions to the submitted requirements documents happened as infrequently as possible. They were quick to point out that they had their own format for documentation and anyone getting the position would be following that same format.

The two questions I struggled with the most were "Can you describe the layout of your documentation?" which should've been a lay-up but the answers I gave never seemed enough. The other question I struggled with was role-playing with them as to my approach in interviewing stakeholders for project documentation. If you're asked this question remember to be extra thorough.

After the obligatory "thank-you" emails I got an email a few days later saying I had not gotten the position. Good luck and I hope this helps!