Market Associate Interview Questions
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Market Associate interview questions shared by candidates
How do you influence people who do not report to you? How do you get them to do things even though they don't have to or want to?
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I would answer this question by first stating that it is important to get to know how people are motivated on a personal level first. If they do not report to you then you might not have positional authority to ask them for a deliverable. At a company like Microsoft, I'm sure that there are jobs/roles that require people to get help/collaboration from people outside of their positional authority. To do this, you must first know what motivates a person and proactively make personal "deposits" to build some solid connections so that when you need to make a "withdraw" you have invested enough. Deposits can be made by taking an interest in someone, providing them with help when they need it, or maybe buying them lunch/drinks. Less
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a) I've never actually had someone refuse to help me when asked, but b) I would try ahead of time to get to know them so that when I need to influence them or need to request assistance, they already have a basic level of comfort with me. Less
If the interest rates go down, what happens to the value of a bond?
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Bond Value goes higher to align yield with lower interest rates
How would you go about doing research on a potential customer?
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Find out what the core business is and the statistics surrounding the core.
How would you sell me eggnog in Florida in the summer?
9 Answers↳
I'd add rum and an umbrella and sell it as a cocktail.
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Frozen on a stick
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(grunch) (that's I determined my answer before reading other posts) freeze it and add rum. Less
Brain Teaser: A snail goes up 3 feet during the day and falls 1 foot at night. How long does it take him to go up 10 feet?
6 Answers↳
similar question http://brainteaserbible.com/interview-brainteaser-snail-drainpipe-climbs-falls-at-night-how-long-reach-top Less
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Almost seems too easy...you could simply say that the snail goes up 3 and down 1 every day, so it nets 2 ft which at that rate would take ten days. IMO, i think its important to ask what time of day it starts on the first day to give a more accurate answer... Also geographic location (it could be Barrow Alaska during winter, completely changing your answer. Less
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It doesn't say how long does it take him to make it ten feet up the wall. It just says, how long does it take for him to move up ten feet. That's 3 1/3 days (assuming equal movement throughout the day). Although he will have moved "up" ten feet, he will have also fallen back and will not be ten feet up the wall. Of course, you can also interpret it as the other answers suggest. Less
Video interview: 1) why this division 2) tell me about a recent news 3) effect of the fed hike on the bond market 4) additional comments
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Yes, it was realized through the Sonru platform
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Hi again, please if you still remember, could go recall what the sales and trading group exercises consisted of? Also was there any technical aspect of the interview. The AC invitation email is exactly as you've described but I don't want to be blindsided by a technical interview so I'd just like to confirm. Thank you! Less
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S&T excercise: it is a stock picking exercise. Your team has 20 min to find the right stock, and the choice depends on the client's needs. In addition, the HRs will communicate 2 market news during this session: 1 at the beginning (market opening), 1 after 10 min. These news will obviously affect the choice. The individual interview could be technical, it depends on who will interview you: I was asked to talk about econometrics aspects, another candidate was asked to talk about IRS etc..but don't worry about it because they do not require you to know everything, they are more focused on your personality. Less
You have 2 buckets...one 3 gallon bucket, one 5 gallon bucket. How do you get 4 gallons of water?
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fill the 5 gallon > fill the 3 gallon with the 5 gallon > empty 3 gallon > put remaining 2 gallons from 5 gallon to 3 gallon > fill 5 gallon > fill the last gallon from the 3 gallon with the 5 gallon bucket > you are left with 4 gallons in the 5 gallon Less
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fill 3 gallon bucket, fill the 5 gallon bucket with the 3 gallon fill the 3 gallon bucket again, fill 2 gallon of the 3 to the 5 gallon one, now there is 1 gallon left in the 3 gallon bucket empty the 5 gallon bucket and fill the 1 gallon into the 5 gallon bucket fill the 3 gallon bucket. now you have 4 gallon water, 1 in the 5 gallon bucket and 3 in the 3 gallon bucket Less
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Place the 3 gallon bucket upside-down inside the 5gal bucket...fill up the 5 gallon bucket and remove the 3 gallon to get the 2 gallons...then repeat. (This is assuming the 3 gallon bucket fits in the 5 gallon bucket.) Less
Tell me the different ways that you can calculate VaR (Value at Risk).
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Typically there are 3 ways in the industry to calculate VaR: 1. Historical (by far the most common, IME) 2. Parametric (not very useful, as returns tend to not be normal, unless you use EVT) 3. Monte Carlo (more often used in fixed income and other credit/debt portfolios than other asset classes) Less
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I think I said Monte Carlo, delta, gamma and Black-Scholes.