#How to Answer Difficult Financial Analyst Interview Questions?

The interview process for financial analysts is typically complex and sophisticated. Many candidates apply; it is hard to succeed.

What questions to expect? How to impress your interviewers. What decided the winner at the end. And most importantly, how to prepare for this challenging experience and walk away with a coveted job contract? You will find all the answers on our website, that specializes only in financial analyst interview. Written by Jeremy Hopkins. consultant at financial recruitment agency, and Matthew Chulaw. professional interview coach. Enjoy your reading!

What questions to expect?

FA Interview typically starts with few simple, personal questions. Recruiters inquire about your goals, attitudes, abilities and experience. to get a basic understanding of your personality. They will ask you some of the following questions:

Note: Click on a question below will redirect you to a separate page, where it is analyzed, explained and answered. However, I suggest you to firstly read the entire content on this page, so you understand all the nuances of this interview. how to approach it and what decides the winner at the end. It would be useless to practice answers to the questions without this knowledge.  

• Why do you want to become a financial analyst?
• What do you want to accomplish on this position?
• Where do you see yourself in five years time?
• What motivates you?
• Why should we hire you?
• What are your strengths and weaknesses?

Behavioral questions

Behavioral interviewing has become very popular in recent years, especially in the United States. Interviewers inquire about various work-related situations from your past. Doing so, they try to predict your behavior in the future .

The logic is simple: If you acted in some way in situation A, you will most likely act in the same way in similar situation in the future.

For finance analyst position, recruiters typically use the following behavioral questions:

You should try to recall these situations, especially the one you were able to deal with. It will help you in a behavioral interview, second stage of typical interview process for FA.

Note: Job applicants do not realize it, but recruiters test your real experience with behavioral questions as well .

Someone experienced should quickly recall a wrong forecast he made, or a tight deadline he had to meet. Think about it.

Technical questions

Technical questions represent the most important part of an interview. Answers to these questions reflect your readiness to do the job. It reflects your true knowledge of financial analysis. If you want to succeed, you should be ready to answer at least all of the following questions:

• What processes do you use to create reports?
• What systems and programs would you use to prepare illustrated technical reports using graphs, spreadsheets and draw charts?
• Can you explain financial models?
• Have you created month-end sales reports?
• How do you calculate a company’s cash flow?
• Which stocks do you frequently track? Why?
• What profitability models have you used for forecasting a project? Which model do you consider to be the best one, based on your experience?
• Are you familiar with developing business casing and ad-hoc analysis?
• When you are given a large financial analysis project, what is the first thing you do?
• Describe a project; what financial practices did you target?
• What methodologies do you use in your financial analysis?

What more?

Once you are ready to answer typical, behavioral and technical questions, your chances to get a job will be good.

However, do not forget that there are many people applying for the same position. Many of them visit our website and check at least few answers to interview questions.

You need to outclass them. You need to be better. You need to know more! There are several ways how to stand out from the crowd and get the job :

1. Show extra motivation in an interview. You can be the one who asks lot of questions about company culture, working environment, goals for analysts. Be interested in them and they will be interested in you.
2. Try to create good relationship with the recruiters. Smile, give compliments, be a good listener, show respect.
3. Prepare something extra. Can you show your work with a portfolio? Can you get written recommendation from your past employers? You should do something extra. There are many candidates and you can not get a job being an average one
4. However, if it seems too complicated, you can consider purchasing my e-book, Financial Analyst Interview Guide. You will learn brilliant interview answers to all tough technical and behavioral questions. It includes practical exercises with solutions, winning interview strategies and much more. Thank you for checking it out. I wish you good luck!

Jeremy Hopkins, Your Personal Interview Coach