Financial Analyst job role comes with specific requirements which are distinct from the rest. For example, fresher applying for the position of a financial analyst must amplify their analytical, communication, problem-solving and technical skills and improve their attention to detail. However, honing these skills is not enough. They must prove the suitable choice for examining the companies’ financial data, analysing the business trends and setting a positive example for prepping a finance case study on the company’s accounting statements in future.
Hiring officers fire various questions based on the industry a company serves. However, a few questions remain the same. Here are 4 common interview questions every potential financial analyst goes through.
Q1) What intrigues you about being a financial analyst?
Question for the Job position: Entry-level financial analyst
What the recruiting officer wants to know:
The interviewer is interested to know how the candidate states his passion from a professional viewpoint.
He wants to learn:
- Why the specific job role interests the candidate, and what has driven him to finance
- What the candidate says about his possible gains from his experience in the company and how he wants his career to unfold
How to answer:
The best way to answer the question is to talk about the drives that led to the interest in finance and choose it as a long-term career path. Talking about the background, experience, and strengths that align with the requirements of the job role can help hit the bull’s eye. For example, the applicant may highlight the educational qualification and skills that led him to believe that the profession of a financial analyst is the best role for their career.
Q2) What drives you to work for our company?
Question for the Job position: All levels of a financial analyst
What the recruiter wants to know:
There are varieties of job roles for a financial analyst. It includes holding positions at banks, companies involved in securities, insurance, non-profits and funding for pension, shares, and bonds. To be precise, the company is interested in learning about the reasons for a candidate’s affinity towards industry, the specific type of organisation and the company.
How to answer the question:
Though it may sound absurd, applicants must answer this question treating it like solving any case study. The first step would be some before-interview research on the company and keeping a mental note of its unique features that appeal to the candidate. Then in the interview, the applicant must answer following the structure of an inverted pyramid. For example, why he wants to be a financial analyst, the type of company the candidate is currently working in, and what he finds attractive in the company he applied for. However, one should never badmouth the current or previous employers.
Q3) Do you prefer to work in a team or solo?
Question for the Job position: Fresher
What the recruiter wants to know:
A typical company that hires financial analysts requires personnel with tremendous collaborative skills to manage the job. For example, it may need an analyst to design its sales model while the other for the vendor models and combine the data with building a business model for the company’s financial officer. A recruiter evaluates if the candidate fits in the industry and for the specific position in the company. If a company has financial analysis roles that need collaborative skills while the applicant prefers to work all by himself, he might not be the best choice for the company or vice versa; the company may not provide him with the best ambience for development.
How to answer:
Simply answering the question about the preferences and providing suitable examples is the best approach. One must remember that this type of interview question has no accurate or inappropriate answers. For example, some individuals and companies value independence over collaborative work and vice versa. The game here is to match the preferences.
Q4) Talk about a time when you had to present financial data
Question for the Job position: fresher to mid-senior level
What the recruiter wants to know:
The interviewer wants to analyse the candidate’s experience and skill in creating presentations. Often financial analysts have to deal with presentations to send to the company leaders or third parties. Learning about what a candidate has done helps analyse how he might perform in the future. The hiring officer will see how the presentation was prepared and what kind of data was presented. It will also help examine the candidate’s comfort in speaking about the presentation details in front of the senior officers.
The recruiters may also be interested in learning whether the presentation was successful, what the candidate has learnt from it and what changes he would have made if given a second chance to do the task.
How to answer:
Handle the answer using the “S – Situation, T – Task, A – Action, R- Result” method. To answer this question, one must set the scene, elaborate on the undertaken responsibilities, state the actions and brush up on the outcomes of the steps taken. A detailed story, including every piece of information, will give the interviewer an overview of everything involved. Finally, the candidate must be ready to answer further enquiries about the processes involved.
In Short,
A financial analyst is a responsible position in a company irrespective of its current status in the industry. Therefore, recruiters often dig deep to ensure that the candidate they choose is the best to achieve the organisation’s goals. Thus, most often, the questions they place in front of a candidate are confusing and easy to shake off the applicant’s self-confidence. Candidates may not face the exact questions in the interview but can come across similar ones. Entering the interview room with confidence and preparedness often helps to hit the questions with precise answers and bag the job in the company.
Author Bio: Patrick Bate is a financial officer of an MNC in the UK. In her free time, she offers academic help to finance students through MyAssignmenthelp.com. Whether a finance case study or a finance dissertation writing help , students may connect with her on the platform to resolve queries.
