Five Interview Questions Every Financial Professional Should Be Ready to Answer

Preparing for a financial interview can be daunting but knowing what to expect makes all the difference. This blog breaks down five common interview questions for financial professionals, offering tips on how to structure your answers to highlight your expertise and stand out to potential employers. Get access to top financial positions with PrideStaff Financial.

Why do you want to work for our company?

This may seem like a standard question, but it’s nuanced and with good reason. The company wants to know why you want to work for them—specifically in this industry, for this type of organization. There are a broad range of ways to answer this for financial professionals. Remember that this question can apply to positions at banks, pension funds, mutual funds, security firms, insurance companies, nonprofits with large endowments, and corporations. Your interviewer wants to know why you’re excited about this opportunity with them over all other opportunities. Do your research on the organization and make sure you can talk about what makes it unique and why those qualities appeal to you.

Are you pursuing professional licensing, credentials, and/or certifications?

There are a variety of certifications and designations you can earn. While a recruiter can look at your resume or LinkedIn profile to see what certifications you have, this kind of question is meant to help them understand what compelled you to get additional training and how you’re utilizing it on a day-to-day basis. Companies are trying to see how dedicated you are to furthering your education and skills, what you’ve gotten from your education, or how you apply it. If you’re an entry-level candidate, don’t panic if you don’t already have licensing or certifications. In this case, the interviewer probably wants to hear that you’ve given this career path long-term consideration and are thinking futuristically.

Tell me about a time when you had to present financial data.    

This question helps potential employers assess whether you have experience and skills in making presentations. Some financial experts are regularly tasked with presenting data to company leadership or other parties, so hearing how you’ve done in the past will help them predict how you’d do in the role you’re applying for. Your answer will offer a glimpse into how you prepare for a presentation, the kind of data you’ve presented, and how comfortable you are speaking in front of people at different seniority levels. This is a great opportunity to use the “STAR” method to tackle your answer: Situation, Task, Action, Result. Think about your answer before launching into it, and tell as detailed a story of your past experience as possible.

What processes do you use to create reports?

Reporting is generally a big part of a financial professional’s job, and the reporting required will depend on the role. In your answer, they’ll be looking for software you are familiar with, technical skills as well as collaboration skills, communication, organization, follow-through, and time management.

Which profitability model would you use to determine if a project or company will be profitable?

This is a question that helps hiring managers understand how you do things. They’ll be looking for the steps you take to get from point A to point B, such as looking at revenue streams and looking at the costs associated with that profitability model. They want to see if you understand how to calculate a net present value and discount cash flows. You may have to do some math, particularly if a company gives you a specific problem to solve. Be prepared to walk the interviewer through your thought process.

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