Davidson Companies Interview Questions

10 total interview insight submissions
Interview Experience (89%)

The Interview Experience is a score from 1 star (very negative) to 5 stars (very positive) generated based on the Interview Insights at this company.

The number you see in the middle of the doughnut pie chart is the simple average of these scores. If you hover over the various sections of the donut, you will see the % breakdown of each score given.

The percentile score in the title is calculated across the entire Company Database and uses an adjusted score based on Bayesian Estimates (to account for companies that have few interview insights). Simply put, as a company gets more reviews, the confidence of a "true score" increases so it is pulled closer to its simple average and away from the average of the entire dataset.

3.9
  • Very Negative
  • Negative
  • Neutral
  • Positive
  • Very Positive
Interview Difficulty (76%)

The Interview Difficulty is a score ranging from very difficult (red) to very easy (green) generated based on the Interview Insights at this company.

The number you see in the middle of the doughnut pie chart is the simple average of these scores. The higher the number, the more difficult the interviews on average. If you hover over the various sections of the doughnut, you will see the % breakdown of each score given.

The percentile score in the title is calculated across the entire Company Database and uses an adjusted score based on Bayesian Estimates (to account for companies that have few interview insights). Simply put, as a company gets more insights, the confidence of a "true score" increases so it is pulled closer to its simple average and away from the average of the entire data set.

2.6
  • Very Easy
  • Easy
  • Average
  • Difficult
  • Very Difficult
% Interns - FT Offers (73%)

The % of Interns Getting a Full Time Offer chart is meant to provide a realistic estimate of the hiring practices of the company based on the reviews at this company.

The number you see in the middle of the doughnut pie chart is the simple average of these scores. If you hover over the various sections of the doughnut, you will see the % breakdown of each score given.

The percentile score in the title is calculated across the entire Company Database and uses an adjusted score based on Bayesian Estimates (to account for companies that have few reviews). Simply put, as a company gets more reviews, the confidence of a "true score" increases so it is pulled closer to the simple company average and away from the average of the entire data set.

80%
  • 0%
  • 10%
  • 20%
  • 30%
  • 40%
  • 50%
  • 60%
  • 70%
  • 80%
  • 90%
  • 100%

Interviews at Davidson Companies

Filter by:
Year
Job Title
Group/Division
Location
Experience
Difficulty
Summer Associate Intern
Year 2021
Job Title Summer Associate Intern
Group/Division Quantitative Research
Location New York
Experience
Neutral
Difficulty
Difficult
Student / Prospective Monkey
Year 2020
Job Title Student / Prospective Monkey
Group/Division Generalist
Location San Diego
Experience
Positive
Difficulty
Average
Year 2015
Job Title
Group/Division Mergers and Acquisitions
Location Chicago
Experience
Positive
Difficulty
Average
1st Year Analyst
Year 2014
Job Title 1st Year Analyst
Group/Division Investment Banking
Location Costa Mesa
Experience
Positive
Difficulty
Average
Trading Assistant
Year 2013
Job Title Trading Assistant
Group/Division Equity Capital Markets
Location Denver
Experience
Positive
Difficulty
Difficult
Intern
Year 2013
Job Title Intern
Group/Division Investment Banking
Location Salt Lake City
Experience
Neutral
Difficulty
Average
Intern
Year 2012
Job Title Intern
Group/Division
Location Bozeman
Experience
Neutral
Difficulty
Easy
Year 2012
Job Title
Group/Division
Location Great Falls
Experience
Positive
Difficulty
Easy
1st Year Analyst
Year 2012
Job Title 1st Year Analyst
Group/Division
Location Chicago
Experience
Very Positive
Difficulty
Very Easy
1st Year Analyst
Year 2011
Job Title 1st Year Analyst
Group/Division
Location Great Falls
Experience
Very Positive
Difficulty
Very Easy

Interview Questions & Answers - Davidson Companies Examples

summer intern Interview - Quantitative Research

Anonymous interview candidate in New York
Interviewed: October 2021
Outcome
No Offer
Interview Source
Applied Online
Length of Process
1-2 months
Application
Phone Interview
Presentation
Skills Test
Interview
Coding OA, 3 rounds of interview, pretty intense. Coding OA consists of python data analysis. 2 rounds of interview with colleagues and 1 final round with head to the team.
Interview Questions
Lots of questions about how to model and deal with alternative data. Lots of questions about past projects.

Investment Banking Analyst Interview - Generalist

Anonymous interview candidate in San Diego
Interviewed: October 2020
Outcome
Declined Offer
Interview Source
Recruiter
Length of Process
Less than 1 month
Application
Phone Interview
1 on 1 Interview
Interview
A recruiter reached out via email that they had received from my school's resume book via direct email to my personal address. The first interview was a simple "getting to know you" phone call with the recruiter, with only one technical question. (Describe a buy-side transaction) Afterward, she forwarded my resume to the local office and they reached out the following week to set up a 2-hour zoom interview. The primary "super-day" interview was four 30 minute interview with anyone ranging from a second-year analyst to the managing director. They all started with similar behavorial questions and did not seem as though they were attempting to be intimidating. All four interviewers asked a few simple technical questions that you can find in any basic IB interview FAQ.
Interview Questions
What is WACC?
Depreciation explained
What is Investment Banking?
Why Davidson?
What are the common valuation methods?

Investment Banking Analyst Interview - Mergers and Acquisitions

Anonymous interview candidate in Chicago
Interviewed: August 2015
Outcome
No Offer
Interview Source
Applied Online
Length of Process
1-2 months
Application
Phone Interview
1 on 1 Interview
Interview
It has an Assoc. in the M&A team (very pushy) who conducted the phone interview. Asked me to walk her through my resume
Interview Questions
She caught me definitely by surprise by this question. Tell me the 6 steps of an sell-side M&A. Explain as much as you can. It was an open ended question with her gauging how much I know about an M&A. The second

Investment Banking Analyst Interview - Investment Banking

Anonymous interview candidate in Costa Mesa
Interviewed: November 2014
Outcome
No Offer
Interview Source
Applied Online
Length of Process
Less than 1 month
Application
Phone Interview
1 on 1 Interview
Group Interview
Skills Test
Interview
Had initial phone screen with HR - lady was very nice. General questions about background, experience, interest in IB. no technicals.

Superday - Was invited for superday that consisted of talking to 3 industry groups, each looking to add an analyst. Everyone was nice, very light on technicals. At the end was also a 1 hour skills test on excel - valuation of a company, building out pro-forma I/S, etc. Needed to pull all information yourself from SEC filings.

RED FLAG- Two of the groups only consisted of 2 Bankers, and the last consisted entirely of one VP in that "group". WTF? - Serious question of deal flow and what kind of work the analyst would be doing if he was hired and working with just a VP. Could not find much information online of their past recent deals.
Interview Questions
Why do you want to work in the *X* industry? Have an answer for each industry group. Also know why you want to be in Costa Mesa and why D.A. Davidson overall. I gave the general answer - great MM shop, nice to be in Cali, nice people, more interaction with clients.

Institutional Sales Associate Interview - Equity Capital Markets

Anonymous interview candidate in Denver
Interviewed: March 2013
Outcome
Declined Offer
Interview Source
Applied Online
Length of Process
Less than 1 month
Application
Phone Interview
Group Interview
Presentation
Interview
I saw the position online and cold-called the Managing Director of Institutional Equity Sales. We spoke for about 15 minutes and he asked me to come in for an in person interview with the Sales and Trading team. The interview went really well and on the spot they asked me to come back for another round and they assigned a company in their coverage universe for me to pitch in the next interview.
Interview Questions
Out of the stocks in our coverage universe, which one interests you most and why?

Summer Analyst Interview - Investment Banking

Anonymous interview candidate in Salt Lake City
Interviewed: March 2013
Outcome
No Offer
Interview Source
College / University / On Campus Recruiting
Length of Process
2-3 months
Application
Phone Interview
1 on 1 Interview
Group Interview
Skills Test
Interview
I applied through the investment banking club at my university. First interview was over they phone, an analyst called me randomly and started interviewing. No technical questions. After about 3 weeks, they called me to their office for a super day, interviewed with the aforementioned analyst, a VP, and the MD. No technical questions whatsoever. They were pretty laid back.
Interview Questions
They asked pretty much the standard questions, the hardest was probably just the weaknesses one. Other than that the questions were all behavioral

MBA Summer Internship Interview -

Anonymous interview candidate in Bozeman
Interviewed: February 2012
Outcome
No Offer
Interview Source
Employee Referral
Length of Process
6-9 months
Application
Group Interview
Interview
The process started out with on-campus recruiting. My school's college of business holds a recruitment fair every fall for business students, which is where I met representatives from D.A. Davidson. One of the individuals was a local investment broker, and we hit it off pretty well. We exchanged information and a few weeks later I was instructed to e-mail my resume to their HR person at the corporate office. This was around October. After that, I did not hear anything until January, in which I was informed I had passed some initial screening process.

One week before my interview, I got another e-mail setting up my interview session. The interview was done at the local office via teleconference. Interesting, other individuals who I know were being interviewed were asked to come to the main corporate office in Great Falls to interview, instead of teleconferences. Not sure why it was different for my account.

Since I had less than a week to prepare for the interview, I did a fair amount of research on the company as well as brush up on current events and basic finance concepts. I ended up interviewing 3 on 1, which was quite awkward via teleconference. Sadly, the interview was entirely "fit" questions as well as questions about by previous education and work experience (which is nowhere near finance relevant). I transitioned from a non-business degree and non-relevant government job, so I didn't think they would have been so concerned about those aspects compared to my current experience and schooling.

Overall the interviewers seemed nice, and I've heard good things from other individuals who had interned before. Given the location, the company is a very good entry point for individuals who don't have access to larger capital areas (i.e. New York, San Fran, ect.). The only downside I can see is much of their business is based on individual brokerage, which very small groups in other areas (equity research, investment banking, ect.). They also seem to move slowly with their recruitment / hiring process. I won't hear about an offer or rejection for another month or so (late March).
Interview Questions
"Tell us a funny story working while working at XXX."

Not a terribly difficult question, but probably the worst one I answered IMO. First, the job I had was not very interesting or engaging, so I had trouble thinking up anything funny to tell. In afterthought the story I did tell wasn't even that funny, and turned into more of a rant. Probably not what they were looking for. Finally, I'm not the type of person to tell funny stories. I'm more of the type who makes witty or sarcastic comments rather than drawn out stories. It certainly didn't come off as that after the interview.
"Please tell us what the perfect day for you would be."

Again a pretty straight forward question. Talked about a particular hobby I had and how I'd want to spend doing it with my dad.

Brokerage Advisor Interview -

Anonymous interview candidate in Great Falls
Interviewed: January 2012
Outcome
No Offer
Interview Source
College / University / On Campus Recruiting
Length of Process
3-4 months
Application
Phone Interview
Interview
I applied by sending their office recruiter and email of my resume. I am friends with a brokerage advisor in my town, and he had suggested it to me since I was interested in getting into finance. Since I'm from a non-target, there are very few opportunities to get into finance as an undergraduate, so I decided to apply. They have small offices for investment banking, fixed income management, and equity research, and I made express interest in those fields. This all occurred at the end of October/beginning of November.

In early January, I received an e-mail I was selected to move on to the interview phase. We settled on a time, and did a phone interview. Things for the most part went well, until they started talking about studying for the Series 7 and working with a local brokerage advisor. I asked them about opportunities in the areas I had expressed interest in, and it sounded like they recruited separately for those position (unbeknownst to me). Things ended well enough though considering. About a week later I got a call letting me know I was not selected for the internship.
Interview Questions
There were really no difficult or unexpected interview questions. Most were "fit" type question to me, such as "Why finance?" and "Why do you want to work with D A Davidson?"

Investment Banking Analyst Interview -

Anonymous interview candidate in Chicago
Interviewed: 2012
Outcome
No Offer
Interview Source
College / University / On Campus Recruiting
Length of Process
Less than 1 month
Application
Phone Interview
Interview
Found the job posting on my University's career services system. Got in contact with an Associate and then an MD for phone interviews.
Interview Questions
Not very technical.

I was asked about my excel/modeling skills and specific examples of how I utilized them.

The bulk of the interview was focused on fit and the specific industry the group covered.

Investment Banking Analyst Interview -

Anonymous employee in Great Falls
Interviewed: February 2011
Outcome
Accepted Offer
Interview Source
Employee Referral
Length of Process
Less than 1 month
Application
Phone Interview
1 on 1 Interview
Drug Test
Background Check
Interview
Two phone interviews, followed by 5 in person interviews (with everyone at the office I was applying for). Questions were all fit/personality based.

Received a call-back with the offer approx. one week later
Interview Questions
Why this firm?
Why investment banking?