Research Analyst

There were three rounds: HR, 1:1, and panel, which was immediately followed by a written assessment.

The HR round was fairly easy, they mostly wanted to find out your basic understanding of the industry ISS is in (proxy advisory and corporate governance). I did some research beforehand so I have an idea of what corporate governance was, in depth. Then HR asked questions about previous experience and gave a brief on ISS and their generous compensation.

The 1:1 was fairly surprising. Though only a second round, I spoke directly with a managing director, who was so nice and not intimidating at all. I performed really well and was able to keep the conversation going with excellent questions. Still not a technical interview.

The panel interview threw me a bit off guard. It was a panel of people you will be working with in the department. While not necessarily supervisors, they will be your team. Hence, I was a bit intimidated, but still was able to answer all questions. Slightly technical, but overall still more behavioral and situational. I felt that they were trying to assess my "fit" for the role and how well I do under tight deadlines, possibly for proxy season.

The written assessment was the most challenging. They would give you 1.5 hours to answer essay questions from a source material directly related to the job/department you are applying for. My background doesn't really fit exactly well to this particular department so a lot of the terms I encountered in the write-up was unfamiliar. I did not do well during this part, which might possibly be the reason why I haven't heard back after 2 weeks.