NISA Investment Advisors Interview Questions

9 total interview insight submissions
Interview Experience (76%)

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.

3.7
  • Very Negative
  • Negative
  • Neutral
  • Positive
  • Very Positive
Interview Difficulty (93%)

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.

3.1
  • Very Easy
  • Easy
  • Average
  • Difficult
  • Very Difficult
% Interns - FT Offers (93%)

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.

74%
  • 0%
  • 10%
  • 20%
  • 30%
  • 40%
  • 50%
  • 60%
  • 70%
  • 80%
  • 90%
  • 100%

Interviews at NISA Investment Advisors

Filter by:
Year
Job Title
Group/Division
Location
Experience
Difficulty
Student / Prospective Monkey
Year 2020
Job Title Student / Prospective Monkey
Group/Division N/A
Location St. Louis
Experience
Positive
Difficulty
Difficult
Student / Prospective Monkey
Year 2019
Job Title Student / Prospective Monkey
Group/Division Portfolio Management
Location St. Louis
Experience
Positive
Difficulty
Average
1st Year Analyst
Year 2019
Job Title 1st Year Analyst
Group/Division Portfolio Management
Location St. Louis
Experience
Neutral
Difficulty
Average
1st Year Analyst
Year 2018
Job Title 1st Year Analyst
Group/Division Fixed Income
Location St. Louis
Experience
Positive
Difficulty
Average
1st Year Analyst
Year 2016
Job Title 1st Year Analyst
Group/Division Fixed Income
Location St. Louis
Experience
Positive
Difficulty
Average
Intern
Year 2015
Job Title Intern
Group/Division N/A
Location Saint Louis
Experience
Positive
Difficulty
Difficult
Summer Associate Intern
Year 2014
Job Title Summer Associate Intern
Group/Division Equity Capital Markets
Location St. Louis
Experience
Neutral
Difficulty
Average
Operations Analyst
Year 2014
Job Title Operations Analyst
Group/Division Generalist
Location St. Louis
Experience
Neutral
Difficulty
Average
1st Year Analyst
Year 2013
Job Title 1st Year Analyst
Group/Division Operations
Location Saint Louis
Experience
Positive
Difficulty
Easy

Interview Questions & Answers - NISA Investment Advisors Examples

Associate Interview

Anonymous interview candidate in St. Louis
Interviewed: October 2020
Outcome
Declined Offer
Interview Source
Applied Online
Length of Process
2-3 months
Application
Phone Interview
1 on 1 Interview
Interview
Really just went through a main phone screening, then technicals, an in-person after that. Nothing too crazy, solid process.
Interview Questions
Really nothing unexpected, know your technicals

Analyst, Portfolio Management Interview - Portfolio Management

Anonymous interview candidate in St. Louis
Interviewed: October 2019
Outcome
No Offer
Interview Source
College / University / On Campus Recruiting
Length of Process
1-2 months
Application
Phone Interview
1 on 1 Interview
Group Interview
Interview
The whole process took a little over a month, very quick response time at each step. Applied end of August and had a Super-day October 3rd. In between that were two phone interviews (both two-on-one), first with the recruiters, second with people on the desk. The call with the recruiters was all behavioral, the one with the traders was more technical but nothing too bad (walk me through a DCF and some basic question on duration). Super-day was great, very smooth and well organized. Ultimately didn't get the job despite good interviews all around. I attribute it to a fit thing. It was clear getting back to NY was my end goal and they were looking for people who were committed to staying in St. Louis for a while.
Interview Questions
1) You have two portfolios both worth $10M. One has a duration of 5 years (A) and the second has a duration of 10 years (B). If I want to become duration neutral and raise cash, what kind of trade do I need to make?
2) You have two investment opportunities: you can buy a 1 year bond that will yield 4% or a 2 year bond that will yield 6%. If you buy the 1 year bond, what rate will you require in year two for a new bond purchase in order to match the return you would have gotten with the 2 year bond?
3) You have a 2 year bond with a 1.5% coupon and a 2% yield. What is the current price of the bond?
4) Follow-up to previous question: what would a 50 basis point move downward mean for a trade?

1st year Analyst Interview - Portfolio Management

Anonymous interview candidate in St. Louis
Interviewed: September 2019
Outcome
No Offer
Interview Source
Recruiter
Length of Process
Less than 1 month
Application
Phone Interview
Interview
Recruiter reached out to me after one week of applying online. The process is a behavioral interview over phone, a technical after, and then a superday at their offices.
Interview Questions
They started off by asking me about myself and to walk them through my resume. I started off by discussing my major and what I enjoyed about it. I talked about what I excelled out and how I believed my skills fit the job the function. I would aim to talk about yourself for 2-3 minutes. They were relatively silent the whole time. When I finished they asked some questions about what I knew about the firm, why investment management, and why I wanted to get into a fixed income shop versus an equity shop. Put a lot of thought in how you answer why fixed income.

Analyst Interview - Fixed Income

Anonymous interview candidate in St. Louis
Interviewed: September 2018
Outcome
No Offer
Interview Source
College / University / On Campus Recruiting
Length of Process
2-3 months
Application
Phone Interview
1 on 1 Interview
Interview
Interview was pretty standard. First call is a behavior with HR, second is a all technical, last is super day in St. Louis at HQ. Nothing too crazy for the most part.
Interview Questions
They asked me about my options trading experience, what my favorite strategies were. Being in college most kids would not be too familiar with options besides the basics of calls puts buying and selling. It was very unexpected considering that option trading strategies are such a niche thing. They are a fixed income and derivative shop, but I did not expect them to really come flying out of the gate with options strategies and to say why you would use a certain on over the other. They use a lot of LDIs at NISA which consist of synthetics so the question is relevant.

Fixed Income & Derivatives Analyst Interview - Fixed Income

Anonymous interview candidate in St. Louis
Interviewed: 2016
Outcome
No Offer
Interview Source
Applied Online
Length of Process
1-2 months
Application
Phone Interview
1 on 1 Interview
Interview
Applied online. Had 2 phone interviews and an on-site superday. The superday consisted of 7 or 8 interviews with 1 or 2 people at a time.
Interview Questions
Nothing that was really unexpected. Make sure you know duration and convexity in-depth. Its good to have a basic understanding of immunization and liability-driven investment (asset duration in relation to liability duration). Also know statistics and probability basics.
- Describe duration
- Describe convexity
- If rates increase, what will happen to bond prices?
- How will prices change if a company's credit rating is downgraded? What will be the effect on duration?
- Why NISA?
- What asset class are you most interested in?

Summer Intern Interview

Anonymous interview candidate in Saint Louis
Interviewed: 2015
Outcome
Declined Offer
Interview Source
College / University / On Campus Recruiting
Length of Process
1-2 months
Application
Phone Interview
1 on 1 Interview
Interview
Had one phone call with a recruiter that was pretty straightforward. They wanted to know that you understood what NISA does and to find out why you were interested in working there. Otherwise they were curious about your academic background and extracurricular experience as well.
Interview Questions
I cannot pinpoint one specific question but they asked a lot of questions on the markets, asked about math experience as well. Know what is going on in the markets as well as what the Fed is doing.

Summer Analysis Intern Interview - Equity Capital Markets

Anonymous interview candidate in St. Louis
Interviewed: December 2014
Outcome
No Offer
Interview Source
Applied Online
Length of Process
Less than 1 month
Application
Phone Interview
Interview
The interview was fit based along with technical questions on NISA's business. Be able to talk about your interest in the company.
Interview Questions
If we were to assign you a project, what would you like to work on? What kind of specific fixed income project woudl benefit your experience?

Operations Analyst Interview - Generalist

Anonymous interview candidate in St. Louis
Interviewed: October 2014
Outcome
No Offer
Interview Source
College / University / On Campus Recruiting
Length of Process
Less than 1 month
Application
1 on 1 Interview
Interview
OCR for NISA will consist of a resume collection period on the school's website for two weeks to a month, they will recruit for all of their positions during this time. After that, interview invitations will be sent out. There were eight on campus interview time slots for my school. The interview consisted of a half hour one on one interview.
Interview Questions
Most questions are basic fit questions. There was one very soft technical question asking about the relationship between a bond's price and its rate of return. There is was also a question asking to describe your experience with Excel.

Operations Interview - Operations

Anonymous interview candidate in Saint Louis
Interviewed: November 2013
Outcome
No Offer
Interview Source
College / University / On Campus Recruiting
Length of Process
1-2 months
Application
Phone Interview
Group Interview
Interview
I am still in the process of interviewing for this firm and role. So far, the interview consisted of 1 OCR interview (30 mins, standard behaviorals, few technicals), 3 hour on-site interview (6, 30 minute interviews, standard behaviorals, few tehcnicals) and 5 hour on-site shadowing of different operations role (rotated through various desks and had people show me what they did on a day-to-day operations basis). I am currently waiting to hear back
Interview Questions
Given that I am not from a finance background, this was tough for me:

Describe duration of a bond for me.
Do you have any questions for me?

This might seem easy but after 5-6 interviews with different people, it's tough to come up with original questions about the firm, their role or your prospective role