Hey guys I have a writing test in 2 weeks with Bernstein's London office but I assume it's pretty standardized across geographies. Has anyone done one of these before or know I should best prepare?
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For future reference, the writing test isn't standardized across offices - it might just be a European thing. Based on my experience interviewing as a junior last year, Bernstein's NY office follows a normal first round + superday model (although most of the interviews involve cases/market sizing questions, as you probably know).
Can you go over how the first round and superday went in the New York Office
Yeah sure, although I only went through the junior recruiting process at Bernstein last year. I've written about their interviews before, so I'll just work off that.
Bernstein interviews are pretty much the same in both the first round and the super day. The only difference is that the super day consists of five interviews in a row. Interviews at Bernstein are majority case-based (thinking consulting), although they'll also include a behavioral section and maybe a stock pitch. Usually the cases are easier than what you actually get in consulting, but that'll give you the right general idea. For one, there's a lot of market sizing questions, e.g. "Estimate the annual revenue of Android Pay" or "Estimate the number of people who would attend a free concert for the Rolling Stones in the middle of Central Park." When I was interviewing for the firm as a junior last year, one analyst also literally gave me a big stack of charts, and told me to analyze them.
As far as I can tell, Bernstein mainly looks for people with good intuition in its interviews, so if you have that, you'll generally be fine. If you don't, then learn how to do case interviews, at very minimum.
As far as I know, Bernstein only does OCR from Harvard, Columbia, and Wharton. They take 3-4 people from each school for the super day. In my year, I think they only hired 2 summer associates in the country, so it's pretty selective. Obviously these numbers probably fluctuate from year to year.
Going to have one in 3 days time. Do you know what it is like please?
it seems writing is only a London thing. My entire US process involves only behavior and market sizing
Nah ― I've had to do a timed exercise for a US-based MM where I had to: a) quickly draft & provide notes from a conference recording; b) deliver a flash note; and c) answer follow-on queries about the security in question
One might say it was simultaneously stressful yet exhilarating
Sounds intense. I almost never listen to calls only read transcripts. But Is this for Bernstein research? Or MM
Sounds intense. I almost never listen to calls only read transcripts. But Is this for Bernstein research? Or MM
Apologies for any miscommunication ― just adding additional color that other US shops can deploy writing tests, but this MM was not Bernstein
It ultimately depends on how the analyst in question runs the hiring process for their franchise
that makes sense. part a and part b of the exercise are all fair. curious about what sort of questions you need to answer. I am debating about jumping from LO AM to LS MM.
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