Structured Credit Analyst Interview Help??
Hey guys, So I have a first round phone interview this thurs with Fitch Ratings for their Structured Credit Analyst position. I was wondering if you guys knew what kind of technical questions an interviewer would ask for this position. Is it fair to assume that they will ask me about CDO's, CLO's, and maybe even some questions about ABS's? What sort of technical / valuation/ formula type questions do you think I should be able to prepare? I spent 2 summers interning at a CMBS shop on the securitization/ portfolio management side, so I'm trying to think of what things I should brush up on from that experience. I have attatched the job description if it helps. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Besides run of the mill fit and basic technicals I'd know the flow and structure of ABS. Check out Moodys.com
You can register for a free account: http://v3.moodys.com/registerinfo.aspx
Then go to Ratings Methodologies: http://v3.moodys.com/researchandratings/methodology/003006001/rating-me…
Find any of the ABS products, the ratings methodology guides for ABS-type products will probably be 10-20 pages and will explain just about everything from the structure to some of the key points. I wouldn't get too caught up in the details, what you're really trying to do is have a superior (compared to other prospective monkeys) understanding of what ABS is so you can blow them out of the water with the "what do you think ABS is?" or "what do you think we do here"?
Get prepared for how CDS and PRDC work.
Thanks for your help marcus and manny. I already registered for moodys and I started looking at CDS's and PRDC's. I'm curious as to what sort of "run of the mill" type technical questions I would get? I sometimes have this tendency in an interview to focus too much on one specific area or spend too much time sweating over all the little details that I make some dumb mistake on something basic. So if you could let me kow what type of basic techs I should work on, that would be great. thanks for all your help guys
You get the most bang for your buck by understanding the big picture concepts.... the concept of a bankruptcy remote, what type of borrowers would use them, what factors would impact their credit worthiness, etc... as opposed to minutae which any monkey can memorize. Showing a superior understanding of big picture concepts shows you're intelligent, knowing tiny minutae and details shows you got your hands on something very detailed and memorized it. Lets face it, no one has a passion for structured products.
Thanks for the insight Marcus, I think one of my issues was that I tried to read up and learn about every possible aspect of the industry/ career I was interviewing. I'm gonna take your word for it and make sure I know the bigger picture and understand the major concepts. Also, I found out that my initial interview is with an HR person. So is it safe to assume that this will be mostly fit / behavioral questions, and that later rounds would be more technical?
Yeah. But HR people are kind of dumb. Its easy to make them think your a rock-star fit-wise. You just nail the firm culture and learn a bit about group culture and be able to talk to why you want to work in this group/product.
So I have an interview with the structured credit group this Weds., and it looks like there will be an excel assessment at the end of the interview. Seeing as I've never had an excel assessment, what type of things do you guys think I should focus on / be able to prepare? This is an entry level position so I'm thinking it won't be too difficult, but then again I'm clueless. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
they probably want you to structure a simple CDO, or maybe they will have the excel sheet done for you but would ask you questions on losses, correlations and tranches etc
Hi Dman,
I'm having an interview with Fitch Ratings for this position. I'm also having an excel assessment test after the interview. Do you remember what kind of questions they asked? What type of questions should I expect in the excel assessment test? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
I have a similar interview at a different Agency -
dmoctezuma89 do you have any idea on what the excel assessment is like? Any advice would be much appreciated.
Hi guys, i have an excel assessment test at s&p structured products group soon, its a different agency but anybody has any feedback what kind of questions to expect ?
Hallo, I have the same excel test by Fitch Ratings in few weeks. Could you please tell me what it looked like? Thanks
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