I got an interview with Macquarie Capital Group as a summer intern. What should I expect during the first round of finance interviews? How should I prepare? This is really exciting for me and can't wait to share the good news!
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I went through one before and it's your typical behavioral questions, why you want to do ibanking, and some dcf/valuation methods stuff. I had two guys interviewing simultaenously, no biggie. They did ask a mini-case type question, basically asking if a firm was low on cash and needed money to pay an upcoming bond obligation (either interest or the full payment itself), how can they raise money.
Best of luck!!
Did they ask you any project finance questions?
is the answer... you can maybe issue equity? or sell parts of your short term assets/investments?
I interviewed for London SA it was purely behavioral with two easy numerical questions at the end (one was square root of 20 Million, dont remember the other).
Good luck
How would you answer a question like that? Square root of 20MM.
Project finance questions? What's that?
There are many solutions to their questions. You could issue equity or even debt depending on how much you really need. If the amount you need is small you can sell short term stuff, sell off receivables.
I didn't have any brain teasers on mine (both first round on campus- which now that I think of it was 2 interviews, each having 2 interviewers- and superday). Superday was a little challenging on the technicals. The MD/VP people ask behaviorals, some of which were odd...like what's your personal beta. The associates asked technicals, ranging from the valuation stuff to random things like what do you expect the return from an infrastructure play to be like...and then compare it to a retail play.
expect to talk about the economy where you think it's heading and a recent deal macquaire announced/closed
Square root of a million is 1000, square root of 20 is about 4.5 (sqrt 16 is 4, sqrt of 25 is 5), call it 4500.
Ya figured that you'd have to give them a ball park figure that comes close.
Does anyone here have any experience with summer analyst interviews? Specifically their Toronto office. I hear they're heavy on almost impossible to crack brain teasers and mainly look for accounting heavy number crunching machines.
Aside from that, anyone know how big their TO office is?
Macquarie Group Summer Interview IBD (Originally Posted: 01/30/2007)
I have the first round Summer Analyst Interview with Macquarie Group in the Investment Banking Division. Any advice on what to expect from them? Similar to BB interview or no?
i had this a while ago. mine was a phone interview. just be prepared for standard resume and behavioral type questions (teamwork etc). Know why Macquarie.
Also, they will ask some quantitative/brainteaser type questions. I got:
1) 49x49 2) What is the sum of all the numbers from 1-50 3) you have a lilypad in a pond that doubles in size every minute. If the pond is full after 60 min, when is it a quarter full.
Hope this helps.
Anyone know about the culture at Macuarie? Similar to the BB or completely different ball game?
haha i got the exact same questions as well. have you heard back from them yet?
When I interviewed with MacBank the interviewer threw both technical and behavioral questions at me. The technical questions were mainly valuation related, think "how would you value your local gas station" and the behavioral questions were the standard "why banking" type stuff.
They had some technical stuff in summer... for grad interviews, it as just a chit-chat about what I thought of certain industries, the trends in Australia etc...
bigdirs, did you really get that in first round? I've interviewed with MBL before, and I didn't get anything that quantitative, but then maybe that's because I have a very "mathematical" degree.
kmahajan, the first round inteview is (usualy) with HR. Make sure that you know your stuff (why IB, why MBL, why they should hire you, how to do a DCF, etc) and that you speak clearly, slowly and without too much jargon (no, not because they are dumb - don't jump on that - it's just that they often need to write down what you say).
Hope that helps.
how would you value your local gas station?
Macquarie seemed really desperate to me when I talked to them. I said something stupid to the west coast recruiter everytime I talked to her and she just kept calling me back. I didn't even say Macquarie right. When NY called I didn't bother to return it.
Desperate?
1) Estimate future gas station cash flows and discount at appropriate rate
2) Look for precedent gas station transactions
3) Look for similar small business listings
funny test where they ask you all these behavioral questions and they come up with a profile of you. Questions like "do you want to go skydiving?", "do you like to sit at home by yourself?", "can you calculate the split bill quicker than your friends normally", "do you like to get up in front of a group of strangers and make speeches", etc... some weird questions. all to work out if you are a confident, risk-taking, outgoing, A-type.
There's also a quant, problem solving and reasoning test on the back of it.
just got the invitation, is the test an online thing or you have to fly to one of the offices to do that?
How does Macuarie match up against the BB? Are they competing for the same deals or are they just going after completely different things? The overall bank a lot different than a BB or pretty similar? People lot more laid back I hear....
I just had my 1st round (and first ever IBanking) interview at Macquarie today. The people I met were great and it wasn't as formal as I expected it. They asked me about 3-4 math questions, which I honestly thought was fun.
Obviously I didn't want to ask this during the interview, but do any of you know if this internship is paid or not? And if it is, how much? I just want to get an idea.
It should be paid. Assuming you are in IB, and not in "markets"(brokers, traders etc)you can expect about 65-70K (Aussie) pro-rata. That's what people were getting last year in Australia, I think. So, multiply that out by the 10 week internships they had last year, and you get
10/52* 70 = about 13.5K AUD
(the approximation is because it might change from last year).
cambaz what were your math questions just out of curiosity??
Thanks angry_kitty. Hopefully I'll make it and confirm for you ;)
I'd rather not say specific questions, but I was asked to find the sqrt of a large number. There was also a question about two objects going at different speeds, and when they would meet assuming they have to return after meeting an endpoint.
Suprisingly, I wasn't asked any of the following: Tell me about your self Walk me through your resume What is/Why Ibanking Why Macquarie Tell me about a time you showed leadership/teamwork
Macquarie Summer Interviews (Originally Posted: 12/31/2009)
Hi! Anybody gone through Macquarie Interviews before?? Is it any more difficult than interviews Ive gone through with DB, or UBS?? Is it more technical or personal?? Thanks
PS: Ive heard that Macquarie results for 2009 have been quite disappointing. Do you expect Macquarie to perform any better this yr??
have they already sent out emails for 1st rounds?
yes. but it's the first batch i think
Macquarie's a better bank than Fordham is a school...
UBS FT superday was more difficult than Macquarie's if that helps (can't really compare first rounds b/c UBS did first round phone interviews this year). In the Macquarie first round it seemed like the lead interviewer was taking his questions from some sort of booklet. From my overall interview experience w/them I would say the initial questions are rarely too technical or dense but certain interviewers will push you pretty far about your answers to some of the more general behavioral questions (what would you invest in, why did you make x or y decision in your life, etc.)
I applied online and was selected for a first round interview last year. My first round interview was with HR and was all behavioral. I was asked questions about my background, why Macquarie, and why banking. If you make it past the first round, you have to take a standardized test which basically tests your general intelligence and also some personality traits.
My final round was a mix of technical and behavioral questions. It was actually more technical than some of my other interviews. I was also asked about where I saw the economy going, investment pitches, and many technical banking questions. Also, I was asked what the square root of 100k was. I think Macquarie likes to throw in random math questions in the final round to see how you react. The bankers I met in NY were all very nice. The office is a mix of people from Ausie and Americans. Many of the Americans lateraled over from big banks like JPM, Lehman, etc. during the crisis. Macquarie has been trying to grow during the crisis, evidenced by aggressive hiring and the FPK acquisition. The firm also has a strong infrastructure group. The office structure is somewhat unique, because the firm doesn't have offices so analysts could be sitting next to MDs. My final round was two 30ish minutes interviews; both were two on one interviews.
i would be surprised if any of this advice helps you at all to be honest. all interviews are random. you can't really generalize about a bank's interviewing style/difficulty. it just depends upon who interviews you. know your technicals. don't be a chach. that is all you can do.
^^ True, It's very random... One interviewer can ask 2 people 2 different things.
Macquarie Captial SA Interview (Originally Posted: 01/31/2009)
I have a 1st round phone interview with Macquarie Capital Advisors for a summer analyst position. I read through some of the previous threads which were very helpful, but I was wondering if anyone who went through this interview recently or has experience with the process has advice. Thanks.
I have the same questions... also I have an interview for a satellite branch that was my one of my preferences. Do you think they'll require me to fly down to the satellite branch to interview or will a phone interview suffice?
Had Macq 2nd round interview in London.
It was typical IB stuff "Why Macq, why IBD, what differentiates us from XYZ?" Also, brush up on your corporate finance skills, and browse a few logic puzzle websites. Logic and valuation/trick maths questions WILL come up.
Good luck.
Just my 2c.
I would suggest talking to anyone from your school who is working for them. I just got picked up starting as a FT in August 2009, and they reached out to me to ask if I knew anyone who may make a good SA.
From what I recall, 1st round phone interview was strictly behavioral. If they like you, you must take their diagnostic test. If you pass, second/final rounds with more technical questions.
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