Moody's interview questions

1. Phone then one on one then Group

After being rejected for Client Services, I was invited for an Assessment Centre regarding an Analytical role for Moody's Investors Service. The schedule of the day: an Accounting Test + an essay/article to be produced about the recent economic events (1.30h for the two tasks) + 2 interviews (45’ each). The Test was not very difficult: divided in 2 parts (one for corporates’ balance sheet/financial statements, one for banking institutions), the exercises were similar: for example, classifying items in assets and liabilities and completing a simple balance sheet. Then, a series of two 2:1 interviews with other Financial Data Analysts and the Managers followed. Both "teams" wanted to check my technical accounting skills, like the understanding of a balance sheet of a corporate/bank regarding the riskiness of their businesses. No competency-based questions were asked, but I have to say they were the most aggressive interviewers ever met. Accounting is not my major and I had got the invitation email about 30 hours before the AC (no real time to make an accurate revision), so I wasn't that surprised that they didn't offer me a job (they called me back about 10 days later), since "other candidates performed better than you in the test and interviews". However, the company left me an extremely positive impression.