Macquarie Interview Questions

The Macquarie graduate recruitment process is comprised of:

• Online application
• First interview
• Psychometric assessment
• Second interview

Online Application

You will be asked to indicate on your application form the area in which you wish to specialise at Macquarie. Your application will be considered for graduate opportunities throughout Macquarie however, and you will not need to submit multiple applications for consideration by different specialisms.

First Interview

All first round interviews will be held in Macquarie’s London office by a member of the recruitment team. This is a general interview to find out more about your interest in the industry, your commercial awareness and your knowledge of the firm.

You will be asked competency-based questions such as:

• Have you worked in a team environment?
• What obstacles have you faced while working in a team project?
• How did you go about managing yourself to complete your tasks in the project?
• What is the most successful thing you did to meet the team goals?
• Do you think you would do anything better in hindsight?
• Tell me about a time when you had a particularly challenging target to achieve?
• In hindsight could you have done anything different?
• Talk about a setback?
• How did you feel about that?
• Tell me about a time when you had to work towards a specific deadline?
• How did you go about managing your time while working towards the project?

You may also be questions about your background and CV, including questions like:

• Why Macquarie?
• Why did you do (your degree)?
• What goal did you set before starting uni?
• What extra-curricular activities are you involved in?
• How you have been making an impact on improving a standard around your university or workplace?

This interview will last for 45 - 60 minutes.

Brain Teaser Questions

Previous candidates have been asked the following brain teaser case study questions at either/both first round or/and second round interview stages:

• There is a lillypad on a pond. The pad takes one hour to double its area. When the lillypad is at its original size, it takes 48 hours to cover the entire pond. How long will it take to cover just one quarter of the pond?

• What is the simplest way to calculate the square root of 100,000, without a calculator?

• There are 80 Students. 40 speak French, 20 speak German and 9 speak both languages. How many students don't speak any of these two languages?

• What is the difference in angles between the hour and second hand on a clock at a quarter past 3?

• If you won the lottery, which choice would you pick? £5,000 today and that's all, or £1 a day for the rest of your life?

• If you have a bat and a ball. Their combined value is $1.10.

The bat is $1 more than the ball. What are their individual values? (hint: answer is not$1 and 10cents - thats a 90c difference)

• What is 999 squared?

Psychometric Assessment

Following first round interviews, successful candidates will be invited to complete a psychometric assessment which will be very similar to the SHL test. The test includes numerical, verbal and logical reasoning sections.

If you are applying to macquarie capital, you also have to do what they call a sales test. This is a series of 100 questions which ask about your personality. There is no right or wrong answer. This is a personality test to deduce whether you have the right personality for a sales position.

Occassionally, interviewees may be asked to take this psychometric test in the afternoon after their initial first round interview.

The psychometric assessment lasts for three hours.

Second Interview

During second round interviews, you will meet with several members of the relevant business group you have applied to. This second interview will be much more technically focused than the first and relate to the particular position you are interested in. This interview will again take place at the London office.

At the second round interview stage you will have:

• One competency-based interview
• One technical interview