This time, it is organized by a schoolmate in Canada BMO（A complete interview for the position of Business Analyst at Bank of Montreal (BMO). Her words after the interview were, "I was exhausted, but at least I made it to the end."
This review contains details from the interview process, types of questions to preparation advice, especially suitable for students who want to apply for analytical positions in major Canadian banks (BMO, RBC, TD, Scotiabank, CIBC, etc.).
Interview Process Overview
BMO's Business Analyst interview process typically consists of two rounds, and the cycle takes about two weeks:
- Round 1: Behavioral Interview
- Round 2: Technical + Case Study (Technical and Case Study)
If you perform well in both rounds, you will usually receive a follow-up or reference check from HR within a week. the overall process is not fast-paced, but the examination points are very focused: logical thinking, business understanding, and data skills.
Round 1: Behavioral Interview
The first round is usually led by HR or Junior Manager, the overall style is more communicative, but don't take it lightly, BMO especially likes to use open-ended questions to guide the candidates to present themselves, to check your presentation structure and adaptability.
Interviewer Style
In most cases, HR will start with your resume and ask you point by point about your project experience, internship background, and analytical thinking. For example:
- "Can you tell me about a project where you used data to make a business decision?"
- "What was your biggest challenge working in a team?"
- "Describe a time when you had to explain technical results to non-technical stakeholders."
These questions may seem ordinary, but the test point is actually "whether you can tell the logic behind the result". It is recommended that you follow the STAR framework (Situation, Task, Action, Result) when preparing for these questions, and that you use the STAR framework in your preparation. Action Partially add the tools or analytical ideas you use, for example:
"I extracted raw data from SQL, cleaned it using Python pandas, and visualized insights in Tableau to help stakeholders identify key customer segments."
Recommendations and directions for preparation
- The resume should be extremely familiar. The interviewer would pick a random project and ask for details, especially how the results were obtained.
- Tell the story to be true. Instead of striving for the perfect project, BMO pays more attention to the way you analyze the problems you face.
- Emphasize soft skills. For example, communication and coordination, stakeholder management, and time management are all a plus.
Performing well in this round often determines whether you make it to the second round.
Round 2: Technical + Case Study
The second round is the key part of the process and is usually led by a business unit manager or Senior Analyst. It consists of technical questions and answers, logical reasoning, and business case analysis.
Technical Q&A
BMO's technical questions are not difficult, but cover a wide range of topics, with a focus on whether you really understand common data tools and analytical thinking.
Frequently Asked Questions:
- What data analysis tools and software are you proficient in?
- How do you ensure data quality and integrity in your work?
- Describe your experience with SQL queries and data cleaning.
- How would you validate an analytical model before presenting it to stakeholders?
If you've mentioned SQL or Python, they'll usually ask you to talk about one or two specific examples: join operations, outlier detection, missing value handlers, and so on.
Some interviewers will also stretch to ask about KPI design or dashboard thinking, for example:
"If you were asked to evaluate a marketing campaign's performance, what metrics would you look at?"
This type of question is more about your ability to link the results of data analysis to business objectives.
Case study section
Case Study topics are usually related to banking, such as loan approvals, customer churn, credit risk, or marketing.
An example:
"Customer satisfaction scores have declined over the past six months. How would you identify potential causes and propose solutions? "
Under this type of question, it is recommended that you answer along structured lines:
- Clarify the issue (What exactly is declining? Which segment?)
- Develop hypotheses (e.g., product, process, customer service, data quality)
- Design verification methods (A/B testing, customer segmentation, time trend analysis, etc.)
- Give actionable suggestions (e.g. optimize reach channels or improve internal processes)
It would be more logical to add "Given more data, I would further test the correlation between service waiting time and satisfaction score". rigorously.
Interview atmosphere
The overall atmosphere was professional but not cold. The interviewer pays a lot of attention to the way of communication, such as whether you explain your analytical thinking in a clear way and whether you can use simple language to explain complex logic. If you are too academic, you will be interrupted, so I suggest you to use more "business language".
Interview Experience and Summary
The feedback from this schoolgirl was:
"There were no tricky questions throughout the interview, but it really tested the organization of thoughts and the structure of expression. Especially in the second round, it felt like a 'can you tell how you think' test."
In general, BMO's interview style is more "human" than other Canadian banks, but it also depends more on the candidate's expression and analytical logic. The key to passing the interview is:
- Sort out project story lines and STAR framework proficiency;
- Ability to interpret data results from a business perspective;
- The technical section should be specific and organized with examples.
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