Morgan Stanley Phone Interview

[quantman]

I'm an MSOR student at Columbia, and just got a notification of telephone interview with MS, quantitative finance program next week. The position typically hire PhD/MFE, I don't even know why they contacted me. I know there is ulikely opportunity for me to get this position but I still want to do my best and show the best of me.

I want to know what can I expect on the telephone interview with them? I was told that the interview will last about 30-45 mins including maths/brain teaser/finance questions. I want to know how deep will they test on maths and finance. I'm familiar with equity and fixed income markets. Regarding maths, I took courses on stochastic, optimization and I finished reading the Concepts and Practice of Mathematical Finance by Mark Joshi, but I can only solve half of the problems in another book Quant Job Interview Questions&Ansers by him, and also read shreve's stochastic calculus.

Why they don't ask questions on programming? Maybe not in phone interview but later?

What else should I read and do to get prepared? (too many? )


Thank you guys so much. Waiting for your replies and suggestions.

 

[NeedOPT]

I went through that exact interview a week or two ago. The person speaking with you will be a human resources drone. They will have a list of ~5 problems to read you, word-for-word from a piece of paper. They will also have a list of answers to those questions, and a description of the method which the person who wrote the problem used to solve it. They will take down your answers and report them to a bunch of different people looking for quants in MS (for example, various desks and departments). If any of those people are interested in you based on your resume and your answers then you will be contacted by them later.

The whole process is absolutely ridiculous. I answered every question correctly, but the woman who was on the other end of the line was completely baffled because I answered the first question in a different way than the one printed on her sheet. I used a dummy variable which I knew was going to cancel out in the end, but she kept objecting to its use, because it was not given in the problem. I was very polite with her about it, but it was extremely aggravating.

They will also ask you how your resume relates to the type of work you want to do for them. Hilarious, because you have no idea whether there are openings on desks, risk management, investment management etc. Any answer you give can screw you, depending on who's hiring.

MS is trying to organize its quants more like Goldman's, but from what I can see they are not doing a very good job of prioritizing recruiting.

 

[RRodriguez]

Hello NeedOPT,

Do you remember what kind of questions they were, and at what level? Math, Finance, Statistics, or Programming?
Do you have a sample question?

Thanks

 

[nupsam]

Hey NeedOPT

I have a similar interview tomorrow. can u pls share the Q's that were asked to you, if you can...

 

[GoIllini]

I have a similar interview tomorrow. can u pls share the Q's that were asked to you, if you can...

You guys are possibly competing for the same spots. I'm sure NeedOPT is a helpful guy, but I'm not sure he's THAT HELPFUL.

 

[NeedOPT]

You guys are possibly competing for the same spots. I'm sure NeedOPT is a helpful guy, but I'm not sure he's THAT HELPFUL.

Luckily I've already accepted a position (may or may not be with MS; I'm maintaining anonymity).

However, I'm not going to pass out knowledge of specific interview questions, especially not ones currently being used in recruiting.

There was only one finance one, 2 or 3 probability ones and 1 non-prob brainteaser. Difficulty level was low, compared to other screening interviews I've done. No algorithms or programming questions.

 

[nupsam]

Can you tell me how long did the recruiting process take? As in how many interviews did you have.
Was it just one phone interview followed by the onsite interview? Or how was it like,
I am paralleling interviewing with other folks, so that is the reason i would like to know this.
I have my first phone interview with them next week. Also if you have any idea about if MS is currently hiring Internationals and sponsoring visas?
Thanks...

 

[NeedOPT]

From initial phone screen to job offer was less than 2 weeks. Expect at least one round of phone screens and at least one day of on-site interviews. The more they want to hire you the faster the whole process will go.

Can you tell me how long did the recruiting process take? As in how many interviews did you have.
Was it just one phone interview followed by the onsite interview? Or how was it like,
I am paralleling interviewing with other folks, so that is the reason i would like to know this.
I have my first phone interview with them next week. Also if you have any idea about if MS is currently hiring Internationals and sponsoring visas?
Thanks...

 

[nupsam]

thanks for the reply..
and do u have any idea on the visa front?

 

[quantman]

From initial phone screen to job offer was less than 2 weeks. Expect at least one round of phone screens and at least one day of on-site interviews. The more they want to hire you the faster the whole process will go.

NeedOPT, thank you very much for your reply! It's very helpful. How did the on-site interview go? Any algorithm or programming in C++ questions? Thank you!

 

[jobseeker]

Hi NeedOPT,not asking for specifics here, but would just like to know whether the finance question was related to stochastic calculus ?

 

[Eugene Krel]

It is unlikely that the interview questions are very different from what you would find in known interview question books as well as the thread here on quantnet.

 

[nupsam]

Does anyone have any more updates or experiences to share ?

 

[amsh]

Hey Guys,

Need some help. I had this same interview last week and have now been contacted for another phone screen. Dont know much about the job yet as the HR is on leave. Would like to hear from others who had the second phone screen and get tips on how to prepare.

Sorry dont have much info about the job at the moment for you guys. But it would be great if you guys can help me get started.

Also is MS sponsoring H1?

Thanks,

 

[goldski]

I have a phone interview with Morgan Stanley for their quant finance internship. It's in the Strats/Modelling group.

Any tips?

 

[math]

I have a phone interview with Morgan Stanley for their quant finance internship. It's in the Strats/Modelling group.

Any tips?

Hi Goldski,

I will also have a phone interview in the Stats/Modelling group. So, same question: any tips?