To stand out during the interview process, you must understand the specific areas where the hiring team will focus their evaluation.
Financial Modeling & Presenting Past Work
One of the most critical components of the final panel is the case presentation, where you are asked to showcase a previous piece of work you are proud of, such as a financial model. The interviewers want to see how you structure data, make assumptions, and defend your analytical choices.
Be ready to go over:
- Model Structure – How you design your tabs, inputs, calculations, and outputs to make the model dynamic, easy to audit, and scalable.
- Assumption Integrity – The logic and research behind the assumptions you chose to drive your forecast.
- Sensitivity Analysis – How your model reacts to changes in key variables and how you present these scenarios to stakeholders.
- Advanced concepts (less common) – Integrating macro-economic variables, automated data feeds, or building Monte Carlo simulations to assess risk.
Example questions or scenarios:
- "Walk me through the flow of data in this model and explain why you chose this specific layout."
- "If we had to scale this business unit by 50% next year, which formulas or inputs in your model would need to change?"
Logical Reasoning & Excel Capabilities
In some locations, you may be asked to complete an Excel-based assessment. Interestingly, candidates report that this test is often less about testing highly specific accounting rules and much more about evaluating your logical thinking, data manipulation skills, and problem-solving speed under time constraints.
Be ready to go over:
- Data Cleaning and Structuring – Using logical functions to clean up messy data sets and prepare them for analysis.
- Lookup and Reference Functions – Demonstrating clean, efficient methods for merging and querying data (e.g., INDEX/MATCH, XLOOKUP).
- Logical Problem Solving – Solving word problems or situational puzzles using structured logic within a spreadsheet environment.
Example questions or scenarios:
- "Given this unstructured raw dataset of customer transactions, organize it to show monthly active users and retention rates."
- "Solve this logical puzzle using Excel formulas to demonstrate how you approach complex data relationships."
Scenario-Based Business Partnering
During the conversational rounds with regional managers and department heads, you will face scenario-based questions. These are designed to simulate the day-to-day challenges you will encounter while supporting business units across different regions like the US, Israel, and India.
Be ready to go over:
- Variance Analysis – Explaining budget-to-actual deviations and recommending corrective actions to department heads.
- Resource Allocation – Helping teams prioritize projects based on projected return on investment (ROI) and strategic alignment.
- Global Collaboration – Navigating cultural and operational differences when partnering with international teams.
Example questions or scenarios:
- "A regional head in Israel wants to increase head count, but the US corporate team has mandated a budget freeze. How do you facilitate this conversation?"
- "How would you help a product manager prioritize three competing feature launches using financial frameworks?"
