Rank Branch Placements by Month | Dataford Interview Questions

A recruitment company wants to compare branch performance for September 2026. Write a SQL query to calculate each branch's total candidates placed and placement transactions during that month, include only branches that placed more than 100 candidates, and assign their placement rank.

Output

One row per qualifying branch, with columns branch_name, candidates_placed, total_placements, and placement_rank.
Include only branches with more than 100 candidates placed during September 2026. NULL candidate values are ignored by the candidate total.
Rank branches from highest to lowest total placements. Branches tied on total placements share a rank.
Order by total placements descending, then branch name ascending.

Schema

branches

Column	Type	Description
branch_idPK	INT	Unique branch identifier
branch_name	VARCHAR(100)	Name of the recruitment branch
city	VARCHAR(100)	City where the branch operates

placements

Column	Type	Description
placement_idPK	INT	Unique placement batch identifier
branch_id	INT	Branch responsible for the placements
placement_date	DATE	Date on which the placement batch was recorded
candidates_placed	INT	Number of candidates placed in the batch
placement_count	INT	Number of placement transactions in the batch

Your question is Rank Branch Placements by Month. Start with the requirements and the two tables in the Question tab.

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Problem