Talk to me about a challenging situation you had to handle on the job that involved another colleague. How did you handle that situation?

"A couple of years ago, we had hired a new Junior Advisor on to our team and I was tasked with being his mentor. Having mentored several other thriving Junior Advisors prior to him starting, I was excited about the opportunity. Within the first week of him being on the job, I overheard a colleague of mine talking very openly about his disdain for the hire of this new Advisor and witnessing him personally criticizing him in a face-to-face encounter. Immediately, I spoke to my colleague in a private office about my concern over his actions and words towards the new Advisor. Having been a part of the interview process and his early mentorship, I knew that he had the skills to succeed and I reiterated that to my colleague. After agreeing to back off on any private criticizing of the new Advisor and a promise to help mentor him, I learned that direct conversations are the best way to handle workplace conflicts."

At the heart of this question, your interviewer is looking to hear how you use solid interpersonal and relationship-building skills to diffuse a difficult situation with a coworker when on the job. No matter what situation that you talk about, make sure to focus your answer on a positive mindset and the steps that you walked through to turn a potentially hazardous situation into a good one. As well, talk about lessons learned from that situation that you keep with you to this day on the job.

"f"A couple of years ago, I approached a colleague that had missed a deadline or a big audit we were conducting, and she completely blew up at me during our conversation. At first, I was very taken aback by her response because I had never witnessed that from her in many years of working together. While remaining calm, I allowed her the opportunity to vent to me, and it turns out that she was going through a lot of things in her personal life that was impacting her work. While keeping our project deadlines in mind, I also took a personal approach in letting her know that she could bring these issues to me as both a colleague and a friend, and we could work through them together in the future. This approach is vital to any conflicts that can arise with colleagues and one I don't hesitate to take when needed."

Accuracy is important to us at Fidelity Capital Markets. Do you always double check or proofread your work?

"Spelling and grammatical errors are a pet peeve of mine. I will triple-check my work if there is the time! I feel that it is imperative to submit error-free work."

Double-checking and proofreading are essential parts of a job well done. Assure the interviewer that you are diligent when it comes to submitting good, clean, work.

"I do my best to put great work out, at all times. I believe in double checking my work although I must admit that I have fallen victim to the odd mistake like the best of us!"

If hired for this role at Fidelity Capital Markets, I want to be sure that I'm hiring a motivated individual. What motivates you in your daily work and your career?

"I find myself the most motivated on the job when I am being challenged and when I can continue learning new things. From what I've learned in talking to others that currently work here at Fidelity Capital Markets, the fast-paced environment and continuous changes in the industry would keep me very motivated in my work and you'd never have to question if I were truly enjoying and being motivated in my work."

In the financial services field, you should have strong personal motivation to succeed in your work and your interviewer is asking this question to see what it is that makes you tick while on the job. While being open and honest in how you stay motivated on the job, make sure that your answer doesn't include collecting a paycheck every week or two. While money is certainly a motivator in this field, make sure that you use it in an appropriate context if you decide to talk about the financial piece of this business as being a motivator. In the end, your interviewer is looking to get a sense of how he or she will be able to keep you hungry for more if you are hired for this role.

"At a young age, my father taught me to do what I love and love what I do and I know that as I approach the middle years of my career that I made the right career choice. The personal finance field has really blended my love of helping others succeed and my passion for statistics and computers. In this role with Fidelity Capital Markets, I'll be working with your clients every day on helping them achieve financial success and that alone is all of the reason I need to get out of bed every morning."

At Fidelity Capital Markets, our clients are the lifeblood of our business and we do everything in our power to make them happy. What does the term customer service mean to you in your work?

"A pursuit of a career in the financial field really suited my two passions in the life of mathematics and problem-solving. In this role, helping clients solve problems in an efficient manner and with a smile on my face would be the drive to succeed that I need. At the end of the day, if I see that my work helped a client grow their wealth and achieve their financial goals, I know that it was a job well done."

No matter what position you are interviewing for at Fidelity Capital Markets, your interviewer is looking to hear what customer service means to you in your work and how you apply that philosophy in your everyday work life. In essence, they want to hear your story as to why solid customer service is important to you. Prior to your interviewer, be sure to really think about this question to apply what is important to you in how you go about your work. Whether you talk about problem-solving or making people happy, this should be reflected in the work that you do.

"As a people person by nature, I have an innate ability to do what is needed to give customers the best experience possible when I'm working with them. This means that I reflectively listen to their needs and concerns and do what is necessary to help them based on what I heard. In my interactions with customers, I am positive, pleasant, and nurturing by nature and I've found that customers are very receptive to my style of communication with them. If hired for this role at Fidelity Capital Markets, you'll quickly find that dedicated customer service is one of the top qualities that I will bring to your team."

Give an example of a time that you had to resolve a difficult situation with a client or customer. What were the keys to coming to a successful solution?

"Having worked in customer service for one of the area's largest auto dealerships for the last six years, handling difficult customers was a situation I had to learn to handle pretty quickly. Just a few weeks ago, I was covering our front desk on a Saturday afternoon when our sales staff was still open for business. I recognized the person approaching the door as a customer that had recently purchased a new vehicle. He stormed through the door, placed his keys on the counter in front of me, and said that he demanded a refund on his new purchase because the check engine light had already come on inside of the car. Knowing off the top of my head that his new vehicle was under a full warranty, I calmly let him know that his car was under warranty and that I'd have a member of our sales staff come out and take a quick look. I also let him know that our service department was not working that afternoon and, if needed, we could schedule him for a diagnostic test at his earliest convenience. After our salesman went out to take a quick look and not seeing anything obvious, we ended up giving him a loaner vehicle so his new car could be taken care of on Monday morning. He ended up leaving pretty happy that day and I know that my patience in hearing him out really helped."

In a front-facing role with Fidelity Capital Markets where you will be interacting with clients on a daily basis, your interviewer wants to be ensured that you have the skills to resolve client issues with ease and they'll look to do so with this question. In your answer, let your interviewer know that you can take ownership of any situation by talking about a specific time where you did what was necessary to alleviate a difficult situation with a client. Talk about the resources that you used and your interpersonal skills that helped turn a potentially bad situation into a successful one.

"A couple of years ago, I was asked to work with a very high profile client for his financial advising services when he came to our firm because my CEO trusted I could handle what he felt would be a difficult task. From my first meeting with the client, he demanded that we provide more returns than the previous firm that he worked with and he was rather rude with our front desk staff. I took the approach of taking the time to listen to his needs and speak to him more about what my firm could provide. I laid out my experience and track record for him to help him build his trust in me. I knew that with him, I would need to take time to walk through my decision-making processes for his investments and he really appreciated that. As of today, we are still working strong together and his wealth is growing."

How would you define what working capital is for a company and what does its measurement mean?

"In my current role, we measure working capital to gauge the ability of a company to pay off its debts quickly. In working with many industries, from retails to the public sector, the determination of a company's ability to do so based on calculation can differ greatly from industry to industry. To calculate, a range of line items from the company are used to take their current assets minus their current liabilities. In the retail industry, seasonal spikes in business create the need for much higher working capital and if hired for this role, I have a great understanding of each industry's specific needs."

As a Financial Analyst with Fidelity Capital Markets, you will be asked to help measure the working capital of organizations. In the definition that you provide to your interviewer, ensure that you give them at least the basic definition of the calculation is current assets minus current liabilities. Then, talk about real situations that you've used the measurement to make critical decisions in the work that you've done in the past. This will confirm with your interviewer that you have the ability to use the measurement in this job.

"In a very broad sense, working capital is found by subtracting an organization's current liabilities from their current assets. In my current role, I utilize a more focused calculation of adding accounts receivable plus inventory and then subtracting accounts payable. The more focused calculation gives a better idea of total working capital for organizations when trying to get a better overall picture of their health and efficiency when projecting out towards the future."

Why would our clients here at Fidelity Capital Markets want you to be their financial advisor?

"Looking back on my career to this point, I can say with confidence that my success, and the success of my clients, has been due to my ability to build trusting relationships. My path for building a trusting relationship consists of education, communication, and action. I educate each client on a personal level, I set expectations for them and deliver on what I say I'm going to do. If hired for this position here at Fidelity Capital Markets, you'll be hiring a Financial Advisor that will be great at bringing aboard new clients as I have many current clients that I am confident will follow me here."

As a professional in financial advising, you know that relationships are built on trust and integrity, and for the business at Fidelity Capital Markets, this is equally important. For your answer, your interviewer will be looking at how to hear how you build trust with your clients to ensure that they are customers for life. In your answer, make sure that trust and integrity are common themes as you discuss how you work with each client's individual needs to build their portfolio.

"Like in any financial advising relationship, confidentiality and integrity are of utmost importance to clients and these are pieces of the relationships with my clients that I hold in the highest regard. My clients know that I can be trusted to safeguard their personal information and use the best resources possible to help make the best decisions for them based on their personal information and situation. I pride myself on the fact that my clients trust me with their personal information and your clients will have this trust in me as well if I'm hired for this position."

We want our advising team at Fidelity Capital Markets to be happy and healthy. How do you manage the day to day stress of being a financial advisor?

"To begin with on the job, I consider myself very excellent at handling stress. Being a goal-oriented person, I find happiness in obtaining goals and consider any necessary stresses in pursuit of a goal healthy. Outside of work, I am a very active person that trains for marathons and spends a lot of time outdoors with my family. I find that these activities help cleanse my mind and heal my body to prepare for a new week on the job."

The daily stressors of a career in financial advising can be burdensome, overwhelming, and lead to burnout on the job. To get a sense that you can handle stress in a safe and healthy manner and be able to come to work each day with a clean slate, your interviewer is looking to delve into your personal life a bit to see how you manage stress. When answering, you can certainly talk about the things you do on the job to keep as stress-free as possible, but also be sure to talk about the things that you do outside of work to avoid burnout. Point out that you have the resources and ability to care for yourself to keep you at the top of your game on the job.

"When I maintain a healthy diet, exercise regularly, and spend as much time as possible outside of work with my children, any unnecessary work stresses are put on the back burner and often relieved immediately. I'm a firm believer in a healthy work-life balance, even though it can be very tough to do in our field. Having the ability to answer a client email or phone call during off-hours while unwinding has made our work lives better as well."

Data Scientist is a fairly new role here at Fidelity Capital Markets. Why do you feel that you can make the jump into the financial industry as a data scientist?

"As you can see from my resume, I have a very strong educational and work background in data science. My work experience in the tech industry has helped me grow in many areas that can be beneficial to the team here at Fidelity Capital Markets. I think that my experience in mining and cleaning raw data, paired with my experience in machine learning, could significantly benefit your clients that are seeking new and improved market data."

As finance becomes more heavily reliant on data, the need for well-educated Data Scientists is becoming a need at Fidelity Capital Markets. And while your background may not be filled with experience in the financial field, it will be your job to convince your interviewer that you have the skills necessary to be a strong Data Scientist while also having some great knowledge of the financial industry. Be open and honest about where your strong points fall and where you feel you have the most to learn while being open to making that progress in the field with Fidelity Capital Markets.

"My passion and skills for mathematics and computer science drove me to a career in data science and analysis. Up to today, these skills have driven me to create a brilliant start-up company that I sold almost ten years ago and then to a career with a large online retailer. Knowing that the financial industry is growing in data analytics, now is the time to strike when the iron is hot. As I've set out on a career search in the field, I have been greatly impressed by what I have learned about Fidelity Capital Markets and would look forward to helping to grow the data side of your business."

Fidelity Capital Markets strives for client loyalty to keep us running strong into the future. What do you feel are the keys to retaining clients for the long haul?

"I learned a few very important things from a senior mentor early in my career that I still hold near and dear to my heart to this day. First, clients expect me to be responsive to their needs to ensure that they keep their business with me. Because of this, I return phone calls and emails as soon as I can, even if that means in the evening, the early morning, or on a Sunday afternoon. These small actions go a long way in showing my clients that I care. Another key to the success of my long-term clients is my ability to set and manage expectations for them. Clients desire to have a plan and know what that plan entails and I pride myself on my ability to work with them to set goals and a plan to achieve those goals."

Businesses in financial advising are constantly pushing the limits to ensure that they retain clients and Fidelity Capital Markets doesn't take client retention lightly. One slip up and a high profile client will be taking their business to a competitor. For this question, your interviewer will be looking to hear that you understand your role in the customer retention equation and how you take pride in that in your everyday work. Make sure to hit on the point that doing the small things, like prompt communication and follow-up, go a long way towards keeping clients happy.

"Having lost clients in the past that went to another firm, I take that pain personally and do everything I can do to ensure long-lasting relationships with my clients. For me, the first key to long-term success with my clients is a proactive approach. I don't wait for clients to get in touch with me to make changes to their portfolio, I reach out to them. This action alone shows my clients that I am working for their best interests. Another action I take that shows my worth to my clients is goal tracking and quarterly progress reports that I send out to them. This is particularly helpful for clients that are working with me in their first two years."

What statistical analysis tools do you have experience working with?

"In my current role, most of my analysis is handled in SAS and I've really grown to appreciate the program's ability to manage large data sets and create predictive modeling in the financial field. From a past job, I have experience with SPSS and also with the SQL programming language to build robust databases. Of course, I have received expert-level training in Microsoft Excel and consider myself a master of the program."

As a successful and resourceful Data Analyst, your interviewer at Fidelity Capital Markets is expecting you to be knowledgeable and well-versed in the many tools available to you. In your answer, be sure to show diversity within particular programs like SAS and SPSS while also explaining that you are very proficient in Microsoft Excel. On top of the programs, talk about any experience you have with programming and database languages like SQL and Python.

"Having been in the field for over 15 years, looking back at the technological advancements in the tools that we use is very amazing. I consider myself very fluent in both the Sisense and KISSmetrics programs. I also have a good amount of experience in Crystal Reports."

Take a couple of minutes to sell this notepad to me.

"Well Mr. Jones, I know in your line that you are definitely in high need of notepads to help you succeed in your industry, and I'm here to show you a new product we have put out to market that can exceed your needs. You'll notice that it features very wide margins that accentuate the note-taking procedures for all who use it. You'll also notice that each individual sheet is carefully perforated to make separation from the binding an easy task compared to other notepads. The last feature of our new notepad is that it comes in many different paper colors that suit your needs. If you want, take this sample to your office for a week and put it to use. If you and your staff would make use of it, I can set you up with your first shipment in no time!"

To be successful in the financial advising field, one top key to success is your ability to sell your service to your clients. For this task, your interviewer will slide a notepad (or other items) to you across the table and ask you to sell it to them. First and foremost, your interviewer will be looking for you to project confidence in your pitch and your ability to find their own needs in what they're looking for in a notepad while you give them your pitch. As you sell them the notepad, be sure that you are confident, creative and that you ask questions of them. Overall, see this question as a fun opportunity to show your advising skills in a very nontraditional way and it will be a success for you.

"Mrs. Jones, we at Notepads, Inc. are excited to announce a new line of notepads for our exclusive customers. If you can, tell me a bit about your frustrations with your current line of notepads that you use. Wow, thank you for that. I can tell that functionality, cost and supply are all issues that are of concern and I'm happy to tell you that this fantastic notepad meets your needs with the brightest white paper, narrow-ruled, right-priced, and readily available features. I'd like to talk to you further about pricing and delivery options when you are ready."

We are looking for the most motivated individuals to join the team here at Fidelity Capital Markets. Where would you like your career to take you in the next five to ten years?

"Now that I am to the midway point of my career, I am looking for my next move to be my final move in finding my work home until I retire. As a successful Financial Advisor today, I want to focus on continuing to grow my skills in advising clients on retirement and private wealth management and it sounds like I'll have that opportunity here at Fidelity Capital Markets. As I continue to grow in my skills and prove my worth to you, a long-term career goal is to be in management where I could oversee the work of Junior Advisors and mentor them towards success."

This common interview question put you in a tough spot where you should talk about your ultimate career goals while also balancing the needs of the position that you are interviewing for and the needs of Fidelity Capital Markets. Prior to your interviewer, try to research the job and Fidelity Capital Markets to the point where you can match your career goals with the Fidelity Capital Markets offers. While your interviewer is looking for a long-term fit for the position they are interviewing you for, it is okay to set your sights higher as long as your goals meet that of the organization's goals. If at all possible during your answer, point out that long-term success with Fidelity Capital Markets is vitally important to you.

"A career in risk analysis has been a dream for some time, and this opportunity with Fidelity Capital Markets is really my dream job. If hired here, my goal for the next five to ten years would be to continue to hone my skills and help the department's work to a point where it is growing and becoming more effective. Down the road, I'm really in a position to be an open book when it comes to where my career with Fidelity Capital Markets would go from there."

At Fidelity Capital Markets, we pride ourselves on providing the best overall customer experience. Talk about your customer service experience and explain why it will help our clients here.

"Over the past five years in my current role in customer service, my number one mantra has been to create the most personalized experience possible for each person. I have done this by taking the time to get to know the customer, find out what their needs are, and creating an experience unique to them. Where my time in automotive sales has really prepared me for this role with Fidelity Capital Markets is in this approach. If hired for this role, I know that I will be relied upon to use open and honest communication skills, time management skills, and to take an empathetic and personalized approach with each client and I can definitely be relied upon to do that."

In the financial services industry, overall client experience is a major predictor of business growth and the team at Fidelity Capital Markets takes the overall client experience seriously. For this question, your interviewer will be looking for you to expand upon your customer service experience past what they can see from your resume. To seal the deal for your interview, try to talk about times that you have gone above and beyond the call of duty to provide the best service possible for a customer.

"In my years in a front-facing customer service role, I've prided myself on being the face of the franchise. More often than not, my interactions with customers can be the difference between a repeat customer and a person who never comes back again. To ensure repeat customers, I make sure that I am knowledgeable about our products and services, I'm proactive with their needs and I'm always accountable for any mistakes that are made on my organization's side of things. If given the opportunity to join the team here at Fidelity Capital Markets, I will work hard to be highly educated in your services and be proactive and accountable in every interaction that I have."

Give me an example of a time that you had to solve a problem without having all of the necessary information at hand to do so. How did you handle that situation?

"Back when I first joined my current organization, I was taking a role that had been vacant for many months and I had to start with a backlog of work along with the regular daily activities. This customer service role included logging daily visitors and calls and the interim rep only kept brief notes. After taking the time to walk through training and getting running on my own, I realized that the current workload wouldn't allow me to catch up on the backlog of work that had been missed. While I had ideas of how to play catch up on the work, I approached my supervisor with a few ideas and we settled on having me log hours from home on our system as overtime to get caught up. I worked with our IT staff on getting set up on our network from home and was more than willing to help out with some extra hours."

For this question, your interviewer is looking to test your ability to be analytical and resourceful in a specific situation where you had to dig further to solve a problem. Prior to your interview, try to think of a time in the past where you encountered this specific situation and talk through it by laying out the problem and walking through the step-by-step approach you took to solve the problem. Try to be as detailed you can as you explain how you thought the problem out and worked hard to use the resources you could to help solve the problem. Your interviewer will be relying on these fine details to truly see how you will perform on the job with Fidelity Capital Markets.

"Working for a large financial institution, our advisory staff help cover for each other when we are on vacation, sick, or simply out of office for the day. We typically team up in groups of three to help provide coverage for each other. A couple of months ago, I fielded a call from a colleague's client while she was away on vacation and completely out of phone coverage. The client had several questions about their personal finances that I couldn't help resolve off the top of my head. I let them know that their advisor was away on vacation but I would take the next hour to research their questions and get back to them shortly. This was a very acceptable path of action to the client and I took the time to get their questions answered quickly."

What statistical models are you familiar with and which do you feel would best apply to the financial field here at Fidelity Capital Markets?

"As a data nerd, I love the realm of statistics and I am very familiar with all of the unique statistical models and how to best apply them to different situations. I've applied linear regression when predicting the outcome based on two historically known data points. I've also applied multivariate models when looking at the distribution of multiple data points. Having dabbled a bit in the market myself and now looking to bring my quantitative analysis skills to the financial field, I am very familiar with the Gaussian model for predicting market changes and would love to bring the knowledge that I have of this model to your team here at Fidelity Capital Markets."

Financial Engineers and Quantitative Analysts are relied upon in the financial industry to utilize complex algorithms and math to predict the trading market's immediate future. For this question, your interviewer will be looking to get the sense that you have the skills to apply the statistical model in finance by having you talk about the models that are familiar with and have worked with in the past. While being honest about your experiences, be sure to point out that you are aware that some apply more to finance and the market to set yourself apart during this question.

"As you can see from my prior experience in data engineering and financial analysis, I have extensive experience in time series modeling that utilized both univariate and multivariate models. Multivariate time series modeling has proven to be very effective when looking at and predicting the S&P 500 performance, and I think my skills in this arena would greatly benefit your team."

List the top 3 skills that you have acquired in your last role.

"In the past few years, I was able to upgrade my education while still working full time. The biggest skill that I gained was my ability to multi-task as I worked the dual role of employee and student. I also have strong skills in a variety of Microsoft programs such as PowerPoint and Excel."

You have likely gained many valuable skills in your career. Share with the interviewer which skills you value the most. Be sure to include skills that will potentially benefit this potential new employer.

"There are many skills I gained in my most recent position as I had a great training program and my boss was a strong mentor. If I had to choose three top skills, I would say that the biggest ones were effective multitasking, solid closing skills, and cold calling abilities."

The clients of a financial firm like Fidelity Capital Markets can display an arrange of emotions when they work with our Client Services team. How would you handle a situation where a client was very angry?

"As you can see from my resume, I've spent the last three years in customer service relations for a large insurance company. As you can imagine, a large majority of my customer interactions were with upset customers. I've been called names that I can't repeat here in this interview and my key to working through these situations was to remain calm and not take things personally. In the financial world, the insurance business is a very life-altering experience and a loss or damage to an item is very stressful. I tried to put myself in the customer's shoes, see things from their perspective, and do my best to ease their situation. In this role with Fidelity Capital Markets, these same skills would be vital for me to find solutions or the right person to talk to if needed."

Whether due to a large amount of money lost on the market or a client feels they were ill-advised by an Advisor, your job as a Client Services Representative will at some point or another deal with a very angry client. For this answer, your interviewer will be looking to hear that you do what is necessary to stay calm and stay focused on finding a resolution. If possible, use a specific example of a time you had to do exactly this and explain how effective communication was critical in making the situation right for the client.

"First and foremost, an active listening approach is the first step to lowering the tension from an angry customer. A couple of months ago, we had a very angry customer come onsite to complain about a defective product that cut his hand pretty badly. The customer came onsite to complain even before receiving emergency care, which was apparent that he needed. First, I let him release his anger and it was not a pretty sight. Then I calmly repeated back what he had said and then explained what our policy allowed me to do at that time. Looking back, my sincere approach and calm demeanor helped calm him down, and later that day, my manager had a formal complaint sent to the manufacturer and we were assured that they'd be in contact with the customer."

This position at Fidelity Capital Markets has generated a lot of interest from applicants. What do you feel is the one quality that sets you apart from others we are speaking with about this position?

"As I've talked about during this interview process and from what you can see on my resume, I have all of the technical skills needed to grow your financial advising practice here at Fidelity Capital Markets. What sets me apart from my competition is my drive to succeed in this industry and I'd love to bring that drive to Fidelity Capital Markets to help to work with your highest-profile clients possible. Growing up and continuing to this point in my life, I've always been a very competitive person. I've played many team and individual sports my whole life and my drive to win in those has definitely carried over to and been a huge benefit in my work as a Financial Advisor. I'd love to bring this competitive spirit to your team."

This question is the perfect opportunity for you to highlight the one key quality that makes you the best person for this position, so be sure to really think about what this one quality is ahead of your interview. While there are many ways that you can take to answer to impress your interviewer and seal the deal for you in getting the job, be sure to avoid making assumptions about the other candidates in your answer. As well, be sure to avoid anything in your answer that points to this job being convenient for you personally or the fact that you'll be getting compensated for this work. Those are quick ways for you to go to the bottom of the candidate ranking list.

"From what I understand about this role in Client Services with Fidelity Capital Markets, my day-to-day work will include a lot of client interaction and I really feel like the job description was written with my skills and abilities in mind. But the thing that will really set me apart for being the perfect fit for this role is my experience on the sales side of things where I spent five years of my working career in the retail sales industry. In sales, I have developed key skills like product knowledge and selling skills that would be very beneficial to this role."

Can you think of a situation where raising debt over equity would be beneficial?

"In the situations where I've advised an organization to increase debt, they've received a distinct advantage in a lower-cost form of financing versus equity financing. In the end, this reduced the organization's WACC and came out to be a win for them."

Debt and equity have a very closely bonded relationship with each other in relation to a company's finances. In most situations, raising debt can create too high of an amount of pressure to meet payments versus raising equity. But, there are a few key situations where there is a distinct advantage in raising debt over equity and your interviewer will be looking to hear that you understand at least one of those advantages to be tax shielding, reducing the cost of capital, and not diluting the stake for investors.

"Last year, I advised a manufacturer to take the debt over equity route when adding a new line of products that was guaranteed to be very profitable. This fact allowed the company to simply and quickly repay the loan plus interest while reaping the rewards of the extra profits. In that same case using equity, final profit would've been less."

What is the most attractive thing in your eyes about this role with Fidelity Capital Markets?

"Over the past couple of years, I've had an eye on pursuing a career with Fidelity Capital Markets because of your reputation as a forward-moving financial institution and your commitment to the communities that you do business in. As a person that believes in togetherness and helping others out where possible, these are values that I hold very high and would bring to the team here."

For this question, your interviewer is looking to gain insight into what you know and like about Fidelity Capital Markets and how they will be able to help you meet your career goals. In your answer, try and stay focused on the alignment of your values with the organization's values and demonstrate that you've done your research on Fidelity Capital Markets and the job you are interviewing for. To try and maintain positivity in your answer, try not to talk bad about a previous employer as that can make you sound like a difficult employee and raise a red flag for your interviewer.

"As I enter the midway point of my career, my job search has been focused on finding an employer that I can spend the rest of my career with and someday retire from. Looking at the history, culture, and growth of Fidelity Capital Markets, this is definitely a place that I'd love to be a part of as you continue to grow and prosper into the future."

In this role here at Fidelity Capital Markets, we will rely on you to conduct thorough presentations with clients. How would your rate your overall presentation skills and why would you give yourself that rating?

"Hopefully from this interview, you get the sense that I am a people person by nature. In my current role, I make financial presentations to our largest clients and was asked to do this several years ago by my current Director. He saw my ability to capture a crowd through my confidence, my educational demeanor, and my wittiness to use humor in my presentation skills. If hired for this role, I'd love the opportunity to work with the clients at Fidelity Capital Markets to do the same."

Solid communication and presentation skills are an essential part of a job as a Financial Analysis and this position with Fidelity Capital Markets is no different. To show your interview that you will have what it takes to get hired for this role, talk about your experience in delivering meaningful presentations to a group. Be sure to emphasize your delivery style and your comfortability in speaking in front of others and stress that you understand the importance that communication plays in your role as a Financial Analyst.

"I pride myself on my ability to communicate clearly and effectively with my colleagues and my clients on a regular basis. With my colleagues, I don't hesitate to talk in person, over the phone, or through email when needed. With clients, I have a great way of talking in terms that are understandable and knowledgeable for them to understand complicated items. These skills definitely translate over to my presentation skills when required. A few weeks ago, I presented to a group of investors that were very engaged and asked a lot of questions. I was able to effectively navigate all of their questions to make the presentation successful for all who attended."

In working with financial data here at Fidelity Capital Markets, what are the steps you would take in the data validation process as part of your work?

"With any large analysis project and performing data validation, my first step is to create a detailed plan for the data needed. This plan will define the required data to be validated and set the way for the remaining steps. The next steps are to validate the information in the database and then the formatting of the data. Finally, prior to validating the data, sampling needs to be done to ensure that a small sample meets the requirements of the project. Being very proficient with many validation programs, I consider myself very proficient in both QuerySurge and Datameer but remain open to learning any new programs here at Fidelity Capital Markets."

Your job as a detailed and proficient Data Analyst requires you to take proper steps in the data validation process to ensure that data used is accurate and clean. Bad data in the financial industry can have a costly impact and your job will be to ensure that doesn't happen. For your answer to this question, discuss the importance and your method for both data screening and data verification as part of the validation process. Also, be sure to talk about any programs that you utilize during the validation process.

"Here at Fidelity Capital Markets, your Financial Advisors rely on the most accurate and up to date data to present to clients and I would take great pride in my job as a Data Analyst to provide the best data possible. To validate data, the two important steps I would take are data screening and data verification. I am very confident in my ability to work with algorithms that screen large sets of data for their accuracy. On top of that, I have worked with a few of the different data verification programs like Experian and Sage Intacct."

Have you ever run into a situation where a company had a positive cash flow but was still in critical financial trouble?

"If hired for this position, you can rest assured that I know all considerations necessary when looking at cash flow for an organization when determining their overall financial health. A cash flow statement can often show positive cash flow when they take on new cash from loans or long-term debt. While these items do show up as positive on the cash flow, they don't accurately reflect the profitability of the organization."

At the heart of this question, your interviewer is looking to dive in and take a look at your critical thinking skills. While positive cash flow is usually a very good sign of a company's overall ability to settle its debts and handle future financial challenges, there are some situations where all isn't as it seems when looking at a company with a positive cash flow. Whether you have run into this situation or not, it is important for you to point out that you are aware of situations where a positive cash flow can be misleading.

"I have come across this situation with a company that was selling off a large chunk of inventory. At the same time, the company was delaying its payables. This showed a very skewed positive cash flow, but the real story behind the curtains showed a company that was in serious trouble of keeping its doors open."

If hired for this position at Fidelity Capital Markets, what factors would you consider part as part of an organization's long-term liability?

"While long-term liabilities aren't an immediate issue on a company's working capital, the can become an issue if long-term liabilities pile up too high for some organizations. While often overlooked, items like mortgages, fleet vehicle loans, and annuities can add up over time and are always items that I consider when looking at the overall health of an organization."

To begin with, make sure that you can define a long-term liability as obligations that are due beyond one year and into the future. Then, consider major factors like bonds, mortgages, leases, and other items that factor into an organization's long-term liability. Last, try to explain why the measurement of long-term liabilities is an important factor in considering the overall financial health of an organization.

When have you shown a willingness to learn a new method or new approach to solving a problem?

"When our company came under new management last year many new methods and policies came into place. I was able to learn many new approaches to our challenges in sales and customer management. I quite enjoyed the process."

It is a great skill to have when you can approach a problem in a new way. Discuss with the interviewer your ability to approach a problem using modern methods.

"In my current position, I am faced with learning new sales methods and client approaches on a regular basis. I am always the first to embrace these new sales pitches because I truly believe the bigger diversity we can offer our clients, the better."

At Fidelity Capital Markets, we are building a massive machine learning program and your role as a Data Scientist will be an integral part of that project. What experiences will you bring to that side of this job?

"Over the course of the last two years, I've been working on a machine learning tool that monitors online pricing from thousands of different retailers. The tool analyzes thousands of data sources simultaneously and pulls the information into a real-time database. My job was in the build of the program and the database while working with other colleagues that built out the sourcing for the websites we would pull data from. I think this experience would fit nicely with your team looking to extract real-time market data and trading data on a minute-to-minute basis."

In the financial services field, machine learning is being used to automate processes, provide information security, create algorithms for trading, and assist in credit scoring. Fidelity Capital Markets is looking to stay at the forefront of its field and this role as a Data Scientist will play a huge part in making this a reality. Talk about any experience that you have in working with data to create a robust machine learning tool. What was your role in the project and what can you bring to the team at Fidelity Capital Markets?

"My experience in AI and machine learning as a Data Scientist has been in paperwork automation and cybersecurity. I recently helped my organization tweak our system to isolate cyber threats and the new tweaks are working perfectly. As well, I've helped my organization save thousands of labor hours by creating a program to review contract information from vendors. If hired for this role here at Fidelity Capital Markets, know that I remain open to learning new techniques in machine learning to help your organization grow and prosper into the future."

Fidelity Capital Markets Interview Questions

Go Back

1. Talk to me about a challenging situation you had to handle on the job that involved another colleague. How did you handle that situation?
2. Accuracy is important to us at Fidelity Capital Markets. Do you always double check or proofread your work?
3. If hired for this role at Fidelity Capital Markets, I want to be sure that I'm hiring a motivated individual. What motivates you in your daily work and your career?
4. At Fidelity Capital Markets, our clients are the lifeblood of our business and we do everything in our power to make them happy. What does the term customer service mean to you in your work?
5. Give an example of a time that you had to resolve a difficult situation with a client or customer. What were the keys to coming to a successful solution?
6. How would you define what working capital is for a company and what does its measurement mean?
7. Why would our clients here at Fidelity Capital Markets want you to be their financial advisor?
8. We want our advising team at Fidelity Capital Markets to be happy and healthy. How do you manage the day to day stress of being a financial advisor?
9. Data Scientist is a fairly new role here at Fidelity Capital Markets. Why do you feel that you can make the jump into the financial industry as a data scientist?
10. Fidelity Capital Markets strives for client loyalty to keep us running strong into the future. What do you feel are the keys to retaining clients for the long haul?
11. What statistical analysis tools do you have experience working with?
12. Take a couple of minutes to sell this notepad to me.
13. We are looking for the most motivated individuals to join the team here at Fidelity Capital Markets. Where would you like your career to take you in the next five to ten years?
14. At Fidelity Capital Markets, we pride ourselves on providing the best overall customer experience. Talk about your customer service experience and explain why it will help our clients here.
15. Give me an example of a time that you had to solve a problem without having all of the necessary information at hand to do so. How did you handle that situation?
16. What statistical models are you familiar with and which do you feel would best apply to the financial field here at Fidelity Capital Markets?
17. List the top 3 skills that you have acquired in your last role.
18. The clients of a financial firm like Fidelity Capital Markets can display an arrange of emotions when they work with our Client Services team. How would you handle a situation where a client was very angry?
19. This position at Fidelity Capital Markets has generated a lot of interest from applicants. What do you feel is the one quality that sets you apart from others we are speaking with about this position?
20. Can you think of a situation where raising debt over equity would be beneficial?
21. What is the most attractive thing in your eyes about this role with Fidelity Capital Markets?
22. In this role here at Fidelity Capital Markets, we will rely on you to conduct thorough presentations with clients. How would your rate your overall presentation skills and why would you give yourself that rating?
23. In working with financial data here at Fidelity Capital Markets, what are the steps you would take in the data validation process as part of your work?
24. Have you ever run into a situation where a company had a positive cash flow but was still in critical financial trouble?
25. If hired for this position at Fidelity Capital Markets, what factors would you consider part as part of an organization's long-term liability?
26. When have you shown a willingness to learn a new method or new approach to solving a problem?
27. At Fidelity Capital Markets, we are building a massive machine learning program and your role as a Data Scientist will be an integral part of that project. What experiences will you bring to that side of this job?

Fidelity Capital Markets Interview Questions

1. Talk to me about a challenging situation you had to handle on the job that involved another colleague. How did you handle that situation?

2. Accuracy is important to us at Fidelity Capital Markets. Do you always double check or proofread your work?

3. If hired for this role at Fidelity Capital Markets, I want to be sure that I'm hiring a motivated individual. What motivates you in your daily work and your career?

4. At Fidelity Capital Markets, our clients are the lifeblood of our business and we do everything in our power to make them happy. What does the term customer service mean to you in your work?

5. Give an example of a time that you had to resolve a difficult situation with a client or customer. What were the keys to coming to a successful solution?

6. How would you define what working capital is for a company and what does its measurement mean?

7. Why would our clients here at Fidelity Capital Markets want you to be their financial advisor?

8. We want our advising team at Fidelity Capital Markets to be happy and healthy. How do you manage the day to day stress of being a financial advisor?

9. Data Scientist is a fairly new role here at Fidelity Capital Markets. Why do you feel that you can make the jump into the financial industry as a data scientist?

10. Fidelity Capital Markets strives for client loyalty to keep us running strong into the future. What do you feel are the keys to retaining clients for the long haul?

11. What statistical analysis tools do you have experience working with?

12. Take a couple of minutes to sell this notepad to me.

13. We are looking for the most motivated individuals to join the team here at Fidelity Capital Markets. Where would you like your career to take you in the next five to ten years?

14. At Fidelity Capital Markets, we pride ourselves on providing the best overall customer experience. Talk about your customer service experience and explain why it will help our clients here.

15. Give me an example of a time that you had to solve a problem without having all of the necessary information at hand to do so. How did you handle that situation?

16. What statistical models are you familiar with and which do you feel would best apply to the financial field here at Fidelity Capital Markets?

17. List the top 3 skills that you have acquired in your last role.

18. The clients of a financial firm like Fidelity Capital Markets can display an arrange of emotions when they work with our Client Services team. How would you handle a situation where a client was very angry?

19. This position at Fidelity Capital Markets has generated a lot of interest from applicants. What do you feel is the one quality that sets you apart from others we are speaking with about this position?

20. Can you think of a situation where raising debt over equity would be beneficial?

21. What is the most attractive thing in your eyes about this role with Fidelity Capital Markets?

22. In this role here at Fidelity Capital Markets, we will rely on you to conduct thorough presentations with clients. How would your rate your overall presentation skills and why would you give yourself that rating?

23. In working with financial data here at Fidelity Capital Markets, what are the steps you would take in the data validation process as part of your work?

24. Have you ever run into a situation where a company had a positive cash flow but was still in critical financial trouble?

25. If hired for this position at Fidelity Capital Markets, what factors would you consider part as part of an organization's long-term liability?

26. When have you shown a willingness to learn a new method or new approach to solving a problem?

27. At Fidelity Capital Markets, we are building a massive machine learning program and your role as a Data Scientist will be an integral part of that project. What experiences will you bring to that side of this job?