At The NASDAQ OMX Group, 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 possibl 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 for this role with The NASDAQ OMX Group 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 a 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 The NASDAQ OMX Group 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 went 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 The NASDAQ OMX Group, I will work hard to be highly educated in your services and be proactive and accountable in every interaction that I have."

At The NASDAQ OMX Group, 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 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 The NASDAQ OMX Group, 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 off communication with them. If hired for this role at The NASDAQ OMX Group, you'll quickly find that dedicated customer service is one of top qualities that I will bring to you team."

If you noticed that a company's balance sheet was showing increased amounts of accounts receivables, what future impacts to that company would you consider to be feasible?

"An organization's lines on a balance sheet all have impact on other lines. In the case that I was made aware of an increase in accounts receivable for an organization, I would note that cash flow could be directly impacted and give a higher chance that the organization didn't have enough money to operate. As well, the reduced value of assets is a real possibility for that organization."

At the root of this question, your interview will be looking to hear that you understand how the different lines on a company's balance sheet are related to each other. In your answer, be sure to point out your understanding of this as your job as an analyst with The NASDAQ OMX Group will rely on your ability to do so.

"In reality, an increase in amounts receivable can have both a positive and negative impact. In the short term, accounts receivable show up as current-period revenue and have a positive effect on income statements. But over the long-term, a large increase in amounts receivable has a negative impact on cash-flow for the company."

What is the most attractive thing in your eyes about this role with The NASDAQ OMX Group?

"Over the past couple of years, I've had an eye on pursuing a career with The NASDAQ OMX Group 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 The NASDAQ OMX Group 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 The NASDAQ OMX Group 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 The NASDAQ OMX Group, this is definitely a place that I'd love to be a part of as you continue to grow and prosper into the future."

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

"Well Mr. Jones, I know in your line that you 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 item) 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 about you further about pricing and delivery options when you are ready."

In this role with The NASDAQ OMX Group, we will rely on your analytical reporting skills on a regular basis. Why do you feel analytical reporting is important in the financial field?

"As a Business Analyst, I've always viewed data as a tool to help make the right business decisions and my analytical reporting requires thoroughness in my data reporting. Here at The NASDAQ OMX Group, you can easily make decisions based off of hunches or gut feelings. But I have a feeling that the more data gathered to help make the decision, the better the decision ends up being in the end."

Because the financial field is heavily reliant on numbers and data, analytical reporting can be a great tool to help key stakeholders make key decisions that have a positive impact on the business. In your answer to this question, point out the fact that you know the impact that data can have in the financial field and also talk about the types of analytical reporting you have done in the past that can be useful to the team at The NASDAQ OMX Group. Also, feel free to ask any follow up questions on the expectation for this position.

How do you stay on top of new trends in the financial services industry?

"I stay on top of financial service trends through a variety of blogs, news sites and financial magazines. My favorite finance news site at the moment is businessinsider.com."

The interviewer would like to know that your passion for financial services goes beyond your work hours. Do you keep on top of industry news and trends on your off time? Assure the interviewer that you are well immersed in the industry.

"I believe that it is crucial for me to stay on top of news in the financial services industry if I hope to be a success. I have joined multiple meet up groups to network with industry peers. It has really helped my network and given me insight into how other financial service professionals are making their careers flourish."

At The NASDAQ OMX Group, we expect our advisors to be available to speak with clients in person, over the phone and through email. What are your experiences in working with clients through different communication methods?

"Looking back on my career, I can honestly say that success as an Advisor is really due to my passion for finance and my desire for interactions with other people. Being a people person at heart, I love working with clients in any way possible. My communication style with clients is to get to personally know them so I can relate my advising to them personally. While I definitely prefer to interact with my clients face-to-face, I do have a lot of experience communicating both over the phone and email as well. If hired for this position, you'll see very quickly that I have excellent writing skills."

Customer interaction is the name of the game at The NASDAQ OMX Group as they rely on excellent customer to service to retain and grow their client base in a cutthroat market. For this question, your interviewer is looking to get a sense of how you use your communication skills to your advantage in your work and how those skills will benefit The NASDAQ OMX Group. As you answer and talk about your experiences in communication methods, try to show that you thrive on client interactions and have the ability to be both persuasive and trusted with those interactions.

"As you can see from my resume, I have taken advanced training courses in public speaking and written communication to help further me in this career field. In my early days in finance and making the move to financial advising, communication skills were my area that needed the most professional development. Today, I am confident in my abilities to work one on one with clients directly in person, over the phone or through email and have experience handling clients in all three ways. In my current role, I'd estimate that over 50% of my interactions are through email with the remaining interactions split between face-to-face meetings and phone calls."

Why would our clients here at The NASDAQ OMX Group 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 The NASDAQ OMX Group, 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 The NASDAQ OMX Group, this is equally important. For your answer, your interviewer will be looking 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."

Discuss a time that you worked a client through a difficult financial situation. What were the keys to making it a success for the client?

"During the recession in 2008, I had a very large client call to request that all of his funds be pulled out of the stock market. Knowing that this move was a very poor strategy, I needed him to hear that in most personal and educated way possible. With an active listening approach, I repeated back what he had told me and I reiterated that he wanted to sell them at a low price and hopefully buy them back down the road at a high price. This made the client take a pause and think. This was my opportunity to talk about market history and the odds that his stock prices would rebound over time. He decided to keep his funds in the market at the time and a few years down the road, he called to personally thank me for the sound advice. The fact that I took a personal approach while educating him in the process to make his own decision was the definite key to success in this situation."

Your interviewer is posing this question to see how you will handle a situation where a client at The NASDAQ OMX Group is working through a difficult time. As you talk about how you managed that situation, your interviewer will be looking to hear that you have the interpersonal skills to be effective from the client's perspective. In your answer, be sure to explain the importance of an empathetic approach with your clients and how that approach helps them get through a difficult time.

"Sometimes in this field, difficult conversations have to be had with clients and when I need to have them, I use a very personal and empathetic approach. A great situation where this happened was with a client that wasn't meeting their personal retirement goals to be done working at age 62. At the point we were working together, she was 55 years old. After a quick assessment of her finances, I talked to her about letting her two kids be responsible for their own college tuition. As a mother, her intuition was to support her children in every way possible but the reality was that it was hurting her own goals. Simply put to her, I told her that there are no loans available for retirement and that she was doing both herself and her kids a favor by taking the route I suggested."

If you were having an interaction with a client here at The NASDAQ OMX Group and you weren't able to answer their question or solve their problem on your own, how would you handle that situation?

"In my current role in Customer Service with Metropolis' largest automotive dealership, I frequently get asked questions that our sales, finance and service staff have to give the final stamp of approval on in answering customers questions. In these situations, I have a great amount of knowledge where I can prepare the customer for speaking with the right person while also ensuring them that the sales, finance or service staff will provide the final answer. Then, I work quickly to get them to the right person."

As the forward facing client services representative with The NASDAQ OMX Group, you may be asked serious financial or market related questions that either don't know or aren't qualified to answer. In those situations, you will be expected to explain to the customer how that question will be answered and then deliver a timeline on when it can be answered. In the end, the customer wants to know the clear path to ease their mind and it will be your job to do just that.

"In a situation where I didn't know an answer, I would ensure the client that we have the right staff in place that would be able to help them quickly and efficiently. I would communicate to the customer what the next step would be and if that would be me putting them directly in contact with someone or me taking their contact information and having someone get back to them. In the end, setting the right course and timeline would be important for every customer when I faced this situation."

At The NASDAQ OMX Group, our Financial Analysts have to often work under a tight deadline. Talk about a time you had to work under a tight deadline in the past. How did you handle that situation and what made it a success?

"In my current role, I'm tasked with preparing some reports for our leadership team's bi-weekly meeting. Upon first taking that responsibility, I made sure that I kept myself organized during each work day and saving and prepping relevant information needed for their report. A couple of months ago, I was informed first thing in the morning that the meeting was being moved a week up to later that day due to some conflicts and vacation time for some of the team. Right away, I moved some things on my calendar to make this a top priority. From there, my regular organization of the materials needed made it easy for me to complete my job."

The financial field can sometimes be chaotic and stressful for analysts working on high pressure deadlines and the work life at The NASDAQ OMX Group is no different. To test how you will perform in these situation if hired for this role, your interviewer will be looking to hear about a time where you did just that. No matter what the situation is that you discuss, be sure to show how you remained calm, focused and on-task to get the job done. Try and stress how you are resourceful and willing to utilize a team effort if necessary.

"During my last semester of my MBA program last spring, I was nearing completion of my capstone project. The project was a case study of mergers within the manufacturing industry and was a great overall project to learn from. During the semester, my full-time job I was working to put myself through school was becoming much more demanding and parts of my project got postponed to a point where I was fearing not being able to complete it to the best of my abilities with the final due date approaching. Right away, I rearranged my work schedule to work half time and began plugging away at the final pieces of the project. To complete it, I had to sacrifice some outside weekend events with friends. While sad to do that at first, I learned some great lessons on time management, project management and sacrifice."

Do you have experience working with different CASE tools? If so, what do you have experience with?

"In my current role, I regularly utilize both diagramming and web development tools. The diagram tools assist our software projects by outlining the system data and components in a graphical form for us and this saves us a great amount of time while also being very reliable. The web development tools greatly help me visualize site changes that I am making because I don't have a deep background in web development. If hired for this position, I'd look forward to learning other CASE tools for prototyping, quality assurance and maintenance."

The world of software engineering has greatly benefited from advancements in computer aided software engineering tools. Because The NASDAQ OMX Group is at the forefront of the industry, your interviewer will be looking to hear which tools you have experience with. Make sure not to concern yourself with providing a correct answer here, but rather focus on your flexibility to learn new aides when needed while explaining what you have experience with.

"During my career and in my experience with CASE tools, most of my experience is in the lower CASE elements that focus on coding and testing the software after initial development. CASE tools have certainly made life as a software engineer more efficient and effective and I'd look forward to learn any new CASE tools if hired for this position here at The NASDAQ OMX Group."

If hired for this position at The NASDAQ OMX Group, 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 companies 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 for this question, 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 in to an organization's long-term liability. Last, try to explain why the measurement of long-term liabilities are important is an important factor in considering the overall financial health of an organiation.

We want our advising team at The NASDAQ OMX Group 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."

At The NASDAQ OMX Group, we expect our Business Analysts to put extra emphasis into the risk management aspects of their project work. How have you performed risk mitigation and risk avoidance in your previous roles as a Business Analyst?

"As you can see from my resume, my Business Analyst experiences come from the software and manufacturing industries where common risks were associated with systematic and operational faults. Similar to the finance industry, I also have experience in helping mitigate legal risk. In my current role, I mitigate legal risk by working with a team of legal experts to know the laws and then develop a series of what-if questions to propose potential scenarios. Based on the what-if scenarios, we can implement specific requirements into the project to help minimize potential risk."

The financial field is often posed with great risks and Business Analysts must always factor potential risks into the equation of any project that they work on. To get a better idea of how you will do this if hired at The NASDAQ OMX Group, your interview is giving you a chance to talk about your knowledge of risk and how you have worked with risk mitigation and risk avoidance in your previous positions. If new to the financial services field, it is important to show that you know that common risks can be systematic, operational, legal and credit related.

"From an early point in my career as a Business Analyst, I learned that a solid analysis process is the key to reducing any risk in a project. Two areas that apply the most are scope creep and impact analysis. To reduce scope creep and avoid any risks associate with it, I ensure that all stakeholders understand the scope of the project from the start and that I check in to validate the requirements as frequently as I can."

We are looking for the most motivated individuals to join the team here at The NASDAQ OMX Group. 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 The NASDAQ OMX Group. 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 The NASDAQ OMX Group. Prior to your interviewer, try to research the job and The NASDAQ OMX Group to the point where you can match your career goals with they The NASDAQ OMX Group 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 The NASDAQ OMX Group is vitally important to you.

"A career in risk analysis has been a dream for some time and this opportunity with The NASDAQ OMX Group 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 work of the department 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 The NASDAQ OMX Group would go from there."

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 a much higher working capital and if hired for this role, I have a great understanding of each industries specific needs."

As a Financial Analyst with The NASDAQ OMX Group, you will be asked to help measure working capital of organizations. In your definition that you provide to your interviewer, ensure that you give them at least the basic definition of the calculation being 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 give 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."

Our customers rely on our services outside of normal business hours. Are you able to work a flexible schedule if hired for this position?

"I am able to work a pretty flexible work schedule and have been used to doing this in my current role for the past six years. If I understand the expected hours for this position correctly, it sounds like the standard hours will be 8:00am to 5:00pm on most days with a rotating schedule to help cover evening hours up until 8:00pm and some rotating Saturday coverage as well. Is this correct?"

Because financial clients can be in need outside of the standard 9-5 business hours, this position with The NASDAQ OMX Group may require the need for you to be flexible with your schedule to accommodate the business needs of the position. Prior to applying for the position, The NASDAQ OMX Group should have posted the expected hours for position for you to have an idea of what will be expected. When answering this question, it is best to be open and honest about what particular needs that you have for expected work hours. As well, it is acceptable to ask follow up questions regarding the work schedule if you need further clarification.

"Having worked a flexible schedule that included early morning hours and hours into the evening, I am very open to a flexible schedule for this position. The only clarification I would need is how a schedule is determined and when I would find out about upcoming schedules if hired for this position. We do have a young child that we would need to plan daycare schedules for and so my spouse and I could coordinate pick ups and drop offs from daycare. Can you shed light on how scheduling works for this position?"

We pride ourselves on teamwork here at The NASDAQ OMX Group and this role in Client Services relies on teamwork. What are the top qualities you would bring to a team based atmosphere here?

"As with any team that I have worked on in the past, my priority is knowing that everyone has an important piece in the overall success of the team. In customer service, this is knowing who to contact with the right questions and who to guide customers to when needed. This ensures that our work is done efficiently on our end of things and that our customers are handled efficiently and effectively. If hired here at The NASDAQ OMX Group, my first goal would be to get to know everyone on the team that I would work with, what their roles are and how to best communicate with them."

At the heart of this question falls your interviewers need to determine how well you will work with others on the team at The NASDAQ OMX Group. You will be working with high level advisors and managers that are under a lot of pressure to perform in their jobs and your communications with them will either alleviate some of that stress or add to it. To ensure that your interviewer walks away from your conversation knowing that you are a team player that keeps the end goals of the company in mind, focus your answer on your effective communication skills, your knowledge of everyone's role on the team and your knowledge of what your role on the team will be.

"My top quality is my ability to communicate, both verbally and through writing. I have excellent interpersonal speaking and listening skills and my past colleagues have always appreciated this. Here at The NASDAQ OMX Group, your clients would appreciate this in my work as well. I am a very efficient and effective written communicator as well and this would be very beneficial at a company like The NASDAQ OMX Group, where your offices are spread throughout the country and I can imagine that email communication is vitally important."

Our clients here at The NASDAQ OMX Group expect top-tier service and products and we will expect you to do just that in this role. Have you ever went the extra mile for a client when it wasn't expected? Why did you do so?

"A couple of years ago when I was working customer service in retail, a customer was looking for what happened to be a discontinued item of clothing for her sick mother. The easy route would have been to simply look it up, tell her it was discontinued and have her be on her way. What I did was take down the customers contact information and let her know that I could contact our person that handled archived products. If we could track it down, I would be in touch. With a simple phone call, my colleague was able to track the item down from the supplier and have it coordinated to ship directly. We put the customer in direct contact with the supplier and she was as happy as could be. Looking back on that situation, I felt that it was the right thing to do given the situation that the customer was in and knowing she was a loyal customer of ours."

The NASDAQ OMX Group looks to set themselves apart from their competition by delivering the best service possible in the industry. You, as a customer service professional, are likely used to doing this so in your example, be sure to think about a time where your going above and beyond the call of duty really impacted the overall customer experience. No matter what example you use, be sure to explain why you felt it was important to take that action and what outcomes you are aware that it produced.

"My current role in hospitality often has me working with very high profile customers that come to our hotel. Last year, a touring manager for a musician contacted me regarding and upcoming stay for the musician. I proactively asked for their dining and entertainment preferences and with that list, I was able to work with our catering staff to ensure we had preferred items on the menus for the nights that he stayed and that we had a customized video game package in the musician's room for the his extended stay. Prior to him leaving, his manager reached out to thank me for the great service!"

What SDLC models are you familiar in working with?

"During my training in software engineering and in my early career, the waterfall model was the standard. In this model, each phase of the development process happens in a set order and projects using this model are easily managed. But over time, as the development projects that I have led have become more complicated and intricate, I have implemented the spiral model. This model has allowed the ability of end users to give feedback early on and often during development and helps to build a more customized product to our customers."

As a software engineer, you are very familiar with the software development life cycle. For this question, your interviewer is looking to hear what models you have worked on in the past. While there isn't necessarily a right or wrong answer to this question, try to show your flexibility to working with different SDLC models by bringing up your past experiences. Then, show you have knowledge of different models like the waterfall model or agile model. It is also a good idea to use this question as an opportunity for you to learn more about The NASDAQ OMX Group by asking your interviewer which model they work off of.

"In my current position with XYZ Company, my department utilizes the agile model in development life cycle. Since our products are so tailored to the needs of our customers, we get a working product very early on in the process and then I work hand in hand with customers to fine tune the software moving forward. It is a very effective model that has built a great reputation for our software among customers. I also have familiarity working with the iterative model and it has similar advantages to the agile model. If I were hired here at The NASDAQ OMX Group, can you expand on what models you use here in your software development life cycle?"

What programming languages would you consider yourself fluent in?

"From the start of college, where software engineering grew into a passion for me, I've become very fluent in Java, JavaScript and C++. My current role has me working primarily with C++, but I pride myself on my ability and passion to learn new programming languages and would be able to do so if hired for this role with The NASDAQ OMX Group."

While this question gives your interviewer insight into the diversity of your programming language experience, they most importantly want to know that you are adaptable and able to learn on the fly if needed. Talk about the different languages that you consider yourself fluent in and, if possible, do as much research into The NASDAQ OMX Group as you can prior to your interview and try to speak to the specific languages that they work with.

"During my training to be an engineer and then in my current role since graduating, a majority of my experience falls within Python. My current role delves deeply into artificial intelligence and Python is awesome with this advanced technology. As I understand it from talking to another engineer here at The NASDAQ OMX Group, a requirement would be for me to learn Scala. Though I haven't worked directly with Scala, I believe my experience and willingness to learn would have me up and running in no time if hired for this role."

The clients of a financial firm like The NASDAQ OMX Group 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. Like 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 customers shoes, see things from their perspective and do my best to ease their situation. In this role with The NASDAQ OMX Group, 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."

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 that 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 The NASDAQ OMX Group.

"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 group 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."

This position at The NASDAQ OMX Group 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 The NASDAQ OMX Group. What sets me apart from my competition is my drive to succeed in this industry and I'd love to bring that drive to The NASDAQ OMX Group to help working 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 you 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 The NASDAQ OMX Group, 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."

In your experience as a Financial Analyst, what do you feel is the best metric to gauge a company's future stock performance?

"While there are many excellent metrics to consider for the future of a stock performance, the one that I weigh the most heavily is the price earnings to growth ratio. I prefer the PEG ratio because of its consideration of expected growth rate where simple P/E calculation doesn't consider that. This calculation is specifically great when looking at a wide array of companies within an industry to level their playing field."

As a Financial Analyst with The NASDAQ OMX Group, you will be relied upon by clients to provide the best risk and reward opportunities for them to have the most successful investments While there are many great metrics to use and no right answer for this question, your interviewer will be looking to hear that you are confident in why the metric is important by talking about the details of it. The confidence that you project to your interviewer will carry over to your work with clients and your interviewer will be keying in on this aspect of you answer.

"Being familiar with metrics like free cash flow, payout ratio, debt-to-equity and price-to-sales, all can be very useful depending on the situation. In a recent economic downturn like we've had recently, I've relied heavily on the debt-to-equity measurement to measure future performance. As we've seen with many large retailers recently, a simple look into their debt would've shown the potential for disaster in their stock."

If hired for this role at The NASDAQ OMX Group, 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 The NASDAQ OMX Group, 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 make 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 The NASDAQ OMX Group, I'll be working with your clients everyday on helping them achieve financial success and that alone is all of the reason I need to get out of bed every morning."

The NASDAQ OMX Group Interview Questions

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1. At The NASDAQ OMX Group, 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.
2. At The NASDAQ OMX Group, 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?
3. If you noticed that a company's balance sheet was showing increased amounts of accounts receivables, what future impacts to that company would you consider to be feasible?
4. What is the most attractive thing in your eyes about this role with The NASDAQ OMX Group?
5. Take a couple of minutes to sell this notepad to me.
6. In this role with The NASDAQ OMX Group, we will rely on your analytical reporting skills on a regular basis. Why do you feel analytical reporting is important in the financial field?
7. How do you stay on top of new trends in the financial services industry?
8. At The NASDAQ OMX Group, we expect our advisors to be available to speak with clients in person, over the phone and through email. What are your experiences in working with clients through different communication methods?
9. Why would our clients here at The NASDAQ OMX Group want you to be their financial advisor?
10. Discuss a time that you worked a client through a difficult financial situation. What were the keys to making it a success for the client?
11. If you were having an interaction with a client here at The NASDAQ OMX Group and you weren't able to answer their question or solve their problem on your own, how would you handle that situation?
12. At The NASDAQ OMX Group, our Financial Analysts have to often work under a tight deadline. Talk about a time you had to work under a tight deadline in the past. How did you handle that situation and what made it a success?
13. Do you have experience working with different CASE tools? If so, what do you have experience with?
14. If hired for this position at The NASDAQ OMX Group, what factors would you consider part as part of an organization's long-term liability?
15. We want our advising team at The NASDAQ OMX Group to be happy and healthy. How do you manage the day to day stress of being a financial advisor?
16. At The NASDAQ OMX Group, we expect our Business Analysts to put extra emphasis into the risk management aspects of their project work. How have you performed risk mitigation and risk avoidance in your previous roles as a Business Analyst?
17. We are looking for the most motivated individuals to join the team here at The NASDAQ OMX Group. Where would you like your career to take you in the next five to ten years?
18. How would you define what working capital is for a company and what does its measurement mean?
19. Our customers rely on our services outside of normal business hours. Are you able to work a flexible schedule if hired for this position?
20. We pride ourselves on teamwork here at The NASDAQ OMX Group and this role in Client Services relies on teamwork. What are the top qualities you would bring to a team based atmosphere here?
21. Our clients here at The NASDAQ OMX Group expect top-tier service and products and we will expect you to do just that in this role. Have you ever went the extra mile for a client when it wasn't expected? Why did you do so?
22. What SDLC models are you familiar in working with?
23. What programming languages would you consider yourself fluent in?
24. The clients of a financial firm like The NASDAQ OMX Group 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?
25. 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?
26. This position at The NASDAQ OMX Group 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?
27. In your experience as a Financial Analyst, what do you feel is the best metric to gauge a company's future stock performance?
28. If hired for this role at The NASDAQ OMX Group, I want to be sure that I'm hiring a motivated individual. What motivates you in your daily work and your career?

The NASDAQ OMX Group Interview Questions

1. At The NASDAQ OMX Group, 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.

2. At The NASDAQ OMX Group, 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?

3. If you noticed that a company's balance sheet was showing increased amounts of accounts receivables, what future impacts to that company would you consider to be feasible?

4. What is the most attractive thing in your eyes about this role with The NASDAQ OMX Group?

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

6. In this role with The NASDAQ OMX Group, we will rely on your analytical reporting skills on a regular basis. Why do you feel analytical reporting is important in the financial field?

7. How do you stay on top of new trends in the financial services industry?

8. At The NASDAQ OMX Group, we expect our advisors to be available to speak with clients in person, over the phone and through email. What are your experiences in working with clients through different communication methods?

9. Why would our clients here at The NASDAQ OMX Group want you to be their financial advisor?

10. Discuss a time that you worked a client through a difficult financial situation. What were the keys to making it a success for the client?

11. If you were having an interaction with a client here at The NASDAQ OMX Group and you weren't able to answer their question or solve their problem on your own, how would you handle that situation?

12. At The NASDAQ OMX Group, our Financial Analysts have to often work under a tight deadline. Talk about a time you had to work under a tight deadline in the past. How did you handle that situation and what made it a success?

13. Do you have experience working with different CASE tools? If so, what do you have experience with?

14. If hired for this position at The NASDAQ OMX Group, what factors would you consider part as part of an organization's long-term liability?

15. We want our advising team at The NASDAQ OMX Group to be happy and healthy. How do you manage the day to day stress of being a financial advisor?

16. At The NASDAQ OMX Group, we expect our Business Analysts to put extra emphasis into the risk management aspects of their project work. How have you performed risk mitigation and risk avoidance in your previous roles as a Business Analyst?

17. We are looking for the most motivated individuals to join the team here at The NASDAQ OMX Group. Where would you like your career to take you in the next five to ten years?

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

19. Our customers rely on our services outside of normal business hours. Are you able to work a flexible schedule if hired for this position?

20. We pride ourselves on teamwork here at The NASDAQ OMX Group and this role in Client Services relies on teamwork. What are the top qualities you would bring to a team based atmosphere here?

21. Our clients here at The NASDAQ OMX Group expect top-tier service and products and we will expect you to do just that in this role. Have you ever went the extra mile for a client when it wasn't expected? Why did you do so?

22. What SDLC models are you familiar in working with?

23. What programming languages would you consider yourself fluent in?

24. The clients of a financial firm like The NASDAQ OMX Group 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?

25. 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?

26. This position at The NASDAQ OMX Group 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?

27. In your experience as a Financial Analyst, what do you feel is the best metric to gauge a company's future stock performance?

28. If hired for this role at The NASDAQ OMX Group, I want to be sure that I'm hiring a motivated individual. What motivates you in your daily work and your career?