The process took 1 week. I interviewed at Cornerstone Research (New York, NY) in Jan 2012
Interview
I applied through my university and was contacted less than a week later for an interview the following week. The interview was a short, 30-minute one. It was 1:1, and he began by asking me about things on my resume (past work experience). Then he gave me the case, which was a lot more finance-oriented than I was expecting. I think prior knowledge of finance would have helped tremendously. My interviewer also kept on pushing me by saying, "And...?" after I had laid out my structure and my answers, which got me easily flustered since I didn't have anything more to say. I was notified a week later about the result of my interview.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Your client is a private hedge fund specializing in distressed debt in US, Europe, and Asia. They are thinking about divesting in Asia.
First round: 2 virtual case interviews, 30-45 min
Second round: In person, 3 case and 1 behavioral
All cases included 5-10 minutes behavioral or 1-2 questions at the end. People were nice, cases were fun and fairly structured.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Asked about evaluating strengths and weaknesses of various modeling techniques
I interviewed at Cornerstone Research (Menlo Park, CA)
Interview
The interview was split between behavioral (20 mins) and a economic case. This is the first round, once you do this you will have more case rounds. The superday is 4 back to back cases (40 mins each) in person.
The interview process was succinct, but it was difficult. Depending on the office, they take only a few candidates, so it is extremely competitive, so bring your A-game; you will need to be near-perfect.
Summer Analyst applicants have rated the interview process at Cornerstone Research with 3.4 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty) and assessed their interview experience as 82% positive. To compare, the company-average is 69.2% positive. This is according to Glassdoor user ratings.
Candidates applying for Summer Analyst roles take an average of 15 days to get hired, when considering 150 user submitted interviews for this role. To compare, the hiring process at Cornerstone Research overall takes an average of 17 days.
Common stages of the interview process at Cornerstone Research as a Summer Analyst according to 150 Glassdoor interviews include:
One on one interview: 52%
Phone interview: 17%
Presentation: 9%
Skills test: 7%
Background check: 4%
IQ intelligence test: 4%
Personality test: 3%
Other: 2%
Drug test: 1%
Group panel interview: 1%
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