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Merrill Lynch Interview in 1 Week. Questions!
January 18, 2010 - 10:27pm
I have an interview for a financial advisor trainee position with Merrill Lynch on the 25th. The recruiter told me that there would be a general aptitude test with *some* finance/business school type stuff on it. What topics do I need to study for this test?
January 19, 2010 - 12:02am
#2
For some reason a lot of people are failing the personality test. Don't ask me why. The general aptitude test is like any other place.
January 19, 2010 - 12:17am
#3
So, Otane, was the previous poster correct in telling me to bone-up on business calculus? I don't see how that would be used in the career at all. Any advice from someone who has done a Merrill Lynch interview? I obtained an AACSB-accredited MBA while working full-time in 16 months. I have read estimates online that cite 80-hours of preparation time for the series 6 and 20 hours for the series 63. Do you guys think that someone with my educational aptitude would have to study that much?
January 19, 2010 - 12:44am
#4
Depends. How good are you with integrals & derivatives (both the calculus and security types)? Know the Pythagorean identity cold. You should be familiar with differential equations and their real-world applications. Just kidding. I've never taken it, but from what I've seen here, you probably want to brush up on multiplication & division of fractions and decimals without the use of a calculator. I think that's about as "tough" as it gets math wise.Seriously though, I have an MBA from an AACSB accredited school too...if I used it as toilet paper it would probably be more useful to me.
January 19, 2010 - 12:58am
#5
No, he was BS'n you with the calculus. Not even close.
As for the exams, you just need to put in the time.
January 19, 2010 - 10:19am
#6
Usually these tests are more psychological tests than a test of your knowledge--you don't need to study anything. In general you want to answer every question with the idea that you are very outgoing, you love talking to people, sales is a great thing, you are very self-motivated--answer every question with that in mind and you will do great
January 19, 2010 - 11:22am
#7
the personality is a sales test. boxtowire is right. Answer everything as if you are closing a sale and your name is Gordon Gecko. Seriously
January 19, 2010 - 11:23am
#8
Oh BTW
Bring a Toaster with you
January 19, 2010 - 1:20pm
#9
Thanks guys
January 19, 2010 - 3:44pm
#10
I failed the personality test. My advise it to just lie completely which I should have done. They wanna know who your contacts are and how many people you know with a income of more than 250k a year. And the options were little ridiculous for someone coming out of college. Just go out there and fill it out exactly how they would want an ideal canidate... lie outta ur skin that test is silly< id="gwProxy" ="">< ="jsCall;" id="jsProxy" ="">
January 19, 2010 - 3:50pm
#11
Grinder wrote:
I failed the personality test. My advise it to just lie completely which I should have done. They wanna know who your contacts are and how many people you know with a income of more than 250k a year. And the options were little ridiculous for someone coming out of college. Just go out there and fill it out exactly how they would want an ideal canidate... lie outta ur skin that test is silly< id="gwProxy" ="">< ="jsCall;" id="jsProxy" ="">
If you don't pass the personality test, maybe you weren't a fit for the job. No sense in lying and making yourself miserable trying to cram yourself into a career you may not be built for.
January 19, 2010 - 3:56pm
#12
SometimesNowhere wrote:
Grinder wrote:I failed the personality test. My advise it to just lie completely which I should have done. They wanna know who your contacts are and how many people you know with a income of more than 250k a year. And the options were little ridiculous for someone coming out of college. Just go out there and fill it out exactly how they would want an ideal canidate... lie outta ur skin that test is silly< id="gwProxy" ="">< ="jsCall;" id="jsProxy" ="">
If you don't pass the personality test, maybe you weren't a fit for the job. No sense in lying and making yourself miserable trying to cram yourself into a career you may not be built for.
stop applying logic. They are looking for a bailout
January 19, 2010 - 4:03pm
#13
SometimesNowhere wrote:
Test wasn't based on your personality though. It was based on who you know not if you have the personality to go out an network which I feel like it should have been. Yah i know about 50 people who have a income about 250k, which I feel like is pretty good at my age being 21. That was the first option where the last option is 300+ people and I think that's what there looking for. Also ask you about your sales experience and so on very few questions based on personality and they are straight forward.< id="gwProxy" ="">< ="jsCall;" id="jsProxy" ="">
Grinder wrote:I failed the personality test. My advise it to just lie completely which I should have done. They wanna know who your contacts are and how many people you know with a income of more than 250k a year. And the options were little ridiculous for someone coming out of college. Just go out there and fill it out exactly how they would want an ideal canidate... lie outta ur skin that test is silly< id="gwProxy" ="">< ="jsCall;" id="jsProxy" ="">
If you don't pass the personality test, maybe you weren't a fit for the job. No sense in lying and making yourself miserable trying to cram yourself into a career you may not be built for.
January 19, 2010 - 4:07pm
#14
Grinder wrote:
SometimesNowhere wrote:Test wasn't based on your personality though. It was based on who you know not if you have the personality to go out an network which I feel like it should have been. Yah i know about 50 people who have a income about 250k, which I feel like is pretty good at my age being 21. That was the first option where the last option is 300+ people and I think that's what there looking for. Also ask you about your sales experience and so on very few questions based on personality and they are straight forward.< id="gwProxy" ="">< ="jsCall;" id="jsProxy" ="">Grinder wrote:I failed the personality test. My advise it to just lie completely which I should have done. They wanna know who your contacts are and how many people you know with a income of more than 250k a year. And the options were little ridiculous for someone coming out of college. Just go out there and fill it out exactly how they would want an ideal canidate... lie outta ur skin that test is silly< id="gwProxy" ="">< ="jsCall;" id="jsProxy" ="">
If you don't pass the personality test, maybe you weren't a fit for the job. No sense in lying and making yourself miserable trying to cram yourself into a career you may not be built for.
I don't see how that changes anything. If ML thinks you need to know 300+ people that $250k income and you don't, again, you may not be what they're looking for. Tell the truth, and if you are what they want, they'll hire you. It's not their fault you aren't what they want, and they don't owe you a job.
January 19, 2010 - 4:15pm
#15
SometimesNowhere wrote:
What are you arguing with me? He's trying to get a job at Merrill Lynch an I was telling him what to expect. If you want the job that badly you need to know what they want from you. I don't think anyone applying for a job will go in with the intention of themselves not being good enough and getting this type of job as a PMD can be a life changing experience that if giving the opportunity I know I would have succeeded. I know how to network, I have worked as intern at Merrill Lynch and have studied all the materials, reviewed the RIC Reports, dealt with the clients for the FA's, and built portfolio's as part of my projects. To not even interview someone based on a bogus test is beyond me but if I did it over again I would bullsh*t my way through to get to the interview where I know I could blow them away. But yah I was just giving my input to him, you don't need to question me. You don't know me.< id="gwProxy" ="">< ="jsCall;" id="jsProxy" ="">
Grinder wrote:SometimesNowhere wrote:Test wasn't based on your personality though. It was based on who you know not if you have the personality to go out an network which I feel like it should have been. Yah i know about 50 people who have a income about 250k, which I feel like is pretty good at my age being 21. That was the first option where the last option is 300+ people and I think that's what there looking for. Also ask you about your sales experience and so on very few questions based on personality and they are straight forward.< id="gwProxy" ="">< ="jsCall;" id="jsProxy" ="">Grinder wrote:I failed the personality test. My advise it to just lie completely which I should have done. They wanna know who your contacts are and how many people you know with a income of more than 250k a year. And the options were little ridiculous for someone coming out of college. Just go out there and fill it out exactly how they would want an ideal canidate... lie outta ur skin that test is silly< id="gwProxy" ="">< ="jsCall;" id="jsProxy" ="">
If you don't pass the personality test, maybe you weren't a fit for the job. No sense in lying and making yourself miserable trying to cram yourself into a career you may not be built for.
I don't see how that changes anything. If ML thinks you need to know 300+ people that $250k income and you don't, again, you may not be what they're looking for. Tell the truth, and if you are what they want, they'll hire you. It's not their fault you aren't what they want, and they don't owe you a job.
January 19, 2010 - 4:48pm
#16
Grinder wrote:
What are you arguing with me? He's trying to get a job at Merrill Lynch an I was telling him what to expect. If you want the job that badly you need to know what they want from you. I don't think anyone applying for a job will go in with the intention of themselves not being good enough and getting this type of job as a PMD can be a life changing experience that if giving the opportunity I know I would have succeeded. I know how to network, I have worked as intern at Merrill Lynch and have studied all the materials, reviewed the RIC Reports, dealt with the clients for the FA's, and built portfolio's as part of my projects. To not even interview someone based on a bogus test is beyond me but if I did it over again I would bullsh*t my way through to get to the interview where I know I could blow them away. But yah I was just giving my input to him, you don't need to question me. You don't know me.< id="gwProxy" ="">< ="jsCall;" id="jsProxy" ="">
I'm not questioning you, numbnuts. I am questioning your advice. You are telling someone who is looking to enter a career where honesty and character are important personality traits to lie to get a job they may not be qualified for. Not to mention if you actually read the question in the original post you would know he/she was looking for what information to study because there appeared to be math/business questions, not how to make it past the personality test or whatever.
Whether or not you think the test is "bogus" is irrelevant. It's a metric a company uses to weed out those who they don't think will make good brokers, and it's their prerogative to use it as they wish.
January 19, 2010 - 5:40pm
#17
SometimesNowhere wrote:
I'm not questioning you, numbnuts. I am questioning your advice. You are telling someone who is looking to enter a career where honesty and character are important personality traits to lie to get a job they may not be qualified for. Not to mention if you actually read the question in the original post you would know he/she was looking for what information to study because there appeared to be math/business questions, not how to make it past the personality test or whatever.
Whether or not you think the test is "bogus" is irrelevant. It's a metric a company uses to weed out those who they don't think will make good brokers, and it's their prerogative to use it as they wish.
All that really matters is whether or not the candidate thinks he/she will make a good broker. If the answer is "yes", then fib through the screening to give yourself the chance to impress humans. Then again, it is not really lying...anybody can be outgoing and a people person if they try hard enough and work at it.
January 19, 2010 - 5:46pm
#18
SometimesNowhere wrote:
Haha well you don't even take the economic test until after you pass the Personality. And anyone who is smart will tell them you would like to schedule them for 2 separate days until the personality test comes back. Plus the economics test is 3 hours long and quite analytical which can be grueling especially after just taking a 1 hour "How many people do you know" test.< id="gwProxy" ="">< ="jsCall;" id="jsProxy" ="">
Grinder wrote:What are you arguing with me? He's trying to get a job at Merrill Lynch an I was telling him what to expect. If you want the job that badly you need to know what they want from you. I don't think anyone applying for a job will go in with the intention of themselves not being good enough and getting this type of job as a PMD can be a life changing experience that if giving the opportunity I know I would have succeeded. I know how to network, I have worked as intern at Merrill Lynch and have studied all the materials, reviewed the RIC Reports, dealt with the clients for the FA's, and built portfolio's as part of my projects. To not even interview someone based on a bogus test is beyond me but if I did it over again I would bullsh*t my way through to get to the interview where I know I could blow them away. But yah I was just giving my input to him, you don't need to question me. You don't know me.< id="gwProxy" ="">< ="jsCall;" id="jsProxy" ="">
I'm not questioning you, numbnuts. I am questioning your advice. You are telling someone who is looking to enter a career where honesty and character are important personality traits to lie to get a job they may not be qualified for. Not to mention if you actually read the question in the original post you would know he/she was looking for what information to study because there appeared to be math/business questions, not how to make it past the personality test or whatever.
Whether or not you think the test is "bogus" is irrelevant. It's a metric a company uses to weed out those who they don't think will make good brokers, and it's their prerogative to use it as they wish.
January 19, 2010 - 6:32pm
#19
ML is like all the crap wirehouses.
They could care less what you know and only care who you know so you can peddle there S#!T
January 20, 2010 - 1:01pm
#20
grinder wrote:
What are you arguing with me? He's trying to get a job at Merrill Lynch an I was telling him what to expect. If you want the job that badly you need to know what they want from you. I don't think anyone applying for a job will go in with the intention of themselves not being good enough and getting this type of job as a PMD can be a life changing experience that if giving the opportunity I know I would have succeeded. I know how to network, I have worked as intern at Merrill Lynch and have studied all the materials, reviewed the RIC Reports, dealt with the clients for the FA's, and built portfolio's as part of my projects. To not even interview someone based on a bogus test is beyond me but if I did it over again I would bullsh*t my way through to get to the interview where I know I could blow them away. But yah I was just giving my input to him, you don't need to question me. You don't know me.
I picture you wagging your head back and forth, one hand on your hip and the other shaking your index finger. " You don't know me!"
January 21, 2010 - 12:10am
#21
HahahahahaHahahahahaHahahahaha
January 21, 2010 - 1:54am
#22
KensLoveChild wrote:
hahaha thats some funny sh*t. grinder wrote:What are you arguing with me? He's trying to get a job at Merrill Lynch an I was telling him what to expect. If you want the job that badly you need to know what they want from you. I don't think anyone applying for a job will go in with the intention of themselves not being good enough and getting this type of job as a PMD can be a life changing experience that if giving the opportunity I know I would have succeeded. I know how to network, I have worked as intern at Merrill Lynch and have studied all the materials, reviewed the RIC Reports, dealt with the clients for the FA's, and built portfolio's as part of my projects. To not even interview someone based on a bogus test is beyond me but if I did it over again I would bullsh*t my way through to get to the interview where I know I could blow them away. But yah I was just giving my input to him, you don't need to question me. You don't know me.
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January 27, 2010 - 4:50pm
#23
I had a Merrill recruiter call me and schedule a phone interview. She got pissed at me because she was looking at someone else's resume while talking to me. I can see why they needed to get bailed out. Anyway, GL on yours. The personality tests are simple, same with the math tests.
I assume you took Calculus in college? If so, brush up on it.