Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago Financial Analyst Interview Questions
& Process
Real candidates share what happened, how many rounds they had,
and how the experience turned out.
Based on 5 interview experiences · FREE TO READ
Candidate interview experiences
First-hand accounts from people who interviewed at Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
Economist
Entry Difficult Negative experience No offer 4 rounds
Interview process
Recruiter call Phone screen Technical screen Onsite
Interview formats
Technical Coding Presentation
The phone interviews were pretty nice, but the in-person one was really tough and at times unpleasant. The questions asked weren't really fitting for the role, like asking PhD-level stuff to undergrads. Even though most people were nice, there was some annoying condescension. The interview was six hours long and unexpectedly had a quantitative prep part that none of us knew about beforehand, led by a 'good cop-bad cop' pair of current Associate Economists. The Recruiter never replied to emails and didn't tell us when we'd hear back. After that, trying to contact anyone at the bank usually led to no response or rude replies.
Confirmed questions4 questions
- Regarding scaling and standardizing coefficients, how would you approach that?
- Under what circumstances would you choose to delete data, and what's your process for merging and standardizing datasets to ensure consistent units?
- Do you typically program statistical software, like Stata, to run regressions with multiple model specifications, or do you prefer a manual approach?
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
Economist
Entry Easy Positive experience No offer 2 rounds
Interview process
Recruiter call Phone screen Onsite Background check Offer
Interview formats
Behavioral Technical Coding
About a month after I sent in my cover letter, resume, and writing samples, the HR department reached out to schedule a 30-minute phone interview with the hiring manager. The questions were pretty direct, mainly about my interest in economics and research. Two weeks after that, they emailed to invite me for an in-person interview. I ended up talking to 15 people, mostly in pairs, for about 6-7 hours total, with a lunch break. Since this is a research assistant role for recent grads aiming for grad school, they really just want to see if you can do academic research. They asked about my dissertation, my experience writing research papers, and my familiarity with stats software like Stata and Matlab. There weren't many hard technical questions, but one group did give me a data merging task and asked how I'd combine datasets and what to watch out for. Another group really grilled me on data management and econometrics (see question 3). Overall, it was a good experience. You need to know your economics, and it helps to be able to reference relevant literature and current research. If you don't get an offer, they won't contact you. Most of the economists seemed to like me and I showed my interest, but I didn't get the offer because my undergrad grades were bad. So, new grads, grades really do matter!
Confirmed questions4 questions
- What sparked your interest in economics?
- Could you discuss your research paper?
- Suppose you perform statistical tests on a dataset and conclude it's non-stationary, but I disagree. How would you verify your conclusion and what methods would you employ to confirm non-stationarity?
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
Financial Analyst
Senior Average Negative experience No offer 3 rounds
Interview process
Recruiter call Phone screen Presentation Background check Offer
Interview formats
Behavioral Presentation
The interview process involved 3 rounds: HR, the hiring manager, and other managers. I was informed I would receive feedback the week of the second interview, regardless of the outcome. However, I heard nothing, so I waited an additional week. When I followed up, I had a phone conversation where I was told they had selected another candidate. An automated email would have sufficed. I've been trying to get a position there for over 10 years, only to be interviewed and then have a less experienced candidate chosen. This was my last attempt. I suspect they might be trying to meet diversity quotas by interviewing minority women to appear as if they're making an effort.
Confirmed questions1 question
- Can you walk us through your professional history?
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago Financial Analyst Interview Questions
Quoted word for word from Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago interview reports.
“Suppose you perform statistical tests on a dataset and conclude it's non-stationary, but I disagree. How would you verify your conclusion and what methods would you employ to confirm non-stationarity?”
Read reports →“For your research project, what would be the counterfactual?”
Read reports →“Under what circumstances would you choose to delete data, and what's your process for merging and standardizing datasets to ensure consistent units?”
Read reports →“Regarding scaling and standardizing coefficients, how would you approach that?”
Read reports →“What sparked your interest in economics?”
Read report →“Do you typically program statistical software, like Stata, to run regressions with multiple model specifications, or do you prefer a manual approach?”
Read report →“Could you discuss your research paper?”
Read report →“What are your long-term aspirations and career trajectory?”
Read report →“Can you discuss your research background?”
Read report →Formats, difficulty and experience
Across all 5 Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago interview reports.