Pocket Gems Financial Analyst Interview Questions
& Process

The whole thing took about 2 weeks. First, I had a call with HR, then a call with the hiring manager. After that, they gave me a take-home assignment that was basically a real project. It took me a whole day to finish it. I had to make a budgeting model in Excel for advertising services and explain the budget amount and why. I had to submit both the Excel calculations and the explanation. Three days after I sent it, HR told me the position was canceled. I have a strong feeling they were just trying to get free work from candidates. It was a waste of time. Especially now with COVID making things uncertain, it's a tough time for people. If this wasn't a real job, they shouldn't post fake stuff online and get free info or even resumes. Shame on PG.

I got a case study without speaking to a human first. The case wasn't that hard, but they gave feedback that my excel skills weren't good enough. Then, I talked to the hiring manager and they went straight into technical questions. After that, I had another case study with the CFO. The final round was a 5-hour on-site with 6 interviews, all technical. The hiring manager then scheduled a feedback session to tell me what I did wrong and said they didn't value my prior experience. They asked if I'd consider an analyst role, which I said yes to. I realized later they might be trying to lowball me because an analyst 1 role is two levels down. Before I could negotiate for an analyst 2 title, the recruiter called to reject me, saying they needed someone who could hit the ground running. So why ask me to consider an analyst 1? They didn't ask enough questions about my background to understand my current and past roles before saying they didn't value my experience. All interviews were case studies and technical questions, focusing on what I couldn't do rather than what I could offer. The case study questions were interesting, but there weren't enough questions about my background or about their company. The feedback session was helpful for improvement, but I feel it was just to lowball me into considering an analyst role. Lastly, they didn't need to schedule a call to reject me.

I have never given a bad review for anything in my life, this is the first. There’s a reason why all the reviews on here for strat finance are bad. I don’t advice anyone to waste their time applying for this role. Hiring manager is very unapproachable and they have no respect for a candidates time. Doing a case study with my time combined with my full time job should at least be appreciated and I should be given feedback rather than just a rejection. The process isn’t worth it, don’t do it. I had to ask for something, but they just rejected me.