Careers - Analyst

Behavioral Interview

Behavioral Interviews give you the opportunity to share detailed information about how you've performed in previous work-related situations. We'll ask you to share examples of specific situations that you've encountered and dealt with in the past. Most interviews are scheduled for one hour and may include up to four structured questions.

Your interviewer will be interested in specific situations and the actions you took to address them. When responding to Behavioral Interview questions it will be helpful to follow a SITUATION, ACTION and RESULT approach.

Situation: Describe the situation of the task that you faced. Be sure to describe a specific event or situation, not a generalized description of what you have done in the past. We are looking for a situation that is relevant to the question being asked. Work experience from current or previous job, school project, volunteer activity or anything relevant may be used. Try to think of situations in which you were highly involved and your actions had an impact. The interviewer may ask additional questions to get more detail.

Action: Walk your interviewer through the actions you took in this situation. Even if you are describing a group or team project, talk about what YOU did and not what your team did.

Results: What was the result? Be prepared to talk about the outcomes of your steps and the impact they had on the situation, whether resolved successfully or not.

Sample questions and response

Tell me about a time when you worked on a project with someone who was not doing his or her share of the work needed for the project to be successful.

Situation:

• What was the nature of your relationship with the person (ex. manager, coworker, etc.)?
• What was the task at hand?
• What made you believe that this person was not carrying his/her weight? When did this become apparent?
• What problems did the situation create for you?

Action:

• Talk about what you did - what were the steps within the action?
• What did you do to address the situation?
• Who, if anyone, did you talk to about it? What was their response and how did you react to it?

Results:

• Was the situation resolved?
• How did the event end?
• What did you accomplish?
• What did you learn from the experience?

Interview tips:
Reflect on your past successes and challenges and the specific steps you took to address them. Consider how you respond to different challenges such as opportunities to grow a business, personal conflicts and competing deadlines. Be honest in your responses, we are looking for specific answers that help us understand the behaviors you exhibited.

What is a case interview?

There are many different types of case interviews common in financial services. At Capital One, our case interviews are conversations focused on real business problems from a variety of industries.

What does a case interview assess?

Case interviews give us an opportunity to gauge how you solve problems, and give you a chance to test drive the type of work you'll be doing as an associate. We are looking for you to demonstrate:

• Communication skills
• Conceptual problem solving skills
• Quantitative analytical skills
  

How do you prepare for a case interview?

The best way to prepare for a case interview is to practice! We've included a sample case and video to help you prepare. Candidates from all different educational and professional backgrounds can be successful with practice.
 
As you prepare, remember to:

• LEARN: Get exposure to cases; while our cases are unique, the more you learn how cases work generally, the more comfortable you will be in your interview. Often university departments, business schools, and career services will have resources for case interview prep.
  
• DO: Master the details by actually working through the numbers and questions in the cases you review. Do NOT memorize a list of industry terms, instead, be prepared for terms you don't know, and ask your caser about them.
  
• ENGAGE: Leverage as many additional resources as you can. Attend any case workshops you are invited to, and ask your recruiter about additional case prep events or practice case opportunities.