Interview preparation roadmap · Finance
Types of risk and how they are measured, statistics and Excel, and clear risk reporting.
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- 01Interview foundations
- 02Foundations
- 03Risk core
- 04Tools
- 05Practice
- 06Behavioral & HR
- 07Company & final prep
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01Interview foundations
What every interviewer sees first.
01.1Resume
A one-page resume you can defend line by line.
What this covers
- One-page format — Reverse-chronological, clean fonts, no photos or tables that confuse parsers.
- Project bullets — Action + what you built + a number (users, speed, accuracy).
- Skills section — Only skills you can answer questions on for two minutes.
- ATS readability — Export a text-based PDF and check it with a parser.
- Working links — GitHub, LinkedIn and a live project link that open.
- Tailoring — Reorder bullets to match the job description.
What to practise
- Run your PDF through a parser test
- Rewrite each bullet as action + result
- Remove any skill you can't explain for 2 minutes
Common questions
- Walk me through your resume.
- Which project here are you most proud of, and why?
- Why is this skill on your resume?
Free resources
- OpenResume — Free ATS-friendly resume builder and parser test (Free)
- Jake's Resume (Overleaf) — The LaTeX resume template most SDE freshers use (Free)
- Resume Worded — Resume and LinkedIn scoring (Free plan)
- Jobscan — Match your resume against a job description (Free plan)
Free courses
- Professional Resume Writing — Alison (Free course)
- Resume, Networking, and Interview Skills — Fullbridge (Free to audit)
01.2Tell me about yourself
A 60–90 second answer: present, past, why this role.
What this covers
- Present — Who you are now: degree, year, focus.
- Past — One or two proof points: a project, internship or result.
- Future — Why this role and this company next.
- Length — 60–90 seconds; stop before you list everything.
- Delivery — Calm pace and eye contact, not a memorised script.
What to practise
- Write it, then say it out loud 5 times
- Record yourself and cut anything over 90 seconds
Common questions
- Tell me about yourself.
- Why should we hire you?
- Where do you see yourself in a few years?
Free resources
- Google Interview Warmup — Free spoken mock interview that prints your transcript (Free)
- BBC Learning English — Structured free English lessons and podcasts (Free)
Free courses
- English@Work: Basic Job Interview Skills — The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (Free to audit)
- Job Interview Preparation For Tech Professionals — University of Cape Town (Free to audit)
01.3LinkedIn & online presence
A profile that matches your resume and shows your work.
What this covers
- Headline — Role you want plus your strongest skill.
- About section — Three lines: what you do, proof, what you want next.
- Featured work — Projects, GitHub, portfolio or writing links.
- Consistency — Dates and titles match your resume.
- Clean public footprint — Check what a search of your name shows.
What to practise
- Rewrite your headline and About section
- Ask one senior for a review of your profile
Free resources
- LinkedIn — Job alerts and, more importantly, referrals (Free)
- OpenResume — Free ATS-friendly resume builder and parser test (Free)
Free courses
- Building a Professional LinkedIn Profile - 2022 — Alison (Free course)
- Create Your Resume, Cover Letter, and LinkedIn Profile — Aptly (Free to audit)
02Foundations
The maths and tools.
02.1Statistics & probability
The statistics data interviews commonly test, explained in plain words.
What this covers
- Descriptive statistics — Mean, median, variance, percentiles.
- Probability — Conditional probability and Bayes' rule.
- Distributions — Normal, binomial, Poisson and when they apply.
- Sampling & CLT — Why sample means behave predictably.
- Hypothesis testing — p-values, confidence intervals, errors.
- Correlation vs causation — Confounders and how to argue carefully.
What to practise
- Explain a p-value to a non-technical friend
- Solve 20 probability questions
Common questions
- What is a p-value?
- Difference between correlation and causation?
- When would you use the median instead of the mean?
Free resources
- Khan Academy: Statistics and probability — Free statistics course with practice (Free)
- StatQuest — Statistics and ML explained clearly, in videos (Free)
- Khan Academy — Maths and science from scratch (Free)
Free courses
- Descriptive statistics | Probability and Statistics | Khan Academy — Khan Academy (Free video)
- Inferential statistics | Probability and Statistics | Khan Academy — Khan Academy (Free video)
- Random variables and probability distributions | Probability and Statistics | Khan Academy — Khan Academy (Free video)
02.2Excel for analysis
The spreadsheet skills many analyst roles test live.
What this covers
- Formulas — IF, SUMIFS, COUNTIFS, text and date functions.
- Lookups — XLOOKUP, INDEX-MATCH, VLOOKUP limits.
- Pivot tables — Summaries, filters, calculated fields.
- Charts — Choosing the right chart, clean formatting.
- Cleaning data — Duplicates, text to columns, trimming.
- Speed — Shortcuts and tidy layouts.
What to practise
- Analyse a public dataset with pivots and charts
- Rebuild one report using XLOOKUP and SUMIFS
Common questions
- How does VLOOKUP differ from XLOOKUP?
- How would you find duplicates in a column?
Free resources
- Excel Easy — Free Excel tutorial from basics to pivot tables (Free)
- Excel help and learning — Microsoft's own Excel training videos (Free)
- Khan Academy — Maths and science from scratch (Free)
Free courses
- Excel for Beginners — Great Learning (Free course)
- Excel for Intermediate Level — Great Learning (Free course)
- VLOOKUP in Excel — Great Learning (Free course)
02.3Financial statements
Reading and linking the income statement, balance sheet and cash flow.
What this covers
- Income statement — Revenue to net profit.
- Balance sheet — Assets, liabilities, equity.
- Cash flow statement — Operating, investing, financing.
- Linking the three — How one change flows through all three.
- Ratios — Margins, ROE, current ratio, leverage.
- Reading an annual report — Where to find what.
What to practise
- Walk through one Indian company's annual report
- Practise "depreciation goes up by 10" questions
Common questions
- Walk me through the three financial statements.
- If depreciation increases by ₹10, what happens to each statement?
Free resources
- Zerodha Varsity — Free modules on markets, analysis and finance in India (Free)
- CFI free resources — Free finance articles and guides (Free plan)
- Wall Street Prep knowledge base — Free articles on modelling and valuation (Free plan)
Free courses
- Financial Statement Analysis and Reporting — IIT Roorkee (Free course)
- Business Analysis Using Financial Statements — MIT OpenCourseWare (Free course)
- Financial Statement Analysis & Reporting — Alison (Free course)
03Risk core
The main rounds.
03.1Risk management
Market, credit and operational risk and how they are measured.
What this covers
- Types of risk — Market, credit, liquidity, operational.
- Measuring risk — Volatility, VaR basics, stress tests.
- Controls — Limits, monitoring, escalation.
- Regulation — Why banks hold capital.
- Reporting — Clear risk summaries for managers.
What to practise
- Calculate the volatility of a stock in Excel
- Write a short risk report for a sample portfolio
Common questions
- What is Value at Risk?
- How would you assess operational risk?
Free resources
- Investopedia — Plain-English definitions of finance terms (Free)
- CFI free resources — Free finance articles and guides (Free plan)
- Khan Academy: Statistics and probability — Free statistics course with practice (Free)
Free courses
- Financial Derivatives & Risk Management — IIT Roorkee (Free course)
- Introduction to Financial Risk Management — Great Learning (Free course)
- Financial Risk Analytics — Great Learning (Free course)
03.2Credit analysis
Judging whether a borrower can repay.
What this covers
- The 5 Cs — Character, capacity, capital, collateral, conditions.
- Credit ratios — Interest coverage, debt/EBITDA, DSCR.
- Cash flow focus — Repayment comes from cash, not profit.
- Covenants — Protecting the lender.
- Credit ratings — What agencies assess.
What to practise
- Analyse one company's ability to repay its debt
- Write a one-page credit note
Common questions
- What is DSCR?
- Would you lend to this company? Why?
Free resources
- CFI free resources — Free finance articles and guides (Free plan)
- Investopedia — Plain-English definitions of finance terms (Free)
- Zerodha Varsity — Free modules on markets, analysis and finance in India (Free)
Free courses
- Basics of Credit Analysis in Banking — Great Learning (Free course)
- Secure analysis of credit card dataset — IBM (Free course)
- Risk Management and Credit Principles — New York Institute of Finance (Free to audit)
03.3Compliance & regulation
How regulated companies stay compliant.
What this covers
- Regulators — RBI, SEBI and sector bodies.
- KYC & AML — Customer checks and suspicious transactions.
- Data protection — The DPDP Act basics.
- Compliance programmes — Policies, training, monitoring.
- Reporting — Audits and regulatory filings.
What to practise
- Summarise KYC requirements for one type of entity
- Draft a one-page compliance checklist
Common questions
- What is AML?
- How would you handle a compliance breach?
Free resources
- Reserve Bank of India — Official circulars and notifications (Free)
- SEBI — Official regulations and circulars (Free)
- India Code — Official texts of central and state Acts (Free)
Free courses
- Describe security and compliance concepts — Microsoft (Free course)
- Implement compliance controls for sensitive data — Microsoft (Free course)
- Introduction to security, compliance, and identity concepts — Microsoft (Free course)
04Tools
Analysis in practice.
04.1SQL for analytics
Business questions answered in SQL, from joins to window functions.
What this covers
- Joins & filters — Inner, left, anti-joins and their traps.
- Aggregation — GROUP BY, HAVING, conditional sums.
- Window functions — RANK, LAG, running totals, moving averages.
- CTEs & subqueries — Breaking hard questions into steps.
- Dates — Grouping by week or month, cohorts.
- NULLs & duplicates — Handling messy data correctly.
What to practise
- Solve 30 interview-style SQL questions
- Write a monthly retention query from scratch
Common questions
- Find the second-highest salary per department.
- Calculate 7-day rolling average sales.
- Difference between WHERE and HAVING?
Free resources
- Mode SQL tutorial — SQL for analysis, from basics to window functions (Free)
- DataLemur — SQL and analytics interview questions (Free plan)
- StrataScratch — Real SQL and Python data interview questions (Free plan)
- SQLZoo — SQL by doing, in the browser (Free)
Free courses
- SQL and Relational Databases 101 — IBM (Free course)
- CS50's Introduction to Databases with SQL — Harvard University (Free video)
04.2Python for data
pandas and NumPy for analysis and interview exercises.
What this covers
- pandas basics — Selecting, filtering, groupby, merge.
- NumPy — Arrays and vectorised operations.
- Visualisation — matplotlib or seaborn basics.
- Notebooks — Clear, re-runnable analysis.
- Performance — Avoiding slow loops.
What to practise
- Redo one SQL analysis in pandas
- Publish one clean notebook
Common questions
- How do you merge two DataFrames?
- Difference between apply and vectorised operations?
Free resources
- Kaggle Learn — Short practical courses: Python, Pandas, ML, SQL (Free)
- StrataScratch — Real SQL and Python data interview questions (Free plan)
- Google Colab — Free notebooks with a GPU (Free plan)
Free courses
- Data Analysis with Python and Pandas — Sentdex (Free video)
- Data Analysis w/ Python 3 and Pandas — Sentdex (Free video)
- Pandas & Python for Data Analysis by Example – Full Course for Beginners — freeCodeCamp (Free video)
05Practice
Rehearse it out loud.
05.1Mock interviews
At least two full practice interviews before the real one.
What this covers
- Realistic setting — Same format, time limit and dress as the real round.
- Common questions first — Introduction, motivation, experience, weaknesses.
- Feedback — Ask what was unclear or too long.
- Recording — Watch yourself once; fix fillers and pace.
- Role questions — Add 3–5 questions specific to your field.
What to practise
- Do two mock interviews with a friend or senior
- Use a spoken practice tool and read the transcript
Common questions
- Tell me about yourself.
- Why this role?
Free resources
- Google Interview Warmup — Free spoken mock interview that prints your transcript (Free)
- Pramp / Exponent peer mocks — Free peer-to-peer mock interviews (Free plan)
- Tech Interview Handbook — Free guide to coding and behavioral interviews (Free)
Free courses
- Software Engineering Job Interview – Full Mock Interview — freeCodeCamp (Free video)
06Behavioral & HR
How you work with people.
06.1Behavioral & STAR
Stories about teamwork, conflict and failure, told with STAR.
What this covers
- STAR structure — Situation, task, action, result. Spend most of the time on action.
- Story bank — 6–8 real stories you can reuse across questions.
- Teamwork & conflict — Disagreeing respectfully and what you changed.
- Failure & weakness — A real one, what you learned, what you do now.
- Ownership — Times you took initiative without being asked.
- Common HR questions — Why us, why you, strengths, relocation.
What to practise
- Write 6 stories in STAR form
- Map each story to 2–3 common questions
- Practise one story with a friend
Common questions
- Tell me about a time you failed.
- Describe a conflict in a team and what you did.
- What is your biggest weakness?
Free resources
- Tech Interview Handbook — Free guide to coding and behavioral interviews (Free)
- Google Interview Warmup — Free spoken mock interview that prints your transcript (Free)
- Pramp / Exponent peer mocks — Free peer-to-peer mock interviews (Free plan)
Free courses
- Master Behavioral Interviews (for Software Engineers) — freeCodeCamp (Free video)
- Behavioral Interview Practice for Computer Science Students — CodeSignal (Free to audit)
- Soft Skills For Tech Professionals — University of Cape Town (Free to audit)
06.2Strengths & weaknesses
Honest strengths with proof, and a real weakness you are working on.
What this covers
- Strengths with proof — Pick 2–3 and back each with one short example.
- A real weakness — Not a disguised strength; something you are actively improving.
- What you are doing about it — The habit, course or system that shows progress.
- Fit to the role — Strengths that matter for this job, not any job.
What to practise
- Write three strengths with one example each
- Practise the weakness answer until it sounds calm, not rehearsed
Common questions
- What are your greatest strengths?
- What is your biggest weakness?
- How would your friends or teammates describe you?
Free resources
- Google Interview Warmup — Free spoken mock interview that prints your transcript (Free)
- Indeed career guide: interviewing — Articles on common interview questions and answers (Free)
- Tech Interview Handbook — Free guide to coding and behavioral interviews (Free)
Free courses
- Software Engineering Job Interview – Full Mock Interview — freeCodeCamp (Free video)
- A Complete Job Interview Skills Guide — Alison (Free course)
- English@Work: Advanced Job Interview Skills — The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (Free to audit)
06.3Common HR questions
The questions almost every HR round asks, answered honestly and briefly.
What this covers
- Why this company — Specific reasons from your research, not praise.
- Why should we hire you — Match two needs of the role to your proof.
- Gaps and changes — Explain gaps, backlogs or a branch change without excuses.
- Relocation, shifts, bonds — Know your real answer before the interview.
- Career goals — A realistic next step, connected to this role.
- Notice period and joining — Facts you should have ready.
What to practise
- Write short answers to ten common HR questions
- Say them aloud to a friend and cut anything over a minute
Common questions
- Why do you want to join us?
- Where do you see yourself in five years?
- Are you open to relocation?
- Why did you choose your branch or degree?
Free resources
- Indeed career guide: interviewing — Articles on common interview questions and answers (Free)
- Google Interview Warmup — Free spoken mock interview that prints your transcript (Free)
- AmbitionBox interviews — Interview experiences and company reviews from Indian candidates (Free)
Free courses
- Software Engineering Job Interview – Full Mock Interview — freeCodeCamp (Free video)
- A Complete Job Interview Skills Guide — Alison (Free course)
- Interview Preparation Skills for Accountants — Alison (Free course)
07Company & final prep
The last 48 hours.
07.1Company research
The product, the role, the job description and recent news.
What this covers
- The business — What it sells and to whom.
- The role — What the job description really asks for.
- Recent news — Launches, results, announcements.
- Interview format — The rounds, if the company shares them.
- Your fit — Three reasons, matched to the job description.
What to practise
- Write 3 reasons you want this role
- Match 3 JD lines to your experience
Common questions
- Why do you want to work here?
- What do you know about our product?
Free resources
- GeeksforGeeks — Company-wise questions and theory (Free plan)
- Tech Interview Handbook — Free guide to coding and behavioral interviews (Free)
07.2Questions to ask
Two or three good questions for the end of the interview.
What this covers
- About the team — How work is planned and reviewed.
- About growth — Mentoring, learning, the first 90 days.
- About the product — What is hard right now.
- What to avoid — Questions a quick search answers.
What to practise
- Write 5 questions, keep the best 3
- Prepare one question about the team's own product
Common questions
- Do you have any questions for us?
Free resources
- Tech Interview Handbook — Free guide to coding and behavioral interviews (Free)
07.3Salary & offer basics
How to read an offer, answer salary questions and compare offers.
What this covers
- CTC vs in-hand — CTC includes PF, bonuses and benefits; in-hand is what you receive monthly.
- Fixed vs variable — Variable pay and joining bonuses may have conditions.
- Bonds and clawbacks — Read the service agreement before you sign.
- Answering "expected salary" — Give a researched range or ask for theirs first.
- Comparing offers — Role, learning, location and in-hand pay, not only CTC.
What to practise
- Look up salary ranges for the role and city
- Calculate in-hand pay for one sample offer
Common questions
- What are your salary expectations?
- Do you have any other offers?
Free resources
- Levels.fyi — Salary data shared by employees, mostly tech roles (Free)
- AmbitionBox interviews — Interview experiences and company reviews from Indian candidates (Free)
- Glassdoor interview questions — Interview questions and reviews shared by candidates (Free plan)
07.4Final checklist
Logistics, documents, setup and a calm night before.
What this covers
- Logistics — Time, timezone, link or address.
- Documents — Resume copies, ID, certificates if asked.
- Tech check — Camera, mic, internet, charger.
- Night before — Sleep, light revision, no new topics.
What to practise
- Do a 5-minute tech check the day before
- Lay out documents and clothes the night before
Free resources
- Google Interview Warmup — Free spoken mock interview that prints your transcript (Free)
07.5Job & interview safety
Spot fake offers, payment requests and fake interview links.
What this covers
- Payment requests — Real employers don't charge for jobs or training.
- Email domains — Check it matches the company's own site.
- OTPs & logins — Never share them with anyone.
- Fake interview links — Care with unknown chat apps and downloads.
- Reporting — The 1930 helpline and cybercrime.gov.in.
What to practise
- Check one recent offer against these rules
- Confirm the opening is listed on the company's own careers page
Free resources
- National Cyber Crime Portal — Report online fraud and job scams (Free)
- Have I Been Pwned — Check if your email appears in a data breach (Free)