I applied online. The process took 1 week. I interviewed at Morningstar (Toronto, ON) in Jan 2022
Interview
Everything was scheduled through HR. Only had one round with the Hiring Manger. Fund research is making its way back into Canada and she is was responsible for building out the group. She was planning on hiring three people to help her start coverage of all the mutual funds in Canada.
She was very friendly and did what she could to answer my questions. Near the end of the interview she asked me to provide a writing sample , which I sent her way right after the interview.
I was then invited to a 2hr writing / logical thinking test where I was given two letter written to unitholders and a Q&A that Morningstar conducted with the fund manager. I was also given a stereotypical Morningstar report for the fund in question and asked to basically give a synopsis of the fund in 3 - 5 pages. The target audience was an 'average investor' - which in my mind is my mother and not someone that understand what variance is. I naturally focused on the metrics that I understood / could easily explain to my mother and to the interviewer, I didn't touch the Risk weighted metrics that Morningstar calculates b/c I don't know how those are calculated nor did I touch anything to do with STDEV.
I was then shut down at this point. I asked how I can go about improving and was told by the hiring manager that it is company policy to not let candidates know how they can improve. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to her, I interviewed at Sustainalytics roughly six weeks prior and again I was shut down / asked for feedback and my request was granted. This is naturally a contradiction given that in both instances it is the same firm. Needless to say, I do not appreciate being lied to.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
What are the pros/cons of working in a team?
How do you feel about Morningstar's desire to put investors first?
What makes you feel like your experience is transferable?
What prompted you to apply?