Hedge Funds interview preparation

Questions

100

Traced to a firm

39

Firms

16

Updated

September 2026

Asked at

All firmsMan Group10Balyasny Asset Management7Bridgewater Associates3DED.E. Shaw3Apollo Global Management2KKR2Oaktree Capital Management2Point722SCSquarepoint Capital2ACAQR Capital Management1BGBaupost Group1Coatue Management1HPS Investment Partners1Northern Trust1Viking Global Investors1Wolverine Trading1

Topic

All topicsStrategy taxonomy8Stock pitch10Short selling6Portfolio construction8Risk and drawdown8Performance and alpha7Event-driven and merger arb8Distressed and credit5Fund structure and economics7Financing, NAV and operations6Compliance and research process5Quant and systematic6India and Category III AIFs5Career and fit11

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AnyTechnicalMarket viewBrainteaserCaseFit

1. 073Describe a recent Excel project you worked on and the tools you used.Financing, NAV and operationsCorephone / first roundNorthern TrustHedge Fund · Chicago · 2022

   Say this

   Pick one real thing you built, say what problem it solved, name the specific functions and how it was structured, and finish with what it saved or caught. Concrete and modest beats a list of features you have heard of.

   Then walk it

   1. Structure it as problem, build, result. 'The team was reconciling two position files by eye, about 400 lines, twice a week. I built a reconciliation sheet that matched on a composite key and flagged breaks by type. It went from an hour to about two minutes and it caught a duplicated trade in the first week.'
   2. Name the tools specifically and correctly: INDEX and MATCH or XLOOKUP rather than nested VLOOKUPs, SUMIFS, a proper table structure, conditional formatting for breaks, Power Query for the import, pivots for the summary. If you wrote VBA or a Python script to pull the data, say so and say why.
   3. Say something about structure, because that is what separates a modeller from a spreadsheet user. Inputs on one sheet, calculations on another, outputs on a third. No hardcoded numbers inside formulas. Consistent row logic across columns so a formula copies cleanly.
   4. Mention the controls you built in, which is the whole point in a fund administration or middle office seat: a check row that must sum to zero, a tie-out to the source total, and an error flag if an input is missing.
   5. Have a version-control answer ready. Dated file names at minimum, a change log, and a documented assumptions tab. Operational teams care about this more than about clever formulas.
   6. Then the honest limitation: say what you would do differently now, usually that the process belonged in a database or a script rather than a spreadsheet, and that you would add input validation. That reads as someone who has maintained their own work rather than handed it over.

   Where candidates lose it

   Listing Excel functions as a skills inventory. Interviewers hear that constantly and it proves nothing. One specific artifact with a measurable outcome and a built-in check is worth more. And be ready to be tested: if you claim Power Query or advanced modelling, expect to be asked to explain exactly how you used it.

   Expect next

   • How did you make sure it was right?
   • What would you do differently now?
   • How comfortable are you with Python or SQL for the same job?

   Reported by candidates at Northern Trust (Hedge Fund, Chicago, 2022). Source: Wall Street Oasis.

Firm tags come from public, anonymous candidate reports on Wall Street Oasis: strong signal, not sworn testimony. Firms are named as the places a question was reported, not as partners of Fin Maverick. Answers are written for this page to show how to think out loud; they are not scripts to recite.