Possible interview questions for an economist position I.
Questions from actual interviews
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If SD=0.5, what is the variance? How would you define confidence interval? How would you explain regression to a jury? Why do we do regressions? The firm has a new CEO. People say that his style is very risky. How would you go about testing it? 5. There are 2 gas stations on one street. Gas station A buys gas for $1 and gas station B buys it for $0.90. What price would you charge if you were an owner of gas station B? What factors would affect your decision? 6. Annie makes 500 copies per hour and I make only 200/hour. Why does company have me making copies and not her? 7. The grocery store was alleged that its prices are above competitive level. How would go about testing it? What could be the objections to your solution? 8. How would you test if a company XYZ is a monopoly? 9. What would you choose 4 million now or million every year for next four years? Would you change your decision if the interest rates would go up? 10. What is your thesis? What paper did you work on? How did you verify your sources? 11. Describe a detailed project (step by step) that you worked on recently. 12. Where do you see yourself in 3 years? 13. Technical questions: -What programming tools have you used to analyze data? Such as Excel, Access, SAS (or SAS Enterprise Guide), SQL, Visual Basic, Java, C++, TSO, etc... -How familiar are you with Excel? Pivot tables, VLOOKUP, SUMIF, Filter, Macros, Analysis Toolpak, Solver Function should be mentioned. =Also, one or two interviewers have asked this (and if not then your students should try to mention): How often do you use the mouse when you're in Excel? Those efficient with Excel uses mainly shortcut keys. -How familiar are you with Access? Creating fields and writing queries should be mentioned. Data analysis questions: -Give an example of when you analyzed a large set of data. -Give an example of when you created a predictive model or when you "backed out" to solve an equation. -Give an example of when you presented your data analyses to "non-technical" people. -Give an example of when you question the quality of your data and how you verified it. -Give an example of when you tied the numbers in a report you created
before presenting it. Misc questions: -Give an example of when you made a process more efficient. -Give an example of when you created a report in a tight deadline. -How much direction do you need?
II.
Additional possible questions
1. If you put $1000 in a saving account which pays 3% annual interest, how long will it take for your money to double? 2. What should be the stock market value of a firm?
