Interview Questions - Ellevest Flashcards
Tell me about yourself.
I recently relocated to New York from Calgary, Alberta, where I was a Client Associate to a team of 3 financial advisors. I have a technical background working in wealth management for the last 3 years, and I’m licensed as an Investment Representative with IIROC. My previous role was really about the operations side of my Advisor’s business, and taking care of trading and settlements so my advisors could focus on growth.
What are you looking for?
I want to stretch my financial experience into a new area - one where I can make an impact and put my heart into my work. What I find so refreshing about Ellevest is that it really is a pioneer in its industry, focused on moving women forward financially and closing the gender investing gap. Previously I worked at a brokerage firm that (like so much of the industry) did not acknowledge or mitigate the realities that affect the financial progress of their female clients. I really believe in Ellevest’s mission, and I want to be a part of it. I love hard work and I would prefer to work hard at something I have an emotional stake in.
Tell me about your responsibilities of your previous role.
In my previous role, I responded to a large volume of complicated requests and provided responsive operational support to my team. My responsibilities included placing trades, reconciling accounts, overseeing the debiting of fees, and working with our back office to resolve any issues that arose. A large part of my role was about being resourceful to solve problems, and using smart technology tools to ensure that our operations ran smoothly.
What were some of the more challenging things that you dealt with at work?
In my last role, I dealt with a lot of complicated transactions, and large amounts of trade data that had to be double-checked with care and accuracy. The nature of the work is very time-sensitive, and I think one of the more challenging aspects of this role is being ready to drop whatever you’re doing to concentrate on the most pressing task at hand. I also worked predominantly on my own and had to be a self starter to stay on top of my ever-changing workload.
Why Ellevest?
I’ve been following Ellevest for a long time because Ellevest is the only online investing platform that really understands and speaks to women’s unique financial needs and how that affects their accumulation of wealth. I appreciate the tools Ellevest has provided women, not just the platform, but also the educational initiatives such as the Mind the Gap Guide, Ellevate Network, and Sallie Krawcheck’s book Own It. Ellevest is a very welcome game changer to this industry and that’s the kind of company I want to work for.
Why do you think you’re a good candidate for this role?
I think my experience handling operations for a team at a large firm closely matches what Ellevest is looking for. My previous team trusted me completely with their business, and were fully dependent on me to keep their operations running smoothly, so that together we could grow the business. I’m also used to collaborating with different teams, and my ideal work environment is working with a passionate team towards a common goal. I also ran my own business for 2 years, so I have that entrepreneurial spirit and I know what does into running a new company.
Why do you do what you do? Why do you want to be a Financial Operations Associate?
I am interested in working in operations because I love being the person the team depends on to keep the book of business running smoothly. The Financial Operations Associate has the opportunity to add tremendous value to the business, by providing exceptional service, by being proactive and responsive, and by developing strong working relationships with the internal teams, such as Compliance, Audit and Platform Specialists.
Do you have any questions for me?
What do you want to accomplish within Operations over the next year, and how can the Financial Operations Associate help to get us there?
What would the first few weeks on the job look like?
As the VP of Operations, how often would you provide feedback to your associate? How would you describe your management style? I just want to make sure that you would communicate with me if there was any anything you noticed about my work that needed to be tweaked.
If chosen for this role, how would my performance be measured?
How can we move the needle for the company, and make an impactful difference?
Last time I spoke with Joanna she mentioned that Ellevest primarily uses Folio as its underlying primary platform. How did you settle on Folio’s technology as the platform to offer your clients?
When I spoke with Joanna, she mentioned that trust and support are a huge part of the culture at Ellevest. What does the company do to encourage that buy-in and atmosphere of trust with its team?
How often do the different teams meet to strategize on how to tackle projects?
How do you feel about working on a team with such a female-oriented mission?
What is important to you in this role? What does success look like?
What is the biggest challenge for the business right now, and more specifically, for the Operations Team?
What do you want to achieve in Operations?
How would you define success for the department?
Ellevest has a unique platform and a very specific mission - what would you say Ellevest is doing to stay competitive and build on its current product?
Are there any other skills or qualities you think the Financial Operations Associate should bring to the table?
What is Ellevest doing to leverage technology to work smarter and promote growth? And how does Ellevest keep up with new technology?
What has Ellevest’s growth looked like since its inception?
How does the Ellevest team keep up with the pace of change in today’s world of rapidly changing technology?
Were you a part of the original design and launch of the platform? I know Ellevest completed a lot of usertesting to get the platform just right.
What is Ellevest doing to increase its visibility and grow its client base?
What kind of team-building initiatives does Ellevest host to foster engagement and build morale?
How does Ellevest determine its pricing model?
Who are your digital advisors?
What would a typical day look like for an Financial Operations Associate?
What kind of technology platforms would the Financial Operations Associate use in their daily work?
What is Ellevest doing to increase its capacity and grow to meet this new demand? How can its employees do to help with that challenge?
How would you describe the culture at Ellevest?
Does Ellevest plan to offer a more in-depth financial plan to their clients down the road? I noticed that Ellevest doesn’t ask their clients if they carry any debt.
What are your strongest technical skills in relation to the Financial Operations Associate role?
I have experience working with various technology platforms in trading and settlements, and I am familiar with custodial relationships and reporting systems. Primarily I used Dataphile in my work, which is similar to Portfolio Center and I have experience reconciling accounts and generating and working with investment reports. In addition to that, I’ve taken extensive courses on Excel and am used to manipulating trade data in spreadsheets.
Tell me how you effectively worked under pressure.
As an associate, I am used to working in a stressful and fast-paced environment. Often times, a client would call at the same time that my advisor would need something from me, while another client would drop into the office. I got really good at assessing the situation at hand and prioritizing tasks to stay on top of my workload. By being adaptable to the situation and staying calm, I was able to routinely handle high volumes of stress and ensure it did not impact the quality of my work.
How do you handle a challenge? Give an example.
When my advisor was out of the office, his top client had discovered that his account was overdrawn, and he called me, very upset and confused. After receiving all the pertinent details from him I told him I would investigate and call him right back. Once I collaborated with my colleagues on the bank side, I learned that a trade he had instructed us to place had settled from this account, resulting in an overdraft. I phoned the client back and explained the situation, reminding him of the trade instructions he gave to the advisor, and let him know that the overdraft fee would be waived. The client was relieved, and asked me to cover the debit balance by transferring funds from another account. By obtaining all the details, staying calm and staying in close contact with the client, I was able to get the answer the client needed and prove the value of good client service.
Have you ever made a mistake? How did you handle it?
One time my advisor was meeting with one of his clients to open a new educational savings account and I had mistakenly prepared the transactional account opening documents, instead of fee-based. The clients were already meeting with the advisor, so upon catching my mistake, I had to quickly to regenerate and print the forms, double check everything, highlight the places were the clients were to sign, and deliver the documents. By being resilient, I was able to respond quickly to my mistake and work to correct it.
Give an example of how you set goals.
Within a few weeks of starting at ATB Financial as a Customer Service Representative, I knew that I wanted to work in Wealth Management alongside an Advisor. I decided to enroll in the Canadian Securities Course (the Canadian equivalent of the Series 7) to learn the material so that when an Associate position opened up, I would be well-positioned to apply. I did just that, and I also shadowed a current associate on my days off, to get a head-start on learning the role before my start date. As a result of taking initiative, I proved to my future advisor that I was willing to do whatever it took to become an Associate.
Give an example of how you worked on a team.
My previous team was made up of 3 advisors and 3 associates. Each year we hosted two client seminars and a golf tournament, and I was responsible for planning the events, and collaborating with my fellow associates to ensure that we were well-positioned for our event dates. By communicating often and working closely with my team, I was able to take these large events off my advisors’ plate and they knew that the end result would be a first-class event.
Share an example of how you were able to motivate employees or co-workers.
Among the associates in my previous company, we were given a new project of overseeing the debiting of quarterly fees from fee-based accounts, and many were overwhelmed by it. I created a presentation which demonstrated how the process was going to work and showed the steps each associate would take to get the desired result. I presented this presentation to 75 associates throughout the province over Skype, and as a result my team felt much more confident and motivated to tackle this new project.
