BlackRock Summer Analyst - PAG interview questions

Got offer through on campus recruiting. First round: Mostly fit questions. It was all fun and games. I didn't feel like the interviewer was taking me seriously (body language) until it was my turn to ask him questions. Fortunately, I had a friend who knew some people at BlackRock that I had contacted before and so I knew enough about the functioning of the company to ask interesting questions. Pro Tip: Understand what the PAG position IS. Know the green package process. Also, for market questions, actually do your research and read some of the reports that BlackRock publishes. You might also want to study up some treasury reports about the state of asset management. That's when he suddenly became a lot more interested. Know what tapering is. Second round: There were four interviewers who took turns to ask us questions (each student stayed in a room and the interviewers would come to them). There were some fit questions, but they seemed a lot more interested in figuring out my ability to explain things. I got asked a few questions about the market which weren't awfully hard. They also asked me what the economic indicators were for that day (Dow Jones Index, NASDAQ, BlackRock's stock, S&P500). I didn't really have time that morning to memorize those numbers...I was only able to jot them down in my padfolio. Honestly, I just read those answers...the interviewers noticed and then asked me about market trends. They didn't seem to mind that I had written the answers down. They just sort of laughed it off. The fact that I had prepared those questions was important enough. I'm an engineer, so there seemed to also be some concern over whether I was really committed to finance...something I was apparently able to persuade them that I was able to do. KNOW about BlackRock and what it cares about. PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR FIRST ROUND INTERVIEWER. Anticipate those questions in your first round interview and figure out what the firm is about... If you look at the job description on their website, for example, you'll see that BlackRock really prides itself on being the intersection between Silicon Valley and Wall Street. Keep that in mind during the interview.