Initial Screen: A 30-minute introductory phone/video call with an HR recruiter to review your motivation, soft skills, and career goals. Technical & Managerial Rounds: 1-on-1 or panel interviews with line managers or Managing Directors. These heavily test my financial acumen and industry knowledge.

Very demoralizing process. Applied in late December 2025, heard back in Jan 2026. Did the screen interview, personality quiz, and video recorded interview in a span of 1 week. I was out of the country, so requested online interview, hr initially accepted, scheduled the interview, then cancelled it citing the interviewer’s preferred face to face interviews. I flew in, did the interview. Interview was mostly the same questions i answered for the Video on Demand Interview. 2 weeks later no response, emailed the recruiter 4 times, got a response that they’d be hopefully winding up by end of the third week. Two days later got another email saying they were still pending internal discussions. Now, 1.5 weeks after that email, and 4 weeks in total since the interview, no word. I’m taking they moved forward with another candidate. That said, the interviewers and hr clearly don’t value a candidate’s time, and effort. Surprised by this entire process, especially cmg from HSBC.