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PIMCO interview questions

26 questions researched across 1 PIMCO seat in Investment Management. Below are 12 of them.

Seats we researched

  • Investment AnalystInvestment Management · graduate · 30 min

12 PIMCO interview questions

  1. If you knew rates were going to drop, would you rather own a 2-year bond or a 20-year bond, and why?

  2. Can you give me an example of a bond with negative convexity, and explain why it behaves that way?

  3. What are the principal market risks of holding a corporate bond?

  4. What does a move in Treasury yields mean for the wider credit markets?

  5. How would you expect an increase in interest rates to affect both bond prices and equity valuations?

  6. Is a fall in oil prices an inflationary or a deflationary force, and how would it change your view on bonds?

  7. Why would you choose a mortgage portfolio over a corporate bond portfolio?

  8. Why does active management make sense in fixed income, rather than just buying the index?

  9. Explain convexity to someone who understands duration.

  10. Tell me about a time you defended an unpopular view with evidence.

  11. What are the different ways you could increase or decrease the duration of a bond portfolio, including with derivatives?

  12. Say a portfolio has a duration of 6 and convexity of 50, and rates rise 50 basis points across the curve. Roughly what happens to its value?

What a strong answer does

The questions above fall into 3 kinds. What a strong answer does differs by kind, not by question.

Technical6 of 12 above
State the intuition first; walk through the mechanics; make assumptions explicit; test a risk or edge case; connect the answer to the role.
Market5 of 12 above
State a view; support it with evidence and a catalyst; explain valuation or transmission; give the strongest countercase; name the risk that would change your mind.
Behavioral1 of 12 above
Lead with the claim and context; isolate your personal action and decision; explain the trade-off; quantify the result; finish with what you learned and changed.

14 more PIMCO questions

The rest of the bank — 26 in total — is asked by the interviewer during practice, so you meet them the way you would on the day rather than reading them first.

Practise PIMCO questions

How these questions were researched

Every question carries a provenance grade. Some were reported by candidates who sat the round, some come from the firm’s own published guidance or a source that trains for it, and the rest are written to match how this firm asks. Each seat is studied on its own — the round it actually runs, the order it runs it in, and what it is listening for. A PIMCO round is not a generic behavioural screen, and practising one as the other is how people walk in unprepared.

Falas is not affiliated with or endorsed by any employer named. Simulations are independent practice based on publicly described recruiting formats.