Northern Trust runs a light, largely behavioural loop dominated by operations and asset-servicing roles (fund accounting, custody, transfer agency, middle office) rather than a heavy technical bar. A typical path is a recruiter phone screen, then one or two rounds with the hiring manager and a senior team member, sometimes bundled as a virtual super day with a case study. A Chicago on-site final round is used for the flagship Rotational/Gold Program. Software engineering hiring in India adds a coding round (DSA, OOP, one project or design task) and a friendly HR wrap.
These 16 writeups cover software engineering, asset servicing operations, fund accounting and other roles, US + PH/India/Luxembourg ops arms. All of them were posted under a forum handle, so we could not verify the authors’ identities.
unknown. 1 round. Shared by JustARandomGuy on hn, 2022-05-18
1Interview blockBehavioralFour consecutive 30-minute sessions where each interviewer read the same non-technical question sheet in the same order.Covered: Hypothetical personality questions
Rotational Development Program / Gold Program Analyst
Received an offer
New grad. 2 rounds. Shared by WSO user on wso, 2016-01-01
1OCR phone screenPhone screenHR reached out about a month after the on-campus application and scheduled a phone interview a week later with a second HR representative. Mostly behavioural with a handful of very basic accounting questions.Covered: Behavioral, Resume deep-dive, Accounting
2Chicago final super dayFinalSix back-to-back interviews at the firm's Chicago office. HR arranged travel for out-of-state candidates. Six finalists competed for two offers. Interviewers split themes: one focused on personal background, one on prior experience, one purely on accounting knowledge. The overall read was on culture fit rather than technical difficulty.Covered: Behavioral, STAR stories, Accounting, Culture fit
Rotational Development Program Analyst
Not selected
New grad. 2 rounds. Shared by WSO user on wso, 2020-01-01
1Recruiter screenPhone screenInternal recruiter walked through resume, internships, and interest in finance and specifically Northern Trust.Covered: Resume deep-dive, Motivation
2Hiring-manager phoneHiring managerSecond phone round with a hiring manager covering background plus generic questions on Excel comfort and financial-statement basics.Covered: Behavioral, Excel, Financial statements
Investment Associate / Asset Management team
Outcome not shared
Experienced. 3 rounds. Shared by WSO user on wso, 2021-01-01
1Hiring-manager screenHiring managerInitial call with the hiring manager describing the role and gauging fit.Covered: Role fit, Expectations
2Senior Investment Officer (Teams)TechnicalVideo call with the Senior Investment Officer.Covered: Investment knowledge, Behavioral
3On-site with portfolio managersPanelIn-person interviews at the office with portfolio managers on the team. Also included a drug test and background check.Covered: Portfolio management, Team fit
Associate (Vice President track)
Outcome not shared
Experienced. 3 rounds. Shared by WSO user on wso, 2021-01-01
2ManagerHiring managerOne-on-one with the hiring manager.Covered: Behavioral, Role fit
3Virtual super dayCase studyVirtual super day with a case study plus interviews with several team members. Also included a presentation-skills element, a personality test and a background check.Covered: Case study, Team fit, Presentation
Internship. 2 rounds. Shared by WSO user on wso, 2022-01-01
1HR phone screenPhone screenCold applied, HR reached out. Easy behavioural questions and firm-knowledge questions, no technicals.Covered: Behavioral, Domain knowledge
2Two final interviewsFinalBack-to-back interviews with a senior manager and a manager. No technicals, but the candidate was asked to briefly pitch a stock they liked. Most of the time went on firm/culture/team fit.Covered: Stock pitch, Culture fit, Team fit
Asset Management Summer Intern
Received an offer
Internship. 2 rounds. Shared by WSO user on wso, 2022-01-01
1Recruiter callPhone screenCandidate reached out first. A friendly recruiter walked through the pipeline.Covered: Behavioral, Motivation
2Virtual super day (Teams)FinalTwo back-to-back Teams interviews. The first leaned technical: understanding of asset management, portfolio diversification and strategy. The second leaned behavioural with 'what if' scenarios probing teamwork. Offer landed about two weeks later.Covered: Portfolio construction, Diversification, Behavioral, Team scenarios
Middle Office / Asset Services Analyst
Outcome not shared
Experienced. 2 rounds. Shared by WSO user on wso, 2020-01-01
1Intro phone callPhone screenShort introductory phone call with the recruiter.Covered: Resume deep-dive
2Two manager one-on-onesHiring managerTwo roughly half-hour interviews with two managers individually, plus a skills test and personality assessment.Covered: Domain knowledge, Behavioral
1st Year Analyst
Outcome not shared
New grad. 1 round. Shared by WSO user on wso, 2019-01-01
1Alumni informational interviewBehavioralInformational chat with a Northern Trust alumnus who was president of investments. Mostly behavioural, aimed at gauging student interest. Interviewer spoke to about ten students. One ultimately got an offer.Covered: Behavioral, Motivation, Culture fit
Analyst
Outcome not shared
Experienced. 1 round. Shared by WSO user on wso, 2020-01-01
1Direct phone interviewPhone screenA team member called directly and set up a phone interview two days later. Single-round writeup.Covered: Behavioral
Assistant Manager
Outcome not shared
Experienced. 3 rounds. Shared by WSO user on wso, 2020-01-01
1Hiring manager + HRHiring managerJoint interview with the hiring manager and HR.Covered: Behavioral, Domain knowledge
2Head of departmentFinalInterview with the head of the department.Covered: Leadership, Domain knowledge
3HR negotiationFinalDirect negotiation with HR on the remuneration package after the technical rounds cleared.Covered: Compensation
Northern Trust Internship (INROADS pipeline)
Outcome not shared
Internship. 1 round. Shared by WSO user on wso, 2019-01-01
1Skype interviewBehavioralApplied through the INROADS diversity program. Was emailed immediately to schedule a Skype interview. All behavioural questions, about 30 minutes, with a laid-back interviewer.Covered: Behavioral
Intern (recruiter-sourced)
Not selected
Internship. 1 round. Shared by WSO user on wso, 2022-01-01
1Zoom personality interviewBehavioralRecruiter reached out on LinkedIn. Single Zoom interview focused on personality fit and general questions about background/education. Personality test attached. Candidate turned it down after the interview because the role details didn't appeal.Covered: Behavioral, Culture fit
Accounting Associate Analyst (Manila)
Received an offer
Experienced. 2 rounds. Shared by u/jadeinthesun on reddit, 2026-03-11
1HR-scheduled interview with managersHiring managerApplied via LinkedIn. HR reached out in ~4 days by email plus text and scheduled the interview two days later. The single interview walked through the resume, several behavioural situational questions, and easy basic accounting theory questions. Managers said HR would revert in two weeks. Feedback landed the next day pending a compliance check.Covered: Resume deep-dive, Behavioral, Accounting
2Compliance checkFinalFormal compliance/background check before the offer letter.Covered: Background check
1Teleconference interviewPhone screenBecause the role was based in Luxembourg the whole loop was run over teleconference. The interviewer was polite and unhurried. The technical portion (fund/transfer-agency knowledge) tripped up an under-prepared first-time interviewee, and the classic 'biggest weakness' question was the hardest to answer cold.Covered: Domain knowledge, Behavioral, Weaknesses
1Take-home assignmentTake-home120-minute take-home style assignment to build an e-commerce website. Candidates were evaluated on which features they prioritised more than on completeness.Covered: Web development, System design, OOP
2Technical + managerial video callTechnical40-minute video call with two interviewers, one technical, one managerial. Coding problems included cycle detection in a singly linked list and implementing a queue using two stacks, with follow-ups on DSA and OOP fundamentals.Covered: Data structures & algorithms, Linked lists, Stacks, Queues, OOP
3HR roundBehavioralFriendly 30-minute HR round covering standard behavioural fare, introduction, family, hobbies, why Northern Trust, willingness to relocate, plus preplacement-talk-anchored 'what do you like about the company' probes.Covered: Behavioral, Culture fit, Motivation
What Northern Trust is hiring for now
641 open roles in our index. Advertised pay floors run $83k to $137k (median $115k, from 313 postings that state pay).
What is the interview process like at Northern Trust?
Northern Trust runs a light, largely behavioural loop dominated by operations and asset-servicing roles (fund accounting, custody, transfer agency, middle office) rather than a heavy technical bar. A typical path is a recruiter phone screen, then one or two rounds with the hiring manager and a senior team member, sometimes bundled as a virtual super day with a case study. A Chicago on-site final round is used for the flagship Rotational/Gold Program. Software engineering hiring in India adds a coding round (DSA, OOP, one project or design task) and a friendly HR wrap.
What topics does Northern Trust test in interviews?
Commonly reported topics include Hypothetical personality questions, Behavioral, STAR stories, Resume deep-dive, Accounting, Fund accounting.
These guides summarize public, first-hand interview experiences shared by candidates. They describe the shape of each loop and the topics that came up, not a leaked question bank, and every experience links back to its original source. Processes change often. Treat this as directional prep, not a script.
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