Bank of America Online Assessment Test: Application Process, Interview & Preparation Guide
Spied your dream job at Bank of America but feeling overwhelmed by the application process? If you are applying for a BoA role, the competition can be tough. Many thousands of people apply for roles each year and there are not many opportunities available.
Within the application process you will be asked to complete some online assessments. These are standard procedures for many roles nowadays. However, although they are fairly straightforward, they are quite different to talking about yourself in an interview.
Therefore they can throw people off if they are not prepared and around 60% of candidates get cut at this section of the recruitment cycle. But don’t worry, we are here to walk you through the whole hiring process of Bank of America. That way you can approach it calmly, nail the tests and could be stepping into a new role very soon.
Table of Contents
About Bank of America
So first thing’s first, who actually is Bank of America? Bank of America is one of the most well-known multinational investment banks in the United States. They also are a financial services company. They were formed in San Francisco in 1998, but their headquarters are now based out of Charlotte, North Carolina.
They now also have locations all around the world. With over 200,000 employees, jobs in BoA span a huge variety of different sectors and offer a variety of different career paths. These could include investment banking, sales, project management, HR, tech, customer service, accounting and plenty of others.
They offer their employees lots of different benefits including various health insurance packages, life insurance and wellness programs. Bank of America’s core values includes responsible growth, helping local communities, trust, integrity and environmental, social, and governance (ESG).
Who is Bank of America looking for?
So now we know who Bank of America is, let’s dig into what they are looking for in their employees. If you bear this in mind throughout the application process you can align your approach to these values at each stage.
Bank of America looks for candidates that have a genuine interest in the company and have a passion for serving clients and improving their financial lives. They also look for people with personal integrity with a diverse range of experience.
In fact they have a special diversity program that seeks individuals from inside and outside their industry, and who come from all over the world. In general they look for candidates that align with their core values (above), have an aptitude for leadership, respect and inclusion, as well as being authentic.
Bank of America hiring process
You can search for BoA jobs on their opportunity search page. Here you can filter by location and company division. Once you find a job you like, you will need to fill in an online application. From here you may need to take some online aptitude tests, do an interview and be invited to an assessment centre. The whole process can take up to 6 months.
Bank of America application process
So let’s dig into all the necessary steps for applying to Bank of America.
Apply online
The first thing you need to do is apply to a job using the Bank of America online application portal. Make sure to read through the job description thoroughly and make sure it matches your skillset. BoA receives many job applications each day and so make sure that you customise your application to be as relevant as possible.
Remember to refer back to what BoA is looking for in an employee to guide your approach. BoA looks for resumes no longer than 2 pages in length and suggests you highlight your relevant skills for the role, highlighting past experiences and achievements that show these skills. If this stage of your application is successful you will be contacted by a recruiter to take part in the next phase of the application.
Bank of America online assessments
You may be sent some online assessments for the next stage of your BoA application. These consist of various psychometric and aptitude tests. Which tests you receive will vary depending on the role you apply for but we have listed the likely tests below and how they all work.
Logical reasoning
This timed test takes 12 minutes and assesses how well you can identify patterns. Usually, the questions will consist of sequences of shapes where you have to determine the next shape in the sequence. This test is designed to measure your aptitude for logic and problem-solving. This is not like your typical test back in school, so you may want to find some simulation practise tests online so that you are as well-prepared as possible.
Verbal reasoning
The verbal reasoning exam is all about reading comprehension. You will be shown a passage of text and you will need to answer a selection of questions about it which will be true or false or multiple choice. Make sure you pay close attention to the text so you can pick out facts, meanings and key points effectively. The test is usually timed so make sure to leave yourself enough time to answer all the questions at the end.
Numerical reasoning
This exam will be a mathematical exam based around analyzing and interpreting data. You will be shown a chart or table and asked to answer questions about the data. These may involve adding and subtracting or other basic maths. The difficult thing about this test is that it is timed.
You have less than a minute to answer each question and the test is designed to measure your numerical accuracy under pressure. If you are worried about your maths skills you may want to brush up on basic math, algebra or fractions or even do some numerical reasoning practice tests.
Personality test
This test evaluates your personality and character and whether or not it would be a good fit for the company. This test has three different parts that focus on your characteristics, your workplace attributes, and how you relate and communicate with others.
The questions may refer to how you react to different situations, especially in the workplace. Bear in mind the core values of the company and the attributes they look for in employees. While you should answer questions honestly, this will help keep your answers aligned to BoA’s requirements.
Situational Judgement
This test is all about judging your behavior in the workplace. It presents you with hypothetical situations that could come up in the workplace and asks you to respond with how you would act in each situation.
Answer honestly but draw on common sense and your past professional experience to give your answers. Focus on solving problems, showing leadership and teamwork when you give your responses. Make sure your answers align with Bank of America’s values too.
Special skills aptitude test
There are certain roles in Bank of America that involve a special aptitude test for the role. This will assess particular skills and act as an almost virtual trial run of dealing with some aspects of the job.
If you are applying to be a Bank Teller, Personal Banker or to work in Customer Service you may receive one of these tests. You may need to answer questions on dealing with difficult customers, phone manner, or money exchange.
Analyst tests
If you are applying to Bank of America as an analyst you will have to undertake some specialized test, particularly for this role. This can be mathematical, verbal, personality, situational reasoning, and role-plays. They are developed specifically for an analyst role.
Bank of America interviews
For all roles at Bank of America, at least one interview is required. Other roles may include a preliminary phone interview as well as a face-to-face interview. Some roles may even require a second face-to-face interview depending on the role and the other candidates applying.
The interviews will consist of mostly competency-based questions. This means they will ask you to draw on past experiences and achievements from your educational, professional, and personal background. These will draw on how you acted in certain situations and showed relevant skills like leadership, problem-solving, creativity, and teamwork.
Competency questions could include things like ‘Tell me about a time you introduced a new idea?’, ‘Can you tell me about how you have resolved an issue with a coworker’ or ‘Tell me about a time you displayed strong leadership?
You may also be asked questions about Bank of America as an institution to show your knowledge about the company. These could include questions like ‘Tell me what you know about Bank of America’s company culture’ or ‘What do you know about Bank of America?’.
Make sure to do some research into the company beforehand on their website and across their communications. You may even want to pick out some of the aspects you like about the company so that you are ready if the questions come up.
The third type of question that could come up in an interview are brain-teaser style questions. These can be tricky on the spot as they are usually abstract questions that involve quick thinking and unconventional answers. They could be something like ‘How many apples could fit in a swimming pool?’ or ‘Explain the internet to someone who has just awoken from a 40-year coma’. They are used to assess your ability to think quickly and creatively.
Bank of America Assessment Centre
After your initial interview, you may be invited to complete a Bank of America assessment center. These assessment centers can include a variety of activities that may be undertaken in a group or alone. They are used to determine how well you would fit in a particular role or department. The tests will likely include the following:
Group exercise
This exercise is about testing how well you can perform in a team. Usually the assessors will give you a problem to solve or a task to undertake collaboratively under pressure. It is important to listen to others in this test and not interrupt people. But do speak up and make your ideas heard.
Hitting a balance is important here and listening is as important as speaking. Make sure to collaborate with the rest of the team and never interrupt. However, being persuasive and coming up with creative ideas is also what they are looking for. Think carefully and ask thought-provoking questions that will spark interesting and innovative discussions.
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Presentation
This task is about your ability to create and perform a presentation efficiently. You will be presented with a brief and some information and given a limited amount of time to create a presentation. Make your ideas as easy to understand as possible and try and include any salient points from the information.
Make sure you are clear in your head on the key points. This will help you move through the presentation with clarity as well as allow you to discuss them should there be any questions. Speak in a clear, relaxed manner and try to be yourself and let your personality shine through.
Make sure to stick to the time limit, both running over and under can show poor time management. It can be a good idea to involve your assessor too, asking them at the end if they have any further questions.
Roleplay
Role play tasks are usually performed in pairs where you are presented with a hypothetical problem or issue. This will likely be the kind of situation you could actually face in the role in question. You and your partner will need to evaluate and discuss the problem and then propose a solution.
You will have a limited time to do this, usually 20 minutes. You will then act out the situation in the way you would if you had the role. Your assessor will play the role of a client or colleague. They will then evaluate your quick thinking under pressure as well as teamwork, analysis skills, problem-solving, negotiation skills and creative thinking.
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Conclusion
There you have it, the full application process needed for Bank of America. Whichever role you are applying for, in whatever location, make sure you follow the steps and take some time to prepare for the online assessments and interviews. This could be the start of a new career!
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Sarah is an accomplished educator, researcher and author in the field of testing and assessment. She has worked with various educational institutions and organisations to develop innovative evaluation methods and enhance student learning. Sarah has published numerous articles and books on assessment and learning. Her passion for promoting equity and fairness in the education system fuels her commitment to sharing insights and best practices with educators and policymakers around the world.
