3i Interview Questions

4 total interview insight submissions
Interview Experience (70%)

The Interview Experience is a score from 1 star (very negative) to 5 stars (very positive) generated based on the Interview Insights at this company.

The number you see in the middle of the doughnut pie chart is the simple average of these scores. If you hover over the various sections of the donut, you will see the % breakdown of each score given.

The percentile score in the title is calculated across the entire Company Database and uses an adjusted score based on Bayesian Estimates (to account for companies that have few interview insights). Simply put, as a company gets more reviews, the confidence of a "true score" increases so it is pulled closer to its simple average and away from the average of the entire dataset.

3.8
  • Very Negative
  • Negative
  • Neutral
  • Positive
  • Very Positive
Interview Difficulty (92%)

The Interview Difficulty is a score ranging from very difficult (red) to very easy (green) generated based on the Interview Insights at this company.

The number you see in the middle of the doughnut pie chart is the simple average of these scores. The higher the number, the more difficult the interviews on average. If you hover over the various sections of the doughnut, you will see the % breakdown of each score given.

The percentile score in the title is calculated across the entire Company Database and uses an adjusted score based on Bayesian Estimates (to account for companies that have few interview insights). Simply put, as a company gets more insights, the confidence of a "true score" increases so it is pulled closer to its simple average and away from the average of the entire data set.

3.5
  • Very Easy
  • Easy
  • Average
  • Difficult
  • Very Difficult
% Interns - FT Offers (34%)

The % of Interns Getting a Full Time Offer chart is meant to provide a realistic estimate of the hiring practices of the company based on the reviews at this company.

The number you see in the middle of the doughnut pie chart is the simple average of these scores. If you hover over the various sections of the doughnut, you will see the % breakdown of each score given.

The percentile score in the title is calculated across the entire Company Database and uses an adjusted score based on Bayesian Estimates (to account for companies that have few reviews). Simply put, as a company gets more reviews, the confidence of a "true score" increases so it is pulled closer to the simple company average and away from the average of the entire data set.

20%
  • 0%
  • 10%
  • 20%
  • 30%
  • 40%
  • 50%
  • 60%
  • 70%
  • 80%
  • 90%
  • 100%

Interviews at 3i

Get Prepared
Filter by:
Year
Job Title
Group/Division
Location
Experience
Difficulty
Intern
Year 2019
Job Title Intern
Group/Division Private Equity
Location Amsterdam
Experience
Positive
Difficulty
Difficult
Summer Associate Intern
Year 2018
Job Title Summer Associate Intern
Group/Division Generalist
Location New york
Experience
Positive
Difficulty
Average
Intern
Year 2013
Job Title Intern
Group/Division Private Equity
Location Frankfurt
Experience
Positive
Difficulty
Average
1st Year Associate
Year 2014
Job Title 1st Year Associate
Group/Division Generalist
Location New York
Experience
Neutral
Difficulty
Difficult

Interview Questions & Answers - 3i Examples

Intern Interview - Private Equity

Anonymous interview candidate in Amsterdam
Interviewed: March 2019
Date Submitted: Nov 04, 2019
Outcome
No Offer
Interview Source
Recruiter
Length of Process
Less than 1 month
Application
1 on 1 Interview
Interview
Recruiter contacted the firm, rather quickly I was invited for an interview. Three times an hour. One technical with an analyst. One behavioural with a director. One in between with an associate.
Interview Questions
What is the background of our firm?
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Some of the more typical LBO questions: what makes a good LBO candidate?
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What is a company you are currently interested in?
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Would it be a good investment, and why?
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Imagine I have a P&L with X revenue, Y gross margin, Z personnel costs, U housing costs, V marketing expenses and W other expenses; what kind of company would this be?
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Imagine I have a specific kind of company (i.e., a local restaurant), what would its P&L look like and why?
Sample Answer

Associate Intern Interview - Generalist

Anonymous interview candidate in New york
Interviewed: February 2018
Date Submitted: Mar 05, 2019
Outcome
No Offer
Interview Source
Applied Online
Length of Process
Less than 1 month
Application
1 on 1 Interview
Skills Test
Background Check
Interview
Had 2 1-1 interviews of about 45m-1hr each. It was with mid-level professionals.
One of the inteviews was more fit and background based (why PE, why 3i, tell me about yourself etc.)
The other interview was a case study, similar to a paper LBO but with more operational questions.
Interview Questions
Why are you different from other candidates?
What has been your best and worst experience?
When doing the case study/paper lbo, there were several technical questions very specific to the industry that we were discussing (restaurants) that I had no clue about.
As a career switcher (consulting to PE), there were several technical questions about my job during DD as a consultant that if not prepared it would be very complicated to answer (very focused on value creation and financial impact of decisions).
Sample Answer

Summer Intern Interview - Private Equity

Anonymous employee in Frankfurt
Interviewed: December 2013
Date Submitted: Oct 07, 2014
Outcome
Accepted Offer
Interview Source
Employee Referral
Length of Process
Less than 1 month
Application
1 on 1 Interview
Skills Test
Personality Test
Interview
I applied to the firm fpr an internship after they had a recruiting event at my home university. Contact was very good and the process was very fast too. Interviewed once at the office including 3 interviews with a total of 3 employees. Interview was average difficulty. Staff was very nice and supportive. No tricky questions, just proofing what your technical knowledge is and how you fit within the team. Be prepared for Investment Banking style questions, maybe some a bit more consultancy case oriented. Relax and be yourself.
Interview Questions
How would you challenge U.S. business plans currently considering currency exchange risk?
Developing a detailed sensitivity analysis including varying exchange rates and possible hedging.
Why might retailers be often not publicly listed?
Solution: Retailers do not need funding from the capital market, because of their industry specific working capital being provided by the customer instantly at purchase.
Sample Answer

Associate Interview - Generalist

Anonymous interview candidate in New York
Interviewed: 2014
Date Submitted: Apr 09, 2014
Outcome
No Offer
Interview Source
Employee Referral
Length of Process
1-2 months
Application
Phone Interview
1 on 1 Interview
Group Interview
Skills Test
Personality Test
Background Check
Interview
The process started when I was referred to an employee at the company by a mutual connection. There was an initial conversation with that employee and then a formal interview in the office. There was another formal interview with another decision maker, and then an intensive case study involving a quick model and lots of questions.
Interview Questions
1) What are the best structures for this deal?

The prompt involved a pretty vanilla structure and they asked what other structure there were to do the deal. This was unexpected and was clearly meant to add pressure.
2) Explain the major risks.

My answer was essentially that there are business risks (e.g., SWOT issues and execution issues) and deal risks (e.g., financing, etc) that should be considered separately but play off one another.
Sample Answer