Had a few top RX interviews. Sometimes asked about completely obscure technicals. Sometimes asked about completely niche topics pertaining to specific transactions. It makes me wonder: WHO is nailing these questions? Are there kids out there with access to this information and where do I get it as well?
Sure, I can research and learn all I can online. But why are we being tested on a scale where everyone has unequal access to information?
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RX groups are the most gate-kept groups in IB. I've been told that most RX interview candidates are hired based on whether they are coming from a target because these groups are so egotistical and prestige-driven. So they purposely ask there ridiculous hard questions knowing how unrealistic it is any candidate will answer them and gives them a reason to keep non targets out.
False
Definitely not true. Despite restructuring having more of a 'target' presence majority of the firms will give an opportunity to non-targets, just have to network in.
Adding to this, I imagine they ask these obscure questions that only people from their pedigree would know as students with connections share all interview answers ahead of the interview….
The answer is Wharton kids
“Oh no, people are asking relevant questions for a job interview.”
Not concerned with the relevancy part. Just that a lot of students who don’t go to targets don’t even know the rules to the game here and have no real way of learning it.
Just like how a lot of incredibly high potential students likely miss out on IB as a whole bc of recruiting timelines
Generally, on average, the high potential kids will be going to targets in the first place. You could be a diamond in the rough but why would the busy bankers try to dig one out when they'd be content with any crystal they can find?
Restructuring is easier to learn, for an outsider, than it has ever been in history given the various interview resources available on sites like this and the public, free, and easily searchable bankruptcy dockets as catalogued by Kroll and other services.
Interviewer for an Rx group here. We have our basic technical screen questions which are pretty hard to answer, and this year there were multiple candidates that got 100% of them right. There are hardos that live and breath distressed and we were kind of blown away by the level of some of the SOPHOMORES. Unfortunately for a lot of kids, if you didn’t ace the technical screen you weren’t moving on this year. There were just too many good candidates.
There are certain schools that will get leaked the questions before hand. Typically, it's those in their IB clubs who had former alumni in them, giving them the questions and answers. Case in point: about five years ago when PIK interest questions were first being asked by EVR, somehow Wharton and one other school (I can’t remember) were the only candidates who knew how to answer their questions properly.
I think almost every school that has a strong pipeline to IB have clubs that share interview Q&A. Like Ivey in Canada is notorious for that as well. I know life is unfair and we should suck it up, but it makes one question him/herself that is the reason not getting into IB or RX because we aren't smart enough as target kids or are we playing in a game that is rigged.
You can't do that for a case study style question tho. Those are more differentiating in the later rounds. Cheating like that gets you through the Rxinterviews type questions and not further.
The approach for many of the associates that I've heard talk about interviews they give in later rounds, they're weighting "walk me through a deal" with a bunch of follow up questions that test your technical knowledge more.
Why are hardos so interested in distressed? I'm interested as well but don't go to a hardo university so curious
Generally just a very technical field and arguably one that is more intellectually stimulating than standard M&A transactions.
What are the standard Rx type questions for your shop?
Well can you give an example of some of the difficult questions and then we can tell you if they are answerable and how
Nontarget who accepted an RX offer at a LAZ/HL
You just need to study. Imo RX is the most meritocratic field in banking because you can break in from a shitty school like mine if you actually have an interest in the field and study lol. You just got filtered
I agree to the extent that with other areas of banking the technicals are so plain (for the most part) that the best way to differentiate yourself is to network really well. In contrast, RX technical concepts are basically endless so you can actually differentiate through technical and case know-how.
However, there is a massive gap between the Wharton students who know they should be reading Moyer after their freshman year and the non-target students who only know about 400Qs.
in my experience networking with RX bankers, some do admit there is some level of gatekeeping within RX banking, doesn't mean non-targets are completely shut off but the odds are highly stacked against you compared to target schools, especially Wharton. But as long as you network and show you understand the concept of RX you can land an interview but you need to understand RX stuff at a very deep level during the interview process.
Agree - this is the real difference maker. Having an upper classman/alum mentor to tell u early is huge.
Based
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