Corporate Development Analyst Interview

Alright so after god knows many godforsaken online apps, and networking that didn't really pay off somehow by a stroke of pure luck I landed a second round interview for a corporate development position on Monday. The HR lady said the second interview would be over purely technicals, so I'm wondering outside of your general corporate finance questions (DCF's, LBO's, etc.) what I should be expecting. Also this company is in the safety industry and almost every company in the industry, including it, are private companies so I haven't been able to build out my own model per say for practice because of lack of accessible financials. Any help would be appreciated, this interview was landed out of pure luck as I have no actual IBD experience and I'm freaking out because I don't want to fuck up the interview as I'm a long shot as it is.

 

Bumblebtuna_analyst, what does the job description of this position look like? You don't need to copy and paste it here, but I'm wondering because I cannot see how someone without prior M&A/IB experience could land an interview in corp dev.

Anyway, you need to be prepared for the same technicals asked in IB, especially if your interviewer has IB experience. You need to know the DCF inside and out- I probably prepare two DCFs from scratch a week in my role, and I have no one to check my work, so they always need to be 100% correct. We also run LBOs because we need to know what PEs might bid. We usually run a very basic accretion analysis instead of a full-blown merger model, but you should still be able to answer questions on that (doubt you'll be asked any if all the companies in the safety industry are private). You really need to spend several hours on technicals, especially since you have no M&A experience.

The most important part of the interview will be fit, however. We regularly turn down applicants who have impeccable resumes (e.g. Harvard undergrad, GS IB, worked on multiple $1B+ dollar M&A transactions) because they lack personality and cannot fit in. We have even chosen candidates without an IB background over candidates with an IB background because those former candidates fit in better. So, come across as personable and genuine, but spend some time looking at a behavioral interview guide. Check out ESPN.com and Seeking Alpha the day of your interview so that you can have a conversation with your interviewer. Try to be a human being (ya, sounds easy, but for some reason this is the toughest part for most interviewees).

Good luck. Let me know if you need any more help. Try to post questions here instead of PMing so that others can see my answers and hopefully get some help.

EDIT: You also really need to perfect your answer to "why corp dev?" as well as your answer to "why the safety industry?". These are the two most important questions you will receive. If you want to get my thoughts on your answers, feel free to post them.

 

Under the job description it says pretty much that I'd be doing due diligence and projecting financials for the companies they're acquiring. Like I said I have no idea how I landed this interview, it was literally dumb luck. I'm good on DCF's, I'm practicing accretion analysis as we speak. I have my story for why corporate development: I'm interested in developing and learning about management strategy (My grandfather founded a large engineering consulting company when I was young, I was going to use that story as an inspiration). The "why the safety industry" question I'm struggling on, any pointers? I mean I really want to move into IBD, but this is the best opportunity I've gotten in months and would jump on it in a heartbeat.

 
Best Response

Whatever you do, don't mention that your dream job would have been in IB. I'm sure you already know that, though. When you review your technicals, don't just build a model, go "done", and move on. You need to understand the concepts behind the technicals.

Your answer to "why corporate development?" needs a little work. A good interviewer would counter your reasoning with "Ok, so why don't you interview for corporate strategy or consulting positions?". Your answer just raises too many questions and really does not answer the one at hand.

You need to mention how corporate development, unlike investment banking, focuses on one, long-term strategy. In IB, you are rapidly moving from one transaction to the next, while in corporate development, you are focusing on acquiring companies and making investments with a long time horizon. This sounds similar to PE, but unlike in PE, in corporate development, you are hoping to acquire companies forever. You are using M&A as a corporate strategy and as a way to grow your business, as opposed to PE, where M&A serves as a way to make money (buy a company for X times EBITDA, improve EBITDA, sell it for X times EBITDA). One appeal to corporate development is the ability to focus on a single company's inorganic growth strategy over a long time horizon.

As for your interest in the safety industry, you should find one or two things that interest you. Now, to set yourself apart from an average interviewee, you also need to use this opportunity to show off the research you have done into the safety industry. Anyone can rattle off some cliche interest, but very few people will understand that the real point behind the question was to see if you have done your research. Maybe mention how you are interested in the industry because a recent report by Deloitte has the industry growing at X% over the next five years because of reasons X and Y. While researching, you also found a report by Harvard University that showed within the safety industry there are companies that focus entirely on either federal or state safety. You appreciate such a nuanced industry, especially since most people are unaware of this. I am obviously making these two points up, but you get the point.

Hope that helps. Let me know if you have any more questions.

 

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