Valuation Associate

The interview had 3 parts to it: (1) initial phone screen with recruiter/HR, (2) on-site interview with technical test, (3) On-site Superday. Overall process took 1-2 months, but a good 2-3 weeks of that was waiting to hear that I got the offer ( I know I had gotten it from the HR contact, but was waiting for the MD to make the call which occurred 2 weeks later due to his schedule).

I applied for the Valuation Associate (analyst) role. Was contact by the HR contact to schedule a 20-30 minute screener (typical walk me through your resume, why valuations, why A&M questions). After about a week or two, got an invite to come in for an on-site interview.

The first on-site interview had sections: (1) technical exam on excel, (2) interview with a Director and (3) interview with a manager. It took ~2 hours or so. The Technical exam was not that tough it you prepared for it, I studied for a more DCF exam, but it was a bit more accounting focused. My degree is in accounting, but im 2 years removed from it, and was still able to recall how to do most of it, for those that I could not answer, i just put down what I thought the approach was. Not sure if I got it right, but I got it right enough to move on to the next round. Questions included: What is Depreciation (explain it), What is Amortization (explain it), given certain assumptions project out the income statement for 5 years, if a purchase was X amount, show which accounts effects on the Balance sheet, and a few others that i cannot remember.

The interviews were mostly, if not all, behavioral. Again a lot of "why A&M", "Why Val," "What me through your resume," what are you hobbies?" type questions. I don't remember any technical if there were any it was like 5% of the interview if even.

The last round was ~ 3 hours. Here I MD, two Directors, then a 2 on 1 with a Senior Associate and an Associate (Analyst). Interview with MD was an overview of the group, its goals, etc., along with walk me through your resume. No techs, much more conversational. Director interviews were probably 70/30 in favor of behavioral questions, not a lot of techs but compared to all the other interviews to date with them, it was the most by far. Last interview was with the Associates just to get an idea of their type of work and more Associate-levee questions.