Principal Real Estate Investors Interview Questions

4 total interview insight submissions

Interview Experience (85%)

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.

4.3
  • Very Negative
  • Negative
  • Neutral
  • Positive
  • Very Positive
Interview Difficulty (71%)

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.

2.8
  • Very Easy
  • Easy
  • Average
  • Difficult
  • Very Difficult

Interviews at Principal Real Estate Investors

Year Position Location Group/Division Experience Difficulty
2022 Intern Des Moines Real Estate Positive Easy
2022 Summer analyst Des Moines N/A Positive Average
2019 Commercial Real Estate Analyst - Private Debt Des Moines N/A Very Positive Average
2013 Portfolio Various Real Estate Positive Average

Intern Interview - Real Estate

Anonymous employee in Des Moines

Outcome

Accepted Offer

Interview Source

Applied Online

Length of Process

Less than 1 month
Interviewed: September 2022 Date Submitted: Jun 17, 2023

Application

Group Interview
Background Check

Interview

Applied online. First interview is a 1-way. Received an invitation do a group interview shortly thereafter. Almost entirely behavioral with some basic market/technical questions. Interview lasted an hour. Great group, know what they talking about. Interview wasn't super structured, so the last 30-40 minutes is mostly just you asking questions or talking about whatever.

Interview Questions

Most people find themselves not "choosing" real estate but "falling into" it. How did you fall in.
Sample Answer

Summer analyst Interview

Anonymous interview candidate in Des Moines

Outcome

Declined Offer

Interview Source

College / University / On Campus Recruiting

Length of Process

Less than 1 month
Interviewed: September 2022 Date Submitted: Oct 24, 2022

Application

Phone Interview
Group Interview

Interview

Zoom interview with analyst and HR and then an interview with some higher ups. All pretty behavioral.

Interview Questions

Tell me about yourself
Sample Answer

Commercial Real Estate Analyst - Private Debt Interview

Anonymous employee in Des Moines

Outcome

Accepted Offer

Interview Source

Employee Referral

Length of Process

Less than 1 month
Interviewed: August 2019 Date Submitted: Aug 24, 2019

Application

Group Interview

Interview

I recently graduated college and really wanted to work for a real estate investment firm. I'm originally from Iowa so I looked into Principal Financial's real estate team. I found a couple analyst on Linkedin and sent messages to set up a call to learn about principals re team. Call went great and I stayed in touch with the guy for 6 months until a job was posted. He recommended me and I had an interview the next week with four managing directors for the private debt teams. I was offered the next morning.

Interview Questions

I spent the day before preparing for what questions I thought they might ask. TBH there was no technical questions, they were just testing me the whole time for if I have passion for real estate and if I would be a good marketer for the firm in the future.
Key questions were:
Why do you want to work in real estate?
Why are you interested in the private debt team?
Tell me a little bit about yourself.
Why do you want to live in Des Moines?
Why are you different/better than other candidates?

The rest of the time was just spent BSing with each other and getting to know each other.
Sample Answer

Portfolio Interview - Real Estate

Anonymous interview candidate in Various

Outcome

No Offer

Interview Source

Applied Online

Length of Process

Less than 1 month
Interviewed: 2013 Date Submitted: Nov 21, 2013

Application

Phone Interview
Group Interview

Interview

They seemed like really good guys. Very smart. Depending on how much they are involved with investments it may be a time suck. They were probably looking for a someone of fit. Usually at this point they have people that are all qualified it's just a matter of finding someone they one to work with on a day to day basis. I would say their Human Resources lacked knowledge of the position and the opportunity.

Interview Questions

Walk me through your resume? Why did you decide to go to this undergraduate school and get this degree? Why did you go to this particular graduate school? What interests you in this position? What do you know about what we do here? What, where, why would you invest in a particular asset class today? Give me five reasons for this decision. Do you base your decision on macro or micro reasons? What do you currently do at your position on a day to day basis. Do you know what we do on a day to day basis? Why would you leave your current position? How advanced are you in excel, Argus and other programs that are real estate related? What type of work environment do you work best in? Do you work well in an environment that lets you take on responsibility? Do you work well in an environment where you are directed to do specific tasks. Would you be willing to train interns while working here? Is pay a determinate for your employment decision?
Sample Answer