Credit investment interviews?

I think there's a big difference between the way a private debt/direct lending place invests vs a fixed income asset manager. 

Direct lending is deal/event-based, bottom up research investing. So here the interview process goes along the lines of your ability to conduct dd, analyse the business/market and model while also managing the process and relevant documentation. Interviews are very PE-like, so you need to be able to discuss previous deals similarly but focus on credit story rather than equity story.

That's likely a bit different from the analysis you'd have to do for investment grade credit, where by default financials are better so there are fewer attention points. 

CLOs seem to have both capital markets-like characteristics as well as the deeper fundamental research you see in direct lending, because they participate in both primary syndications (as takers) but may also be looking at opportunities with the secondary market (more asset manager like). So here you get more of the general fixed income concepts such as relative value etc. 

So see what your skillsst is closer to and what you're interested. Many funds do all 3 but I assume the teams and the interviews differ a lot. It's too hard to prep for all so narrow it down.

That's coming from a lev fin analyst with some interview exp in DL. So I am interested in what others may have to say.