Tell Me About Yourself for buyside?
Hi all,
Hoping to get some advice on the initial resume walk/tell me about yourself question. Know there’s a lot of good info out there for undergrads headed to IB, but wondering how much this changes when recruiting for HF/PE as an IB analyst.
As an interviewer at a fund, what do you see as most important for a candidate to touch on? Would it be smart to touch on any personal interests to make it more personable, or is it better to keep it concise and get into your investing interest / professional experience right after giving a brief background on where you’re from? Is ~2min appropriate?
Any other advice also very much appreciated!
Keep it concise (2-3 minutes should be fine). Would lead off with a few sentences about your where to you went to school, how you got into banking, before spending the rest of the time talking about your professional experience (what group you're in, why you chose that group, deals you've worked on) and end with why you are looking to move to PE/HF (want to think more like investor, interested in ops side of PE, etc.).
2-3 min fine (probs closer to 2 min). There are three goals in my mind and things that I as an interviewer subconsciously look for/impressed by:
1. Maturity/thoughtfulness. Candidates who walked me through their steps to end up in IB and why PE/HF vs. just listing out (e.g. I went to Michigan and got an offer at JP vs. I went to Michigan for their business program and sports and decided to join JP bc I thought I could get a well rounded exp across m&a, debt, and equity) came off more polished and likable.
2. Deals. Instead of listing out all the deals, I always found it helpful for candidates to list one or two and tell me some takeaway (e.g. worked on transportation and given XYZ firm has good presence in the space, think it’s a good fit). It also allows me to ask questions about those deals vs. rushing to read thru the resume to pick something out.
3. Personality/interests. I think some candidates do a good job peppering in personalities/interests. No need to force this in, but some candidates who have something impressive to say could bring it up or something just personal (e.g., went to Duke not only bc of academics but I love basketball and play with friends whenever I can)
Really helpful answers in this thread. I'll add that you should prep a few different versions of your answer to this question depending on who/how you're being asked it. I've had PMs interview me who wouldn't give a crap about my other interests and only care about how early I started thinking about stocks, so I tailored what I said to that. I've also had interviews with HR where it's clear that they want to know more about all my other interests than anything work related. Just use your discretion. Good luck!
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