Basically above^^^ i am coffee chatting some people next week but have only started skimming the guide so my technicals are a little cooked
Was wondering what the odds of being asked a technical are during early stage coffee chats?
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Before we even get in line for coffee, I always ask them to walk me through how a $10 change in depreciation in the third year of a hold period would impact IRR in an LBO. That way, I know if I should just turn around and go back to the office
Almost none unless super-hardo person. Most of the time, at least for most juniors I know, coffee chats are a way to escape from actual work while still "working". Most people at the junior level won't be asking you technical questions for networking.
You control the coffee chat. If you ask hardo questions, you will get treated as a hardo and there is a chance they grill you on things. Just try to do something interesting over the next couple days so you can talk about that during the conversation and they don't think you're a lame. Dress well, shave, haircut if necessary.
When I recruited I never got asked a technical but it was very common for them to ask me for an industry trend, especially if you're chatting people in a coverage group - expect to have conversations on that. When I chatted people in tier 2-3 cities, it was also very common for them to ask me why I wanted to work there
Non-zero, also a couple hardo firms treat coffee chats as 1st rounds
Dirty secret of coffee chats is that they are effectively all first rounds. The way it works for vast majority of banks at targets is that we have trackers where we rate all the candidates we talked to. Ratings aren't the end all be all and there's also a round table but they play a huge role. Source: am recruiting captain for my target at my bank.
Yes of course, I was just talking about the ones where they legit ask full blown technicals and the coffee chat isn't a chat at all
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