Technicals during coffee chat?

Hi, I had a coffee chat with an EB firm today. The call was going well, but 15 minutes in, all of a sudden, he cut out, then said "hey I noticed you worked at a private equity firm and listed LBO modeling as one of your skills. Walk me through an LBO."

I was scared shitless as I wasn't fully prepped yet, so I quickly pulled up the answers after stalling for ten seconds and summarized what the guide said. It did sound a little scripted, and it was very obvious I was nervous through my voice, but after, he said yeah that sounds right. He then proceeded to ask me about video games (one of my interests on resume) for like 2 minutes. And then said hey, it was great talking to you, definitely reach out if you have any other questions. I told him I'd follow up on email and he said sounds good. this was around 20 minutes in.

I'm confused as to what this means.

6 Comments
 

I'm sure some will find it controversial, but I agree (and somewhat employ) that analyst's approach when speaking with prospects. There are just so many kids reaching out at this stage in the process (getting a bit late, depending on the place though) that you need a way for additional screening. Let's face it - these coffee chats / networking calls are sort of a pre-interview. I usually press on resume items (haven't pulled out technical questions) to see how real someone is because I want to make sure you're real before passing you to other analysts.

 

Saw similar situation a couple of times as well when I was recruiting. In most cases it's like a soft screening in which they make sure you ain't BSing on resume and know some technicals. But sometimes it's just some hardos trying to make fun of college kids. Your case seems to be the former, though.

 

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