Candidate decision funnel

Hi friends - continuing my seagull posting here. A question for the more experienced, on behalf of a friend*: in final round interviews in PE for more senior lateral candidates (VP/principal), when you're typically interviewing with senior members of the fund, what does the competitive set usually look like? In other words, how tight does the funnel typically get by the end? Any insight on what is being tested would also be helpful.

My guess is that usually the funnel is down to 2 people going heads up, sometimes just one candidate, depending on the proceedings prior. My experience from portfolio company settings is that typically the final round would involve just one candidate since the CEO rarely wanted to spend the time on more than that once the team had approved...

*Yes, I know, but really.

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