I am asking some good questions (e.g., about hierarchy and transfer of information, how independent the role will be, etc.). What other questions can I ask to get to culture? At a sweatshop right now, can't stand to go someplace again with such hierarchical, formal, banking culture.
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"What do you like to do in your free time?"
IMO former employees is the way to go. Reach out to people on Linkedin (or through your own network) and ask them about their time there. In my experience people are much more candid in retrospect and should be able to steer you in the right direction. Plus, since they're no longer there, you can get pretty candid with your questions and concerns.
This is by far the best way and only way to make sure you are getting true insight on what company culture is like.
OP here. Fund I. No formers. Advice?
Might be a bit of a stretch but maybe ask sellside bankers? You could potentially approach folks in either sponsor coverage or industry groups they play in get a sense for personalities, how they approach processes, etc. Bankers love talking and blabbing sensitive info so I'm sure you could get some good intel. The caveat here is that cold outreach is tough and you'd either need to reach out to someone you know or get a warm intro.
Another approach could be LPs. There may be a press release or public pension report or something you could use to find them and then mine through your network to see if there's someone you can reach out to. LPs spend a ton of time evaluating personalities and teams so they should be able to give you some decent insight into what the people are like.
Lastly, if it's a new fund you could reach out to alumni of the senior folks' previous firms if you want to get a read on their personalities. May be kind of awkward to discuss a single person, but for a decision like this might as well come in armed with as much info as possible.
beware the answers you get to “when do people leave the office?” because they will say “everyone leaves around 8pm” but they leave out that people work from home until 1am.
“Do people get coffee/ hang out together?” Or something along the line.
From my experience, if you can sit for coffee, your day is probably not that fast paced/ stressful.
Yea a good a is do people grab lunch together ? At a fund I worked in, 6/10 we’d try to sit and eat lunch. At my current fund we skip everything and work
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