Land a PE job without interview guides?
My friend is probably one of the more intelligent people I know. Absolute tank. HS valedictorian, great uni, had a 4.0, finance major, top bucket in our mm bank both years etc.
She wants to recruit into PE, but doesn’t think purchasing any modeling or interview guides is worth it. She says she understands investing and knows how to build complex LBOs and other models based on what he learned on the job and in undergrad. I honestly believe it but would this be the recommend path?
I thought I was only able to barely get an offer after rigorously reviewing and practicing from these guides and templates, and like many others, had also gotten turned down from dozens of places even with all the practice. Any thoughts?
Some people are just stubborn and prefer the struggle bus over the proven easier path.
Know someone similar, friend's sister just refuses to take antibiotics or over the counter meds every time she gets a cold/flu, prefers to just heal on her own lol. When covid came around, she was the only person in our friend group who never took a vaccine and just missed out on so many social and other opportunities because of it.
I know someone who is the exact same, would just take 5 days off from work at a time because they didn't believe in over the counter medication. Then everyone else had to pick up after their work
Perhaps this person is now looking like the smartest person in the group for not having taken the vaccine.
Maybe because antibiotics don’t do anything for a virus
Anti-viral medications help with viruses, and so do other medicines from the pharmacy that your doctor prescribes to you. Disclaimer: this is not medical advice. I'm a doctor but not your doctor.
Wow that's ... interesting
I really can't see any reasons why any driven, efficient or intelligent person wouldn't want to prep using these guides. I have no predilection to suggest one path over another but they actually taught me a lot more about investing & general finance stuff that I had learned in school or on the job.
Any tips on courses or guides that helps you?
Partly arrogance and probs a genuine belief they don’t need it
Partly arrogance and probs a genuine belief they don’t need it
Lol it’s possible. The PE courses are a pretty widely known and accepted set of guides that basically everyone generally found helpful for recruiting.
Of course one can take the route of no study guides or model exams, but I’d bet money that most who do that approach wouldn’t get into PE that way.
O c'mon do you really believe that? Everyone studies off these guides... It's like that kid in your HS who would say they didn't "study more than 1 week" for their SATs but you know they've been aiming to achieve a good score and been studying for a long time for it. Your friend probably has been prepping really hard and putting in more effort than you think or give credit for. People who are smart tend to like to work smart/be efficient too, from what I've generally noticed.
Yeah honestly that makes more sense, I would imagine your friend put a lot of effort into prepping. It’s just what’s needed to get into PE. I’ve probably done over 20 different timed exams before even doing my first modeling test. 30+ interviews later over two years and I finally got an offer
Yeah just let your friend know they can probably benefit from learning from interview guides. PE is very difficult to interview for even for some of the brightest people I know
On the topic of interview / modelling guides, can anyone recommend any?
Specifically looking for anything which is free and does a good enough job to break in. Don’t need anything with all the bells and whistles as this (imo) is not needed to break into PE
best free one is someone else's peak login
They don't sound as smart as you think they are
Not to be an ass here but I got my MMPE and HF gigs without going through a bunch of interview guides. Had access to some model tests/guides through my group in IB and took a spin through but candidly didn’t do a ton of prep. And neither did the people in our group either and yet we all placed at respected MM and MF groups.
If you understand an industry and generally what it takes to be a decent investor then you can get a good job.
Studying from interview guides and modeling tests were definitely helpful in my recruiting process.
It takes a lot of effort to prep for these interviews. Without practice exams and questions, you wouldn’t really know how to prepare for these interviews. Just the modeling test alone comes down to tons of practice, repetition, and getting to a speed you’re comfortable with etc.
Probably a number of ways to frame it.
PE recruiting, even if you’re really smart and solid, is tough and there are limited spots. If everyone else is arming themselves with good reference materials, why wouldn’t you? Why put yourself at a disadvantage?
If cost is her concern - then just opportunity cost. Guides are what, like $500+? They help save you time and may show you situations you haven’t come across. So if they help you land your dream job, then it’s a drop in a bucket. And if you don’t get your top job, then at least you know you did everything you can and can readjust + use guides and your experience towards the next opp. If you just do it on your own and you don’t land the job(s), would you be bothered wondering if only you had studied a different way?
There are some stuff for free or probably passed down between analysts over the years. So she can at least look into that.
This is such a good point. I should explain to my friend this way
First off, if she's at a MM she ain't that intelligent. Also, I got multiple MF SA offers when I was recruiting without paying for any guides, so it's definitely feasible.
All the MM folks are out here fighting for their lives lmao.
She's a woman who has 10,000 diversity pipelines and she's at an MM. I know some absolute dumbasses from non-targets who end up in very solid BB and EB groups just for having tits. She genuinely isn't that smart if she only is at an MM.
The opportunity cost of not getting into PE after a person wraps up 2 year banking stint = ?
The cost of interview prep guides / model tests = ?
Yeah it's pretty damn hard to argue with the math. The guides aren't expensive, and they're highly useful with great insights. Programs usually are a few hundred bucks, and if you're already working in IB/Consulting this should be pretty easy. Most people I know who got into PE recommend to read through 1-2 guides and do dozens of model exams at the very minimum. That's just how it goes.
Your friend is a moron, you don’t know what you don’t know. How can she honestly claim she doesn’t need the guides without knowing what’s in them?
Great respect for people who wing it, but at least admit you’re winging it
Get the ones you can for free. Maybe buy one good one if you feel it’ll get you an edge. Once you work in PE you’ll make multiple interview guides salary worth per day
also what are the odds your very studious and well prepared friend will not be very studious and well prepared all of a sudden? Sounds like b/s ‘oh I didn’t study for the test’ and then get a perfect score type nerd
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