I interviewed with tons of PE funds here in Europe, some more well known (e.g., US megafunds) some very strong regional names (e.g., Triton, Nordic) and some very local/small funds (i.e., 1bn fund size).
I ended up with two offers in the mid-cap space, but eventually did not take them after a couple of days considerations.
I wonder if my MBB background makes me kind of soft vis a vis bankers, but the majority of these processes felt so extremely weird/intense, that when I interviewed for other roles (e.g., corp. dev, restructuring, corp. strategy, PE ops) I was completely flabbergasted, how 'normal' people can be vs. the PE crowd. Like literally having interviews I genuinely enjoyed.
Would say the majority of my interviews were with completely soulless counterparts. I met different archetypes:
a) Those for which the interviews seemed an inconvenience (VP/Principal): they were often dialing in late and then acting like they did not know why they are even in the call "oh uhm, ya, so let me look at your CV" with a complete lack for any social norms (e.g., introducing themselves) and a rather soulless/cookie-cutter persona - i.e., when it came to the phase of me asking questions to them they gave the most generic answers
b) Those that presented the absolute hardos: never met such arrogant and unsymphatetic people in my life; one of them was even from my MBB - I am not sure if they are LARPING in this interview to look tough, but they tried to present themselves as these super hard/tough guys who work around the clock and are doing gods work
c) Those that seemed actually nice: those were like the needle in a haystack but I would say in every other process there were like 1-2 normal persons where you would ask yourself how they end up working with the other a****.
I wonder if all of that is just a interview-schtick but goddam, how would you survive if those are your superiors on a project?
I agree plenty of assholes in PE. And totally unadjusted people. Obviously people should introduce themselves. Obviously they should try to be on time, but there are plenty of circumstances where someone is justifiably late (note: I’ve never been late myself but if I’m stuck on a call with my boss you can bet I stay on that one vs dropping because I need to interview an Associate 1).
But I would say you need to get real and off your pedestal. I’m probably half way in your (a) example as I don’t review CVs before. Why would I spend time looking at your CV before and then apparently need to memorise it of some sorts in your view? I used to, but they all look the exact same they are honestly pointless beyond being a very crude filter, and I see so many candidates that you’re impossible to distinguish. ANOTHER Boconni, HEC, JPM candidate?? Honestly where do they find them. Nowadays these white shoe advisory institutions are far too large to signal quality beyond an ability to be diligent / self motivated
I use the CV as a crutch to have some starting point for the conversation and ease you into the interview but honestly other than that it’s entirely useless. I’ll try to answer your questions at the end but if it’s another ‘how did you experience your transition from x to y’ or ‘how operationally hands on are you’ or ‘how do you split your time’ and you’ve already failed the interview and I have a ton of other shit to do I’m not going to try to host a Ted Talk
That contrast between consulting backgrounds and the PE interview vibe is so accurate. A lot of interviewers lean heavily into that intense, high-pressure persona, making it hard to tell if it is just a stress test or a preview of the actual culture on the deal team.
That's strange - some PEs are quite friendly and hire a lot of MBB to balance having just ex-IBers. Some other funds only look for those with IBs, but anecdotally, if funds have a lot of seniors who were ex MBB, they tend to be quite favourable to hiring from that pipeline.
Sounds like a mismatch between your background and the culture / focus of the firms you were targeting. Listen to yourself on which interviews felt more natural. People you could actually work with day to day. Yeah coming from MBB I'm sure you could put up with any fund for some time but if you're looking for somewhere to dig in, make an impact over 5-10+ years, don't make yourself miserable. There are funds and strategies that will play well with your style.
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