Hi guys, I will have a first round interview with a PE fund (aum 7B+) recruiting at our school a couple weeks later.
I just wanted to know what to expect for this interview. Would it be similar to ib interviews or is there anything else I should focus on? I know my LBO stuff decently but I was wondering if there were any other aspects I should prepare for.
Thanks for the advice and input!
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Depends on the PE firm, what firm?
PE Growth Internship Interview (Originally Posted: 06/08/2014)
Hey guys, I'm a sophomore finance major at a non-target. My GPA is >3.5 and I have prior but unrelated finance experience. I got fairly lucky and landed an interview for an internship at a reputable growth PE firm by applying online through my school's career center. I've researched the firm quite a bit more since getting the interview and learned that I have a few alumni connections at the firm, including the guy with whom my interview is scheduled.
I'm currently preparing for my interview and since it's an internship position, I'm wondering how technical the interview will be? I expect the interview will be very fit-oriented, but I wanted to see what you guys thought so I can do more preparation for technical questions if I need to.
I've searched for this topic, but most of the discussion about PE interviews was for Pre- and Post-MBA associate positions. Thanks in advance for any insight you guys can offer!
Yeah it should mostly be fit honestly, but have a look at things like the stock market and know where it is and have like a 5 second view. On the Firm's webpage, is there a list of investments they've made/deals they've done? Or can you google it? (ie. Blackstone invests in... or Blackstone 2013 or 2014 investment or...) Maybe if you can look something up like that and ask some questions about a company that sounds interesting to you and why they did it, what they like about it etc? So ie. if they invested in Nike, why that rather than Reebok or Adidas etc? How did they source the deal? Did they cold call? Did they know someone? How long did it take, diligence and all? What do they think the risks are? What do they like about it. Maybe you look up a publicly listed company in the same space (ie. industry) and read up for like 30 minutes on it (just the basic business, profit margins etc - all of this is either in the 10-k annual filing or you can figure it out (ie. net income/revenues *100) = net income margin etc.
In short, I don't know but these are just some ideas. Hopefully you do just fine in the fit. They will not (or should not) expect you to know much so don't throw try to throw out random terms in an attempt to impress them. Just be a nice person who will show that you'll be nice to have in the office, will work hard and are interested in what they do (hopefully the above shows that).
EDITED TO ADD - be sure to ask them questions early as well to get them talking about themselves so that takes up time. You almost never make a bad impression if the guy/gal starts rambling on about themselves and smiles. Things like "how did you get here? what was your path" or something helps a lot. Or deals that they've done. Or what they like most about what they do etc.
Good Luck
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