Have been in acquisitions roles but have not done a lot of actual UW
Hey guys have been in two acquisitions roles in the last 2 years, but have not done much actual UW. I can tell if YoC, IRR, EM would generally makes sense and when it's low or high for given strategy but in these roles I've UW maybe 5 assets if I am lucky. Just due to the environment and lack of deal flow it seems, but day to day in one role I was solely focused on gathering DD from brokers as a junior and would look at the overall market (many deals like 5-10 a week for DD) but the senior person there was very bad about teaching and going over things in a timely manner so I was mainly doing that without any we think this deal is good because of x or y - it may also have been high interest rates so not actually\ buying anything.
I left for my second role which is more general across acquisitions, development, and AM. Again now due to markets it seems it's more focused on the second two areas which is still good experience.
I am just worried going into possible set next interviews in the future people are going to say you say you have two years of acquisitions experience but don't have many deals if any that went anywhere. In the past I've had a deal we looked at to talk about, but it was kind of made up in terms of returns and what we looked at to answer any questions they had (ie PP was x, reno was y, liked market bc xyz, debt was generic %, returns were xyz, we did deal because of x). I just feel behind on actual UW experience and looking at deals even though I am in acquisitions roles because someone more senior would always do it and if I go to more senior roles I don't really have any relevant UW experience analysts would get despite being in these roles.
I understand the fear and concern behind the question... but what the hell do you, or anyone else, expect? If an interviewer asks this question, you should tell them the honest truth - that you've worked on deals but nothing went through. You, specifically, aren't in a position to execute on a deal, and even if you found a home run, you have no wherewithal to close, so what does someone expect from you? Take the context of the last 15 months or so out of it - you're a junior employee!
I mean, maybe you gussy up the answer a little bit, but if someone genuinely asks you that question the answer should be "what the fuck do you expect me to do about it?" Honestly, I'd find it to be a huge red flag if your interviewer asks you why your deals haven't gone anywhere - someone who doesn't understand the answer to that question with 3 seconds of reflection is not going to be a good person to work for.
To be fair no one's taking points away because of that, but every deal I can talk about is we looked at this but didn't move forward. Even on the sales side because I was at a shitty firm, so over a few years no real live deal experience except a refi that closed.
They just ask about a deal I've worked on or closed and I feel somewhat unprepared so I need to overprepare a fake scenario basically.
I’m in a similar boat. Currently not interviewing but here’s how I would tackle the question instead of make up a scenario.
1. use a deal that you spent the most time on and feel comfortable talking about
2. talk about what you did and learned
3. then close with what you think happened to the deal or what would’ve made it work
Acquisitions is all about communicating a thesis and story.
This isn't the point of those questions, though. Instead of preparing a "fake scenario" talk about why you think your previous employer didn't move forward on those deals, and how that will inform your perspective as an underwriter going forward. To reiterate: no one really cares about deals you've closed, because you didn't have any decision making power and ultimately didn't do much, even if you guys were closing a dozen deals a month. What your interviewer wants to know is "how much hand holding does this guy need? What does he know?" Maybe they want your perspective on the market, maybe. So making something up is going to get you nowhere.
Having an intelligent response about what kind of deals your firm targets, and why it's been tough to hit metrics well enough to close on anything, will be more impressive than making up some fake deal or fake resolution to a deal
It's not necessarily fake, I more say this is a deal we've looked at and explain what you've said. I'm around 3-4 years out of undergrad so not very early but still.
Makes sense, it's more can they hit the ground running and have a general knowledge of the market.
Its slow AF everywhere for Acquisitions, you aren't the only one who is doing nothing
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