Hi everyone,
Sorry in advance for the long post ->
Facing final round soon for an Investment Associate position.
Process:
One hour interview with MD
Brutal 36-hour case study
Meeting with an Investment Partner (travels a lot so will be through VC on Monday)
I was initially the sole candidate reaching this step but HH just told me that finally there will be another candidate.
I'm looking for advice here on how to succeed / perform during this kind of stages (I believe that following this round, there would be, if any, a last informal chat with another senior).
Couple of examples where I succeeded & Failed before:
Example of final round failures & Why:
RE Investment analyst - REPE Shop (2021), no experience in the industry but managed to produce an "ok" model + presentation, MD was happy and booked a final round with CEO -> CEO Destroyed me on RE mental math
= Lack of technical skills & prep
Capital Market analyst JLL (2021), no experience in the industry, people met were extremely friendly from the Associate Director I would have been reporting to to the UK head -> "We would love to work with you but we will finally go with the other candidate who is 2y experienced in the industry"
= Lack of experience
Investment Analyst - REIT (2023) - Good first interview with perfect answers to RE mental math questions + 48-hour case study smashed - final round: 2*45 mins with investment team guys, excellent feeling and positive feedback, 45 mins with one of the 2 team leaders (the other one was ooo) -> Blocked on some mental trick to work-out the land-value of a project, apart from this, great conversation.
= My bad, should have known that trick
HH Feedback: "First 2 really enjoyed meeting with you and would have liked to work with you but team lead 1 said there was a lack of RE knowledge, I know it's not the case and it's a shame it was not team lead 2 because knowing him it would have been another story"
Example of final round success & Why:
Investment analyst - REPE/Dev Shop (2021) - no experience in the industry. Met with director, then "ok" case study, then met several partners at the same time -> no traps, no math, assumed they would train me and that the key here was cultural fit, motivation and "smart" aspect of the candidate.
Did well here for 2 years and I guess success during this round is just because they liked me
Investment Associate - REPE/Operator (2023) - Met with director, 48-hour tough case study, then another meeting with director + CEO then some online assessment -> No traps, walked the CEO through my case study, gave me his vision of the market, asked fit questions...
Offer followed after some drinks with the investment team + CFO a couple of days later
Now the questions:
Do you reckon it is sometimes "impossible" to smash a final round? I feel like most of the time they already know they want to hire you or not and that it's just a simple conversation.
I have to admit that it's purely my fault to fail potential "last minute" technical questions. But if we were to put potential technical questions apart (I want to believe that I'm trained now):
What would you recommend to succeed / convince during such rounds + How do you beat the other final candidate?
Company / deals knowledge?
Smart questions?
Alignment to firm's culture (In a small shop reporting directly to the MD, avoiding telling that you love well-established structure with a staffer and continuous teamwork blabla...)
Try to share a market vision (officially your personal one) that match the firm's
Smiling (Showing him/her that it's not going to be boring to work with you all-day)
Try to move from pure technical / industry topics?
It would be awesome to get feedback on how you succeeded on last rounds and potentially feedback from people who have been convinced and how by candidates during last rounds!
I literally read your topic as "How to smash senior individuals/partners". Been on WSO too much now.
I'm sure it could be a real post title someday ahaha
but that's exactly how one smashes the final interview
I'm genuinely disappointed it isn't about that
What was the trick to figure out the land value?
Answered this question in another recent post (help on waterfall)
Jesus man - where the heck are you guys interviewing. Its fucking real estate not rocket science...
Edit to add value:
i. Have a view and conviction on a specific segment within the product type the team covers. Have data and insights to back up the view and conviction. If product type agnostic, even better, larger playing field.
ii. Be ultra prepared. Run through the conversation out loud or in your head at least a dozen times. This helps with nerves, delivery, etc. so you will demonstrate an executive presence.
iii. Don't have a dumb trendy haircut - people don't like that in real estate.
iv. Reference deal experience - the been there done that approach will potential remove doubt and possibility of tricky mental math questions. You are you deal experience.
For real what kind of psychopaths are running processes like this lol... An initial interview with the hiring manager and one or two analysts/associates, a few hour long modeling test or MAYBE a 24 hour fairly simple case study, and 30 minutes with the MD or CIO depending on size of company is more than enough to figure out if someone is a good fit.
Getting grilled by the fucking CEO on mental math and having to go for drinks with the entire team is just weird.
Thanks both.
Could not agree more CREnadian...
A lot of these processes sound pretty brutal and not like a place that treats employees well. Always remember that you are interviewing them like they are interviewing you. Anyway, for tips - just be yourself. A lot of times it comes down to fit and needs at the time. Firms that fail in hiring generally are only looking for skills, leading to turnover. So much of it is driven by fit (fortunately or unfortunately). And “fit” is subjective and firms still generally get it wrong. Just be yourself. And keep going for at bats. Once you get at bat enough, the fruit will eventually fall from the tree and you can catch it (get a job).
When you get to final rounds, it is almost always about fit. This is mostly soft skills at this point.
If it was technical you would of gotten dinged in Analyst/associate rounds or during the case study.
This is where they are trying to measure if you fit with the group, are willing to work hard to fill whatever gaps they see, and how long you will stick around.
The only way to smash it is to leave all of their questions answered. Wether that is having a hobby that they enjoy too and you can connect over, your willingness to stay late and get the job done, to move/relocate, etc.
Good luck
Again ,thanks both!
I'm preparing myself to tick all the boxes based on the sole interaction I had with the MD. I'll obviously let them drive the conversation but aiming to talk about the following points:
- IB Standards from a work/delivery perspective: These guys are previous bankers / traders, and see RE investments as the place to be atm with the capital they can access to rather than pure property entrepreneurs. Perhaps that would explain the crazy case study. I was reporting to a well known previous IB exec in my previous fund, we really get along well, Should I mention his name and previous position + the fact that he's more than happy to be called regarding references?
- Autonomous, available 24/7, as it is a small firm and no other juniors around, I think they want someone they can rely on (same as previous role reported directly to founder & partners)
- Potential relocation was mentioned, preparing a brief on how stunning that could be in the aforementioned country
- Preparing brief and questions on assets covered in the UK + market vision on the 2 other european countries they cover
- Maybe some questions about potential diversification and similar trends, was thinking about stuff like this if there is the opportunity to talk about it:
They invested and are still expending in Student Housing in the UK
"We know that PBSA performance is driven by demographic rather than economic shifts (which is great during a challenging economic backdrop) It is also the case for senior housing (independent or assisted living with a list of reasons I could develop) which also gets a lot of traction in the UK and that I was covering during my past role, is it of any interest for you"
I'll try to show a combination of motivation, knowledge, humility and "humanity" if I can say (smiling, laughing if it can happen, ideally talking about hobbies...)
Thanks again all!
It's an interview, why are you overthinking it? A partial reason you haven't secured your final rounds is probably because you're over thinking it. Why are you even thinking about name dropping someone as "prep"....
Talking about this person to the interviewer + mention he's available for reference as he was my previous boss and as they may have worked together during their IB career. Total nonsense to drop his name here.
By dropping your ego
Having some humility
And being a nice person, and treating people you perceive below you with respect
Agreed, it's even more important on a daily basis I would say!
Did OP get the job?
Interview went well but managing partner is traveling a lot, he will be discussing with other partners abroad on Friday, will hear about them early next week.
Good news tends to travel quick, good luck / maybe you heard back on Friday
Good news OP?
Someone else mentioned treating the people "below you" with respect - can't echo this enough, we routinely ask office managers or lower level employees who interact with interviewees, even for a few seconds, for their opinions.
Also, have an interest outside of real estate or finance. If I'm interviewing someone, the last fucking thing I want is a person who has absolutely nothing to talk about beyond real estate and something superficial like whatever sports game was on the night before. Being competent at your job, and interested in keeping abreast of what is going on, is fantastic. But we're going to be spending a lot of time together, and while I can only speak for myself, I want to know that there is an interesting conversation in our future at a happy hour event, or in the car on the way to a meeting, or whatever.
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