"Tell me about an investment you've worked on"
I've been doing a few phone interviews for analyst positions, and noticed that I almost always get asked a question like "Tell me about a real estate investment you've worked on at _____ firm". I'm more than capable of answering this given a few minutes, but since these have been phone interviews, time is limited and the interviewer is generally looking for concise answers.
My question is, how would you answer this in 1-2 minutes without omitting important information?
You can always preface before answering with a "feel free to stop me at any point if you have any questions" and start going into the deal details. Where's it's located, type of asset, deal size, challenges/strengths/weakness of the deal, how it was structured (don't have to disclose partners identities, just say "big pension fund/s), how the negotiation process went and if you were there long enough, how it ended up performing. I'm sure you can say all that under 2 minutes, and if the interviewer is curious, which is likely the case, they probe further.
I put all my major transaction highlights on my resume, so I will likely just talk about those deals.
This should be like the executive summary of an OM. A major deal's highlights to get someone interested in reading more. 1-2 minutes tops so you're not droning on endlessly about tricky formulas and the need to blah blah blah....but give them enough meat to ask more questions. OP, you said it - you know it needs to be concise.
If you need practice crafting the story, maybe verbal vomit onto a Word document and start trimming and peeling back the information that isn't important or that you could recite more succinctly. Imagine it like a first message on LinkedIn where you have 300 characters. You start to choose your wording very carefully if you're trying to elicit a response.
Anyone can spit out stats about a project...all that tells an interviewer is that you know basic facts about a deal, which is meaningless. I would spend maybe 20 seconds on the stats, only to contextualize a real story about a specific challenging issue or issues you encountered, what you personally did to resolve it, and what impact that effort had on the project.
Bonus points if there is a funny story
Okay, so no offense to the other commentators, but really only @Ricky_Rosay 's response is the one I would follow. Reading out an OM or transcript of a deal would put me to sleep, even it was a legit interesting deal.
This is an open ended question to get you talking, specifically about your work experience. The goal is is talk about yourself, what you can do, what you want to do, why you are good at it...... and most importantly why you are the best for the job you are being interviewed.
I think you should practice about 5 "stories" that you have in your mind, somewhat rehearsed, and ready to deploy for questions like this and other broad open end questions (i.e. the ones that start "tell me about a time when...." and all its variants). The stories should you at your best, but also demonstrate your interests/passions, and where/when you have overcome challenges. Go soft on any "humble brags" or "rags to riches" unless it is super legit. The goal is to talk about things you are actually passionate about and like to talk about. The skill is to quickly see how the question can be best answered by one of the stories then build the opening and bridge to where you tell the story.
These "stories" can be from work/internships, clubs/organizations (professional or student), and even personal life (like the mission trip to save orphans, not getting drunk in Cancun). I think you should just find the best ones that show you off. If you are engaging, its okay to "run on" a bit in an answer. Short boring questions where you stop talking too soon are awful and uncomfortable. Interviews hate having to draw the answers out of you, its painful. This is not like some lawyer or investigator doing an interrogation or deposition (which is what if feels like if your goal is to "not fuck it up"), instead think of it more like a first date with someone you like and think you actually have a chance with, look for the opportunity to score points.
YOU have to sell yourself, and a question like the one the OP referenced is an open ended invitation to set up the close.
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