Jan 27, 2011
Goldman Sachs Principal Investment Area (GS PIA) Interview

Hello monkeys,
Does anyone have some information about GS PIA interviews for intern positions? I.e. questions asked, number of rounds, number of people, possible case study?
Also, do you know where I could find the deals done by GS PIA except on their website?
Thanks a lot for your answers!
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Comments (29)
I interviewed with Goldman real estate PIA; there were two rounds. My experience was probably unusual because the interviews were almost all fit, which could stem from the fact that it was a real estate group - pretty specialized. There were two rounds - one on campus and then a super day with four interviews and a lunch.
You will have to be lucky to find any deals done by PIA - they act like a private equity group, so there won't be much coverage unless the deal is particularly large. I'd focus much more on preparing your response to "why do you want to work in this division of PIA," but that's just my experience.
Hope this helps.
Recent GS PIA deal was the acquisition of Michael Foods (egg producer) from TH Lee.
Thanks a lot for your answers so far!
powers99, I guess your were interviewing for a summer internship and not off-cycle?
If you are looking at their "buyout group" the interviews will be very technical in nature. High stress/pressure interviews with some quick mental math required (sometimes complex). Tend to hire straight out of other GS groups.
Similar experience to powers99 with two rounds of interviews. My second round super day consisted of four 2-on-1 interviews, mainly fit questions. Best recommendation is to be yourself, be honest about all experiences (they will dig deep into everything you say), and have a memorable story for why you want to do PIA.
Vincent Van Gogh - Everyone said to him, "You can't be a great painter, you only have one ear." And you know what he said? "I can't hear you."
9 LBO Modeling Tests, 10+ hours of PE Cases and 2,447+ interview insights across 203 private equity funds. The WSO Private Equity Interview Prep Course has everything you'll ever need to break into the competitive PE industry. Learn more.
What office is this for?
REPIA interviews were entirely fit with almost no technical questions.... that was for 2nd year analyst.
Going for a final round with GS PIA SA (London). Anyone got some info how it will be different from and IBD interview when it comes to technicals?
Thanks
9 LBO Modeling Tests, 10+ hours of PE Cases and 2,447+ interview insights across 203 private equity funds. The WSO Private Equity Interview Prep Course has everything you'll ever need to break into the competitive PE industry. Learn more.
When's your interview? I had mine with them last Friday - expect lots of accounting-related questions.
Just to add some more depth, I had prepared my experiences/cv and was ready to talk principal investing in general - but I was thrown off when they skipped all of that and wanted me to talk about LBO modelling in granular detail.
GS PIA last summer in London offered... 0 full time positions. They had almost 10 interns! for the good ones, they offered a job in IBD
Final round in London. Three itw in a row with 1 or 2 employees: you can expect a lot of brain teasers and business cases, and of course the classic finance questions & motivation questions!
Do you know why they don't offer FT positions to the interns?
They interns were prob not stellar (still very good) - those groups tend to only offer FT to the best of the best... typically only giving out a few SA offers, surprise to hear almost 10 - though it was London... in NYC, almost impossible to secure a SA from PIA.
they offered 4 jobs in IBD out of the 10 SA in PIA. They didn't open a grad program this year (at least in London). Teams are too big for the deal flow and I guess they were worried with the future of PIA at GS (Volcker regulations)
.
Does anyone know if GS PIA (any industry group) has any other locations besides NYC like Los Angeles or SanFran? I believe PIA (from their website) has a tech venture fund in SF but no other mention of anything on the west coast.
Thanks for the help!
.
Does GS PIA take summers/undergrads in NY or is it just London?
Goldman Sachs REPIA Interview (Originally Posted: 09/22/2013)
I have a first round interview coming up this week. I am really interested in learning about anyone's personal experiences interviewing with GS REPIA. If you have heard anything about their process, please comment as well.
I have done interviews before with other REPEs, so I do know generally what to expect.
Thanks in advance!
Had an interview a while back. Is this for associate or UG analyst position?
Thanks for your post, wilsonjones.
This opportunity is for graduating UGs.
Even if you interviewed for an associate position, any insights you could share would be immensely appreciated.
GS REPIA Interview Prep (Originally Posted: 04/26/2010)
I have a phone interview with GS REPIA and wanted to see if anyone had any information on how I should prepare.
Anything would help, Thanks!
It's GS Real Estate Principal Investment Area (Real Estate PE Arm of GS) for any readers who do not know what REPIA is.
--Search the site because the same things apply. Know some recent Real Estate transactions, how you value land, what do you look for in RE investing, ect. I can't imagine it would get to technical, but you should at least know the background of RE investing and what to look for/not look for in a deal. What are some of the risks associated with RE?
Other than that, focus on having good answers to the fit questions. Just relax and talk to the interviewer like a person/friend.
Good luck and Congrats.
there are a ton of websites devoted to PERE specifically. alot of them require subscriptions so you'll have to get creative (google cache works for some)..
there are professional services (preqin, etc) if you have access..
find out how the markets performing.. deal flow.. who are the main players? look up RE research (JLL, colliers, etc) technical stuff like gekko mentioned would be great too..
ambition is a state of permanent dissatisfaction with the present.
Wow thanks for the great advice guys. I've been out of the recruiting grind for a while and have forgotten most of the common resources (read: Google).
Any other tips or advice from previous REPIA interviewers would help a great deal.
Thanks!
There have been a ton of threads on real estate private equity in the past few weeks, do a search or just go back a few pages. There was also a thread on an interview with Morgan Stanley Real Estate, exact same advice will apply
Edit:
Found it //www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/morgan-stanley-real...
That thread is excellent! Thanks fk.
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