How many processes to convert to offer?

How many processes is normal to do before you land an offer? I've done 3-4 processes now and gotten far but haven't converted yet. Getting more comfortable / more process experience every time and can answer questions better but can't seem to convert yet... Is this normal? What is a normal amount of processes people do before you land one?

 

People don’t appreciate that recruiting is TOUGH outside of very structured processes (OCR, PE Associate jobs, post MBA). If you aren’t in those you have to kiss a lot of frogs usually while working full time. 

For perspective when I recruited for my second job with three years experience, I did probably 15 initial interviews and got to final round stage for 4-5 opportunities before getting an offer. This was over ~6 months and definitely learned a lot about how to present myself and my experience along the way. As long as you’re getting good feedback and have been in the running (ie aren’t clearly recruiting for something that’s a mismatch) you’re due to convert soon! 

 

Thanks, this is really helpful and gives me hope. You always only hear about the successes so it's hard to know what people actually went through to land the job!

 
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@pe-biz-dev is spot on
 

Similarly for PE aso role took me interviews with 20+ companies (I believe as high as 25-30; non traditional background but learned as I went along) over a year to 1.5yr, and then I got some fantastic advice, it clicked, and I got two offers at two elite funds right after.

The advice was to never get technicals wrong and also learn a lot about the funds strategy and portcos so that you can come with questions that you could not answer just from internet research

On this topic I have say to all who will listen: CPI gave me chance after chance and them believing in me was a critical part of landing my job. They are the only HH I met with that felt human and not strictly mercenary.

 

Thanks, this is really encouraging to read. What would you say is the thing you did to put in practice to never get technicals wrong? I feel like there's always a chance of getting a curve ball you haven't seen before and don't go through it as perfectly as could?

How did you manage the relationship with headhunters after you didn't get one? Did some of them stop sending you good opportunities and how did you recover from that?

 

My experience for what it's worth:

Took 30 or so first rounds to get my first PE offer. From those 30 first rounds I probably made 20 or so second rounds and 5 final rounds. I had several experiences where I came out unsure of what I could've done better to progress/land the offer. I do regret not being broader from a strategy standpoint earlier on (used to focus exclusively on middle market PE), vs also targeting other strategies like credit/coinvest etc. 

I have since worked with some of the sponsors who rejected my candidacy and am sometimes surprised by the lack of "rocket science IQ" at some of the blue chip sponsors....so would def say there is a high degree of luck of the draw in who lands these spots since odds are that 30 percent plus of the candidate pool is capable of handling excel models and PPT memos...keep pressing on and you should eventually land something good

 

1. Just be more thorough and study more to the point that there are no curve balls (hard pill to swallow but this advice helped me greatly)

2. Some stopped entirely. Some had "poor interview refractory periods". The key is to level with them. I once emailed the HH that ultimately placed my job saying "I realize that didn't go well. I understand the caliber of performance needed. Please bear with me; I assure you that I'm taking it seriously and am putting in the time to study now that I realize... yadda yadda yadda."

 

I lateraled from a LMM to a MF so I already had a great understanding of PE and how to model and I only applied to this one job. With that said, yes I grinded for 5 straight weeks on weekends until I completed the superday. No going out. Model tests 100 times. Prepping thorough answers about my closed deals. Bought a new suite and got the flow chopped off. I had never been more motivated in my life and it all paid off! You can do it if you want it badly enough!

 

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