Interview with VP

Had a phone screen a few days ago and now have an interview next week with a VP. Are these generally behavioral or more technical? I know interviews with analysts/ASO tend to be more technical and the higher ups less so but am just trying to get a feel for what to expect given this is technically a first round. Thanks in advance for your feedback!

 

Thanks for the tips. I have the basic technicals down but anything too in depth and I’m afraid I’ll slip up. Behavioral/fit questions I have no problem with and I can make it super conversational

 

I got crushed by a Director with 45 mins of straight technicals and was completely caught off guard because I only heard on here after an/assoc the interviews are almost all behavioral questions/conversations. Luckily I had an extremely strong connection so was able to advance but likely would have been dinged otherwise for being unprepared. So I would say prepare for it like you could get hit by a complete hardo.

 
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Technicals are only hard if you only study them in isolation and don’t focus on understanding the core concepts. If you know the core accounting concepts (can you define each typical line item on the three statements, can you translate a real world event to its rightful impact (or lack thereof) on the statements?), valuation concepts (what is driving value - is a multiple of a financial metric - which brings us back to accounting 101, is a company’s innate profitability? Who gets a piece of this value - in what circumstances can we isolate the different potential stakeholders in this company’s profitability?), and understand the general framework of models (three statement projections, which flow into your DCF, a LBO, merger model with accretion/dilution) you will be able to answer any technical question. Some are cookie cutter correct answers (you can’t fuck up $10 change in deferred revenue) others interviewers are just trying to see if you know what the fuck you’re talking about or if you just spent 3 all nighters in a row trying to recite the BIWS 400 guide from memory.

This is coming from a humanities major that successfully recruited for a top BB SA, and will be going FT to a top EB, you only need like 20 hours to get the above down cold.

 

I would say that I know the direct answers for the 3 statements and how they tie together, $10 of depreciation flowing through statements, valuation methods and criteria for selecting comps, dcf walk through, ufcf, wacc calculation and defining synergies + examples and good candidates for an lbo. Outside of that and more in depth Qs I tend to struggle with. Did a lot of memorization but am not from a finance or accounting background so a lot of the true conceptual aspects I am sorta lost

 

Was in the same exact spot as you when recruiting a few weeks ago. I highly recommend just biting the bullet and purchasing the Financial Modeling Mastery course from Mergers and Inquisitions. They have lesson plans that you can watch all the relevant videos necessary dependent on how much time you have. I did their 1-week prep plan in about 3 days (was grueling, but SOOO helpful in actually explaining the concepts). From there I ran through the BIWS 400 and kept testing myself until the concepts clicked on each one. It’s $300 down the hole but if this is a top choice for you and you really want to impress in case then technicals do come through, I highly recommend using that resource. Plus the lifetime access to the entire database (very comprehensive) I feel like will give me a good basis to start full time, something to think about.

 

I actually did purchase the 300 dollar biws guide. Only have about 2 days to prep on top of the basics that I know but gonna do what I can to cram. If this one doesn’t work out I’ll keep studying till I get another chance to interview

 

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