What do you mean when you say "lifestyle". Do you mean lifestyle at work? Lifestyle in general? How big of a HF are we talking about here?

Interviews should center around your analytical abilities, sector/industry knowledge (if the fund hires sector specific analysts), modelling competency, pitching stocks, why you want to work for the fund, general fit questions, etc.

 

Hours & overall quality of life. Put it this way, I am currently an M&A banker working 80-100 hrs per week. I am intelligent enough to understand pay, type of work, general environment depends on a lot of factors. But in general, are people working 7 to 7 and no weekends? In general, is there a lot of travel?

I know a lot about PE, but know far less about life and day to day of HF professionals. Very curious, and just started to get up to speed.

 
Best Response

I interviewed at a small (~$400mm aum) long/short hf for a pot MBA position last week. I can address your questions for this particular fund, but it's very hard to speak in generalities about hf's.

Interview: The only technical direct question I got was "how do you calculate FCF?", and they asked me the more generic "if I gave you a week to research a company and make an investment recommendation how would you approach it?". Other than that it was all fit/background questions.

Lifestyle: They are in the office by 630 every morning, since it's a west coast firm, but they leave by 5 most evenings and rarely work weekends. They travel 1-2 times per month while doing there due diligence on potential investments.

Sorry I can't give you much detail here. I'd like to hear some from people in the industry, and I'm sure the answers will vary a lot.

 
But in general, are people working 7 to 7 and no weekends?

7 to 7 with no weekends is a good ballpark number. This number can fluctuate depending on market conditions, but you will definately have the time and flexibility to have a life and family. We have guys that will leave early to coach their kids, play intramural sports, etc. Some guys will come in the office earlier so they can leave by 5:30pm.

In general, is there a lot of travel?

Depends on the due diligence philosphy of the fund. Generally speaking, you'll probably hit the road 2-3 times per quarter to meet management and attend various conference.

 

OK, then for those already at funds, when it comes to an interview, what are the biggest hurdles you think I would have to overcome?

My brief background:

1) Class '05 Associate in M&A at BB in NY (ranked highest in '05 class) 2) Wharton MBA, Top 30 Undergrad 3) Finance side at start-up prior to B-school (corp dev, strategy and day-to-day ops).

 

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