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Anything you can google as far as “IB interview questions” is fair game at my firm so definitely have the basic depreciation question down.
We don’t really care about deep technical financial experience for UG candidates, but you should be able to articulate why PE vs public markets. Why PE vs. IB.
You should be prepared to explain how you’ve pursued your interest in investing on your own through either hobbies, coursework, extracurriculars, etc.
In terms of case study, be prepared to walk through a paper LBO, understand the primary drivers behind returns and their levels of impact relative to each other (e.g. is it debt quantum or is it valuation that has the most impact).
If you’re interviewing at an operationally focused firm, be prepared to talk through various levers you can pull to increase revenue, lower COGS/OpEx. If you really want to stand out, be able to talk at a high level about an actual project you would recommend or data you would analyze to prove your hypothesis.
@ PE Associate 1, what’s your background. How’d you break into PE
C1, I’d call it more of a framework. If it was a cold email/LinkedIn, I would reach out and explain that I’m a consultant who’s done a brief stint in finance and wanted to get back to the fun stuff.
I’d then say I’m interested in their firm, citing specific deal news I found on website, pitch book, or some other source - noting that I’m sure there’s much more to it than gets shared via press release and that I’m genuinely curious. Then I’d finish with a proposal to chat for 15-20 minutes at their convenience to better understand their day-to-day and advice as someone who is interested in the industry. If that person has a bio on the firm website I’d try to bring in something from there too.
The challenge is being polite but punchy enough to convert to a phone call. I’d experiment to see what got the best response rate but tbh it’s a bit of a crap shoot so cast your net wide and be genuine. People know why you’re reaching out so no need to play coy but also display some politeness and acknowledge they’re doing you a favor by taking time out of their busy day.
Warm intros are the best kind of intros though. Try to get as many of those as you can and when you do, leave a good impression and always, always ask for someone else to chat with.