Private Equity Interview Questions - 13 Topics to Know
私募股权工作是金融中最令人垂涎的职位。这就是为什么不到1％的申请人最终得到这项工作的原因。该指南的目标是 - 如果您按照其指示 - 将您的几率从1％处大幅提高，以便您可以找到私募股权梦想的工作。
Guide to Questions in a PE Interview
You can expect these types of questions during your private equity interviews:
- Fit Questions
- 案例分析
- Deal Experience
- LBOModeling
- Technical Questions
- Behavioral Questions
You can prepare for every one of these types of questions. If you want to land the coveted position in private equity, then you better be ready to put in the hours to prepare for all of these questions and cases.
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private equity interview preparation for Fit Questions
Here are some examples of fit questions:
- Why private equity?
- Tell me about yourself.
- Walk me through your resume.
- What makes you a good teammate?
- 你的优势和弱势是什么？
All of these questions will pop up invariably as you go through your PE interview, so how do you ace them?
There are two aspects to answering these questions flawlessly. First, know your story and tell it like a master bard. When they ask you about yourself, they're judging whether they would want to work with you.这些问题ns hold serious weight; use them to make yourself a desirable coworker.
Second, have a few backup stories in mind. Stories that effectively portray you as a good teammate, a problem-solver, a go-getter. Have these stories and apply them to whatever the interviewer is asking you.确保您的履历与这些相加，并查看WSO的免费Private Equity Resume Templatefor more.Tell them with confidence, clarity, and relevance, and you'll be putting yourself in good territory.
私募股权案例访谈分析
This was originally posted by @TheKing". This post has been edited and formatted.
在您的大部分采访中，您将被要求走进案例研究。那么什么是案例研究？
While it varies from firm to firm, here's what it generally will look like.
- You get a copy of a CIM (Confidential Information Memorandum), usually from an old sell-side process.
- In my interview process, I ended upcreating a two-page memo that more or less condensed the important parts of the CIM, analyzed the pros/cons of the business, and included a SWOT analysis.
- So how do you ace this aspect of the interview? Remember, you're trying to determine whether or not the target company is a good candidate for a leveraged buyout.
Factors to Consider in the PE Case Interview
Below the OP reviews the factors that you should consider when completing your private equity case study in interviews.
- 历史和预计的增长和盈利能力：
Ensure that the company will beable to handle the additional debtbrought on through an LBO while also providing for a强劲的投资回报through growth in revenue and profitability.
- Diversity of Customers & Products of Target Company:A company might have strong financials at first glance, but you'll want to确保它们不会过分集中在一个产品区域或一个客户中。如果有明显的集中注意力，可以说，它最好证明它具有粘性的客户关系。
- Differentiating Factors of The Business:This ties in with profitability and customers/ products.Does the target company have specific technology or processes that will enable them to continue to growand maintain margins going forward or are they susceptible to margin erosion as competition increases?
- Industry Focus for the Target Business
Is the company in a growing industry? How will it handle potential economic turmoil? How well is the target positioned in its industry? Is it a leader?
- Strength of Management for Target CompanyWhat's the management team like? Is it a founder-owned business? Has the team been together a long time? How built out is the team?
The strength of the management team is very important, and it plays a particularly important role in the middle market.通常，您会查看拥有非常瘦的管理团队的公司。或拥有希望兑现并在公司中扮演较小角色的公司。这些案例使PE公司通过将坚实的专业人员纳入管理角色来潜在地增加价值。
- Exit Potential and IRR for Target Company公司可以是绝对的摇钱树，但you'll need to be able to exit the investment at some point over a reasonable time frame(generally five years) in order to generate a suitable return on investment for your investors. You'll want to have some ideas as to where suitable buyers might come from.
- Closing QuestionsNow, reading a CIM will get you pretty far. You'll learn a great deal about the target company, its growth prospects, its industries, and its alleged upside potential.The CIM is a sales document.So, while you can glean a ton of useful information from a careful read-through of a CIM, you'll also want to have something of a skeptical eye. Invariably, you'llhave questions and concerns that you'd like to raise with management in the next round of the sell-side process.
Here are a few examples of questions you might ask.
- 您的公司面临的最大挑战是什么？
- Who are the most important members of your team and why?
- What are your company's pain points, and how can we help to address them?
This is a great time to come up with specific questions based upon issues you uncovered in your read-through of the CIM.
Private Equity Interview - Deal Experience
This was originally posted by @Candor", a private equity associate. This post has been edited and formatted.
- I will say that the three biggest areas to focus on are, first and foremost, the deals on your resume, secondly understanding everything there is to know about an LBO (on a theoretical and conceptual level), and third, being able to walk through paper lbos/case studies.
- In some of my interviews, we got REALLY granular into my deal experience, and it was good that I had prepped so thoroughly. So, you have to know everything about them.
- 由于交易经验大约占面试过程的三分之一，因此准备工作至关重要。Read about your deal and understand every facet of it,在order to best prepare yourself for when the questions inevitably come.
- Read websites/articles about your deal and take notes. Read initiating coverage reports on the two companies involved in one of your deals. Read comprehensive research reports on the sub-industry that the companies are from.
More PE Interview Questions
For more threads on detailed answers to private equity interview common questions and top-notch answers, check out ourTop FAQ page's PE section here.
- Answering Why Private Equity?
- WSO's Private Equity Resume Template
- Private Equity vs. Venture Capital
Interested in Private Equity? Here's What You Need to Break In
Private equity recruiting is ten times more cut-throat than anything you've ever experienced before. If you want to break into private equity, you need to be well-practiced in the technical aspects of the interview.
评论 （41)
I had a recent an interview for a relatively largePEfund (think First Reserve or Hellman Friedman) and I received - for the most part - pretty easy questions. The questions that I kept getting were ones that they used to judge your technical skill; they were "Walk me through a few deals you worked on...your role, how did you model the deal, what were the expected synergies etc..." They also wanted some of the figures(7xEBITDAor 2.5 Price/Book ratio)and the kind of terms you had in the deal (did you use PIK toggles?).
No one asked me any technicals duringPE在terviews -- but I am a consultant so YMMV. Typical questions were more around the cases I had worked on. i.e. 'How do companies in X industry make money?'
I'm not in the industry, but for guys in groups that have limited to noLBOmodeling exposure, can they still interview atPEfirms? Do most firms test you on your modeling skills?
I was asked to expand upon the questions I saw as a consultant interviewing at top middle market shops. I would say 90% of the questions were one of the following:
-Why PE?
-Investment-focused cases (a lot like consulting case interviews, but more along the lines of 'How would you think about investing in company X?)
-Walk me through your resume
- 告诉我关于您工作的案例X
- 告诉我公司如何在X行业中赚钱（X是我有很多经验的行业）
——你觉得有任何inve的机会stment in industry X? What are they?
-When can you start?
-Are you sure you want to move to city X?
Well this is an old thread...but I have a couple of questions.
Whats a good response from a consultant ...when asked .."why PE" ? I'm curious to learn how you handled this particular question at thePE在terview that you may have had till now.
A lot of threads and folks onWSOseem to suggest 'Operations consulting' as another way to get intoPEspace.. what are your thoughts on the same. Did you have any such prior exposure...if yes...how did you leverage the same ?
Did you manage to leverage any particular industry focussed experience that you may have had ?
Whats the profile that was offered to you at thePEfirm. Did your past as a consultant have any bearing on your workprofile at thePE公司..与金融或咨询背景的同行有什么不同吗？在Pre的背景不同的人们提供的工作性质会有差异吗MBAassociate level.
Maverick2thecore
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b0b体育app下载Technical interview questions - Examples?(Originally Posted: 03/29/2010)
I've been told a number ofPEshops ask esoteric technical questions - at least ones you don't commonly encounter on the job in banking - and was wondering if anyone has any examples. Anyone have examples of atypical technical questions fromPE在terviews?
Top 3PEfund - first round(Originally Posted: 09/02/2009)
Guys,
I am really excited as I got a first-round interview invitation at a global top 3PE基金！你知道第一轮的样子吗KKR- do you have to build a model in the first round already? Any info greatly appreciated!!
Thanks,
A.
决赛选手PEjob - how to stand out and beat my competition?(Originally Posted: 07/04/2016)
大家好，我接受了一家投资公司的创始人的采访。假设它的价值约10亿美元。这项工作的竞争是标准2年IBplus somepeorIBassociate level experience type of people....
Knowing that I already made the first few filters filter (1. resume/background 2. excel model example + presentation) - how do I stand out?
如何do I present myself to this investor/entrepreneur that I'm better than the competition? I'm finding it hard to understand what decision or actions in the interview separate the finalist from the #2 or #3 choice. The interviewer already knows that I have an offer outstanding and has decided (somewhat) to accelerate the process - at first the HR told me no beans, but then came back and said that the main guy still wanted to interview me - so there is definite interest.
关于我的更多背景：2。5年BB, 1.5 years relatively well known boutique, 10 completed M&A deals from banking experience.
Thanks for your advice - much appreciated.
BBPEInterview questions?(Originally Posted: 01/20/2011)
I wonder what to expect at thePEgroup interview atBB... any hints?
I've gone through past deals, biographies of management, etc, but don't know what to expect exactly in an interview. I would appreciate any help .
Help With BoutiquePEFirm Interview Prep(Originally Posted: 06/15/2014)
HelloWSO,
What Advice would you give me to better prepare me for my interview on Wednesday?
Background
Non-Target rising Junior
Economics Major
Math Minor
3.6/4.0 GPA
Job Description,
Responsibilities:
这是一个苛刻的角色，因此，我们要求您仔细阅读日常职责 - 我们试图尽可能诚实，因此对这项工作所带来的影响没有任何困惑。
Proprietary deal sourcing (70% of intern time)
Industry research - finding and reading industry reports, news articles, etc. to understand how firms make money in an industry and what the most important trends are. The skill we want you to develop is to quickly synthesize a large amount of information and be able to identify the 3-4 most important factors that make a business successful in a given industry.
Company research -- many small business have a limited online presence. We want you to be able to dig deep and find out what makes a small business successful -- what is their product? Who are their competitors? What differentiates them? Form a judgment and be able to tell us in 2-3 sentences why we would/would not want to invest in them.
创建数据库（公司联系信息）。在美国，成千上万的小型企业有成千上万的小型企业。在我们开始询问是否投资于它们之前，我们需要一种系统的方式来联系他们并跟踪沟通。一项无情但必不可少的任务。计算机和编程技能很有帮助，但是无法代替努力工作和勇气。
冷来打电话给企业主 - 许多最好的商学院学生从未有过的经验，但对于任何商人来说都是最重要的技能之一。我们需要可以将电话拿给企业主，进行令人信服的人，并迅速确定他们是否对销售感兴趣。
Drafting letters to business owners -- use industry and company research to draft letters of approach to business owners.
Deal evaluation (30% of intern time)
金融建模和基准——苏的技能ght by many leading finance companies but one we can teach you in 30 minutes. Interns will be expected to learn how to build basic spreadsheets to help analyze potential investments.
起草信件,提供不具约束力和写作binding letters of interest, gaining familiarity with legal terminology and deal structuring.
Preparing deal summaries for investors -- synthesize industry, company, and financial modelling work into a 4-5 page document to brief lenders and equity investors. This is a bread and butter skill for anyone wanting to work in finance.
Thank youWSO在advance and see you guys/gals at theWSOconference.
GSPEGroup interview(Originally Posted: 03/13/2007)
Hi everyone,
I have an interview with Goldman's private equity group coming up. Since I am not only new to this city but also this country, I do not have a lot of experience with interviewing in the US. Currently work for a Big4 in audit and am applying for an analyst position. Could anybody please share some thoughts what questions I may have to expect and what Goldman puts specific emphasize on?
谢谢,真的很感谢你的回复!
如何to Interview forPE在other areas post-IB(Originally Posted: 11/23/2009)
During your first year as anIBanalyst, how do you go about interviewing forPEpositions in other states? It seems like a lot of major firms are pretty spread out (e.g. Bain Cap in Boston, TPG in Texas, Providence Equity Partners, Silver Lake in SF, Carlyle in DC, etc).
Especially with multiple rounds at all of these places, it seems like it could take days. How do you go about doing this - take vacation days at work? phone interviews and just 1 superday?
Do the same headhunters fill positions in all locations, or do you have to reach out to a headhunter in a different location for TPG in texas for example?
UpcomingPEInterview Questions(最初发布：2015年1月5日)
Hi all, I am new to posting but read the forums now and again. PM me if you like to know more about my interview or my background (3rd yr analyst atMMbank). Anyways, I have an upcomingPE在terview with a firm I admire greatly and I wanted to get the forum's opinions on the following questions. These were not asked by thePEshop but I want to be prepared in advanced.
1 How do you best (or how would you) value a company with 3 years of historical negative cash flow with revenue of ~$500M number but in industry facing secular decline. Assume shrinking revenue growth as well.
2 Can you describe a next financial buyer analysis?
3 What industries would you invest in and are there specificLBO您想到的候选人吗？（我想说的是E＆P，但现在现金流由于定价而有点亮，它在行业特质方面打开了一罐蠕虫。汽车制造是我很可能会使用的，而Delphi和Visteon是潜在的候选人）
Interested to hear your thoughts and appreciate any help!
Thoughts on the followingPE在terview questions?(Originally Posted: 02/20/2013)
1）如果您有一个CIMand had to write an investment memo within a day, what 4 items would you focus on?
2) Rank the following in order of importance for anLBOcandidate: Management, profitability, exit, market share, growth
3) How do you think about returns (generally)
4) If you could ask the CEO 3 questions to determine whether you wanted to invest, which 3 questions would you ask?
5) What do you look for in a good management team?
这些显然是非常主观的，我认为不一定有正确的答案
This is something you'll almost certainly see if you move along in a process at a middle marketPEfirm. I know I had to do it with the firm I ended up working at. You get aCIMand are asked to throw together a basicLBOand to write up an investment memo. The fun of my process was that the end product was very much in my hands. I ended up going with a two pager that more or less condensed the important parts of theCIM, analyzed the pros / cons of the business, and included a SWOT analysis.
As to your questions, here are my thoughts:
1.) Assuming I'm industry agnostic here, I'd try and focus on:
--Historical and projected growth and profitability
--Diversity of customers / products (i.e. make sure they aren't overly concentrated in one product or with one customer)
- 分化业务因素（即，它们具有特定的技术或流程，使他们能够继续增长和维持利润率，或者随着竞争的增加而容易侵蚀利润率）
--Industry focus. Is the company in a growing industry? How will it handle economic turmoil? How well is it positioned in its industry?
2.) For a genericLBO候选人,我排名如下:
--Profitability (because they need to be able to handle a substantial debt load)
--Growth (since you need to make a return on your investment)
--Management (since you won't get solid profitability or growth without good management at the company)
--Exit (since you'll need to be able to find buyers willing to pay a reasonable price for the company to achieve yourIRR障碍）
--Market Share (this is less relevant, a company can be a small player that's poised to take share from its competitors or a growing company with dominant market share)
3.) I'm not entirely sure what you are asking here. But, I suppose you could simply discuss the makings of a goodLBOand how you achieve good returns. To which I would say something along the lines of:
--It is important to look for companies with growth trajectories and strong margins that will either be sustainable or expand. Companies that can weather strong or weak economic times and that aren't at risk of being made obsolete by new technology or processes. If you can find a company with a strong and reality-based growth case and solid sustainable margins, you have a goodLBOcandidate that should be able to deliver solid returns. Ideally, when you invest, you'll want to guarantee a base level of returns. Perhaps through a preferred equity investment (using some sort of preferred / common split will enable the sponsor to lock in a baseIRR, say 8%.) However, any seriousLBOcandidate will deliver returns beyond that over a 5 year time frame. If you can exit the investment early, that's fantastic. But, assume you'll be in for five years or so before you can fully realize all of management's plans for growth and what not. You can go on and on here, but you get the point.
4.) This is essentially a "what are your top questions for management" question. It's tough to boil it down to three questions, but let's give it a shot anyway (from an industry agnostic POV, obviously). These assume that you've spent time with the company'sCIMand financials and this is the icing on the cake, so to speak:
--What is the biggest challenge your company faces?
--Who are the most important members of your team and why?
--What are your company's pain points and how can we help to address them?
5.) I generally look for the following things in a management team:
--Extensive relevant industry experience
--Cohesion (i.e. they work well together and have been working together to deliver measurable results for some time)
--Hunger for more (not satisfied with where they are at, clear desire to take the company to the next level)
--A desire to re-invest in the business as part of the transaction (to get management aligned with the sponsor)
--Sophistication to handlePEownership and increased financial demands (because of the debt load and demands for growth and profitability from the company's new financial investors)
___________________
Hope that helps. Would be interested to see what other people have to say.
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