What does each interview look like?

Think about it…

On-Cycle Interviews: The team is going to ask you behaviorals, technicals, and modeling questions. You’ll have a modeling test and they’ll probably ask you why you want to join their firm, why you joined banking, why you want to leave banking, what’s your favorite portfolio company, what’s your least favorite portfolio company… etc.

There is less for you to reference because of your limited experience during an On-Cycle Process than an Off-Cycle Process.

Off-Cycle Interviews: They grill you on your deals, strategic rationale, metrics, did you hold the pen on the model, full model walk throughs, what synergies looked like on the M&A front, did you think through revenue builds, organic growth, inorganic means, etc.

See the difference?

In the On-Cycle interview process you will be speaking about the experience gained over the past couple summers. PE firms are betting on the fact that you will get experience over the next 2 years in banking based on: upcoming deal flow, prior hiring from your banking group, and your group’s overall reputation.

If you recruit Off-Cycle when you have more work experience, they have more to ask you about - interviews will be much tougher and the standard will be much higher.

We hear story after story about how some people hold all the power, and this can come in many different forms. It might be a bartender that just won’t take your order on a busy Saturday night, or a ruthless MD that has a stranglehold on all the top client accounts, but trust me: its wild how much power the buyside headhunter holds on your post-banking recruiting journey.

Similar to a first boss in a video game, that first gatekeeper might seem unassuming, but without crossing this inevitable hurdle, you will not even be able to sniff your future aspirations. Below, I will outline some of the necessary steps you must take before challenging that first boss and working with a headhunter to kick off your recruiting journey.

Tip #1: Have CLEARLY Defined Goals (And This Means Knowing Both the “What” and the “Why”)

A headhunter’s job is to help their buyside clients secure the best candidates possible; they are NOT there to help you figure out what you want to do, or what steps you need to take to reach your goals - they do not have time for such trivial endeavors. The best candidates (i.e. the candidates that headhunters are looking for) know EXACTLY WHAT they want out of their next role, and know EXACTLY WHY they are the best fit for that next role.

Tip #2: Do NOT Accept Any Headhunter Calls if You Are Underprepared

The reality is, especially amongst the top headhunters, it is often a system of “one strike, and you’re out”. These headhunters hold the key to your access to multiple top-tier job opportunities. Failing an interview/intro discussion doesn’t eliminate you from one buyside process, but rather, it eliminates you from several processes all at once. It is perfectly acceptable to deny an intro call (while respectfully asking to keep the door open for possible discussions in the future) while you work to figure out those “what’s” and “why’s” mentioned earlier in this article.

Tip #3: Focus on Behavioral Questions but DO NOT Completely Ignore Your Technical Preparation

In my experience, the most commonly asked questions from headhunters are as follows:

“Tell me About Yourself”

Your answer to this question should include a summary of your professional and academic experiences up until this point, what you are looking for in your next role, and why you are the best candidate for the role (and ideally, you can tie this to your wealth of past professional and academic experiences that have prepared you for your next role). We discuss this in the headhunter prep portion of our mentorship course. It’s also covered in our online PE prep course.

Behavioral & Technical Questions

As mentioned previously, you need to know the “what’s” and “why’s” of your move to private equity, in addition to other key details you need to provide them upfront. You should also prepare questions for them to show you have done your research. We discuss all this, how to tailor it to your unique background, and much more during our 8-hour mentorship course. It’s not likely that you’ll be grilled on brain teasers, but you should also know the key KPIs and levers of your target industry, recent deals from your target firm, the deals on your resume (if any), and the buyout/investment strategy of your target buyside firm.

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