Interview Checklist: The 10 Steps To Success

• CV: Practice your CV presentation (“Walk me through your CV”) including your Deal Experience.
• Why PE? Make sure to properly think through and prepare responses to the question “Why Private Equity?”. Those should also take into account the investment strategy of your target fund!
• Paper LBO: Practice your Paper LBO (see links below).
• Full LBO Model: You should be able to build a solid 1-Page LBO Model in Excel in 45 minutes. You can download our proven gold-standard LBO Model here for free!
• Case Cracking: Investing Case Cracking Skills are key and most candidates stumble here! General / “consulting” case study preparation helps to build a first foundation for structuring a case but don’t fool yourself into thinking you don’t need to work on investing cases specifically to ace your PE interviews (check out our tailored 1-on-1 coachings with our leading coaches here if you need help with PE specific investment cases).
• Fund Investments: Make sure to know at least four investments of the firm you are interviewing with (yes, four! – believe it or not but firms want to see that you have properly engaged with their investments beforehand so you should not leave it to chance!)
• Investment Pitch: While not all funds ask for it, it is always good to have an investment pitch prepared to showcase your passion for investing. Ideally, your pitch matches the investment focus of the fund you are interviewing with.
• Mental Math: Your interviews will contain a number of back of the envelope calculations so make sure to refresh your Mental Maths Skills prior. Victor Cheng’s website (see link below) provides good tips on getting up to speed with your mental arithmetic.
• Brain Teaser: Refresh your Brain Teaser Cracking skills (see links below)
• Stay Up To Date: Read the news to stay up to date. The Financial Times and the Economist are great resources (see links below)

Paper LBOs:

• Paper LBO (Example 1)
• Paper LBO (Example 2)

Commercial Case Study Preparation:

• Victor Cheng – Case Interviews
• Case in Point (Marc Cosentino)
• PrepLounge

Brainteaser Preparation:

• How to Ace the Brainteaser Interview (John Kador)

Books (Author):

BIPE Top Recommendations

• Quality Investing: Owning the Best Companies for the Long Term (Lawrence Cunningham, Torkell T. Eide, Patrick Hargreaves)
• Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies (McKinsey – Tim Koller, March Hoedhart, David Wessels)

Other Useful Books

• Intelligent Investor (Benjamin Graham)
• Security Analysis (Benjamin Graham)
• Warren Buffett’s Shareholder Letters (Warren Buffett)
• Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits (Philip Fisher)
• One Up on Wall Street: How To Use What You Already Know To Make Money In The Market (Peter Lynch)
• The Little Book That Still Beats the Market (Joel Greenblatt)
• The Little book of Valuation: How to Value a Company, Pick a Stock and Profit (Aswath Damodaran)
• The Most Important Thing (Howard Marks)
• Private Equity in Action: Case Studies from Developed and Emerging Markets (Claudia Zeisberger)
• Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success (William N. Thorndike)
• Distressed Debt Analysis: Strategies for Speculative Investors (Stephen Moyer)

Magazines / Online Resources:

• MUST READ: Financial Times
• Other:
  • The Economist
  • The Wall Street Journal
  • Bloomberg
  • Reuters
• For VC / Growth Equity:
  • Tech Crunch
  • Payments

Guides:

• Leveraged Buyouts: A Practical Guide to Investment Banking and Private Equity (Paul Pignataro)
• Investment Banking: Valuation, Leveraged Buyouts, and Mergers and Acquisitions (Joshua Rosenbaum, Joshua Pearl)
• VAULT Guide to Private Equity and Hedge Fund Interviews
• Analyst & Associate Guide (Financial Edge)
• Wallstreet Oasis
• Wall Street Prep
• AMT Training