I have an interview for a real estate PE role next week. Anyone here work or has worked in PE? Looking to gain some insight into what I might expect/should prepare for.
You should know how many square feet of Asto turf exist in the U.S. What part of the country?
Lol. It’s in NYC.
what type of role - acquisitions, asset mgt, or portfolio? what level - analyst, vp?
if it’s an analyst role they will probably ask some seemingly off the wall quesitons to see (a) how you keep your cool when faced with a question that’s impossible to answer, and (b) how analytical your thought process is. the point is to show that you can break down a problem and walk through to a reasonable conclusion analyitically. they’ll want to see some enthusiasm about trying to solve a problem, any problem, so show some intellectual curiosity. they probably won’t expect you to know much about real estate, but working in a rudimentary level of knowledge into the conversation would help – as long as you don’t try to sound like an expert, because at the analyst level, you know d!ck. you should know basic finance also, IRRs, value creation margin, how to return on cost and leveraged yields, etc.
if it’s a vp role, they’ll want to know that you understand real estate. what makes a deal and/or a market a good or bad one. how to identify and manage risks. having a view on where the fundamental/capital markets are in the cycle and what that means for a strategy going forward – hint: it’s really fucking competitive out there to find deals and pricing reflects some significant expected rent/NOI growth across property types.
TF, Thanks that’s really helpful. I work in ER covering REITs now. I also have some direct RE experience that’s in the sub-segment they want me to focus on.
It’s sort of an unofficial role at this point and I don’t know what the responsibilities will be exactly. I found it through contacts from working covering REITs. My guess is though it will be acquisition related mostly with some asset management since the team is still fairly small.
I’m spending time this weekend going over the firm, their strategy and such. Also going to brush up on some of the standard return forumlas that are used at the property level, but that we don’t use for REIT modelling.
Thanks again bud.