Lateraling - what to expect in interviews
Looking to lateral here within the next few months, culture in my group is absolute shit and I can't see myself staying here much longer.
Any monkeys out there who are going through the lateral process / went through it recently? I'm trying to prepare myself as much as possible for interviews, curious on what to expect. Any insight on number of rounds, format, types of questions asked, modeling tests, etc would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance!!
Went through a couple recently. Less about the 400Q type of questions but more focus on your deal experience and they ask technicals off the back of that. Also a big emphasis on why you’re looking to move/leave your current firm. Expect more technicals if the firm is boutique / MM.
In terms of tests, I’ve had DCF and 3 statement model that are 1-1.5 hours (forecast assumptions all given).
The number of rounds I’ve had are around 5, with the last round comprising of back-to-back interviews (e.g., 30 mins with 1 senior, and another 30 mins with each of the 5 other seniors, etc.). Bit overkill tbh but think the market is pretty bad atm. Had one process that was supposed to be 3 rounds and it ended up going to 6, and the expectations they had were very high as well.
Damn that's a lot more than I figured, appreciate you sharing. 5 rounds is def overkill, are they mostly technical rounds or half behavioral? Would you mind sharing an example question on what you get asked regarding your deal experience?
I’d say it’s split between technicals and behavioural, maybe 60-70% technicals and rest being behavioural. Would recommend really understanding financial concepts rather than rehearsing answers, as like I said, they’ll delve into your deal experience and based the technicals off that.
Eg, they ask you to talk through the deal on your CV, then they’ll pick something like the revenue build and how you went about building that, which is simple. But say the company you did the valuation on is pre-revenue, they can start asking stuff about NOLs, what changes you made on the 3 statements - so it’s getting a little more challenging. Then they can go beyond that by throwing in alternative scenarios, such as, if A happened in Y1, what will happen to xyz in this statement, and what changes would happen to the valuation if I change B to C instead? Can’t think off the top off my head rn but you get the picture. Just know your details and the concepts inside and out.
Outside of technicals, I think many people forget in the lateral process is also understanding WHY this deal was happening, why the outcome happened and what YOU thought of the transaction. I think this is something they ask more once the early analyst stint is over.
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