Interview for a Portfolio Analyst at a CRE PE firms investment management team. Excel test. Should I expect a DCF test or a portfolio analysis test?
[deleted]
[{"id": "e2sv886", "text": "Portfolio Analyst is a bit like Investment Analyst in that it can be a catch-all term and vary widely from firm to firm. Happy to help you, but I would need more information on the role and interview. What does the job description say you will be doing? How big is the main fund for the PE fund? Will you be working with portfolio managers or asset managers more? \n\nPM me if you'd like to discuss in more detail privately.", "replies": [{"id": "e2szvxy", "text": "thanks sent a pm", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "e2tsro5", "text": "This is obviously going to vary wildly from company to company. At my prior company where I started as an investment analyst, the excel test was looking for two things: use of excel formulas and use of logic to arrive at answers. It was actually \u2018ok\u2019 if your answer was incorrect as long as you showed your train of thought clearly.\n\nThe formulas? Basic sums, if then statements (nested if/thens) , sum ifs, vlookups, index matches, and probably a couple others I can\u2019t think of right now.\n\nHope this helps. Don\u2019t worry about the test and give it your all. When I became a hiring manager my motto was \u201cI can teach skills, I can\u2019t teach character\u201d. So I valued the test less than others did. Good luck!", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "e2u7bg3", "text": "Hi, I work as a business analyst in one of largest companies in my country (not USA), and I remember when I had taken the excel test - in my case it was designed to test your general knowledge about formulas (count/if/s; sum/if/s, nested ifs, index/match) and then the second part I had to make a model from scratch to show the portfolio performance (like proforma, revenues, expenses, NOI, capex, company expenses, taxes and net result) with some basic provided assumptions.", "replies": [{"id": "e2ufdkj", "text": "I think this will be closest to that. They said they\u2019d give an hour. See how far I can get. I already do a lot of cash flow and lease analysis, and reporting on existing models on the assets in our portfolio. This place is all multifam and hospitality, which I have no exposure too and not familiar with what drives those investments. So I really hope they don\u2019t throw a hospitality at me because I have no idea of where even to start.", "replies": [{"id": "e2uiw8f", "text": "Maybe you can look up some hotel proformas or business plans, just to see how they should look like and focus on... I am in retail CRE, so I cant really help you with hospitality :(", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}]