Anyone here ever work in this space? If so, did you find it to be a mix of consulting and FP&A? I have an interview tomorrow with a VP (Hiring Manger) for a Bain Capital Private Equity fund company. The firm did 2.6 billion in revenue 2017 and from the call I had today, seems like Bain wants to exit sometime in 2021. The role is a Senior Analyst facing frequently with portfolio company’s C suite and Bain PE C suite also.
It seems like a decent opportunity but I am not sure if these Bain PE guys are going to try and make my life a living hell and say, “No don’t do this, don’t do that” or “That doesn’t make any sense, let us handle it” if/when I get settled into the role. Thoughts?
Whether they say not to do something probably depends on the thing that you are planning on doing…
They will likely be hands on with respect to goals and managing the runway, but hands off with respect to operations unless there are synergies (ugh) with Bain.
I was told during the interview the company has long term goals that sometimes clash with the shorter term thinking of Bain
Makes sense
None of it probably matters at this point though because the first call I had went very well and over the alotted time, nice girl, smart asked me technical questions that I knew the answers to and finished the call by saying take care “for now”.
Second team member not so much. I could tell he was an introverted, pretentious nerd who really didn’t have much interest in talking to me because I went to a non target for undergrad while he attended some small liberal arts college in New England. After I succinctly walked him through my resume, he then said “yeah I just really only have some technical questions for you”. wtf?. Then proceeded to ask me 3 questions of which I gave 2 out of 3 correct answers to and said he needed to go to a “meeting”.
That being said, if any of you on here are in charge of hiring subordinates, please learn how to respect those that you choose to interview. Don’t be a dick. Truly get to know those wanting to work for your organization and what they are passionate about to see if that fits well. Otherwise you are doing yourself and the candidate a disservice.
For in person interviews, I usually just walk in, sit down, look at their resume, look up into their eyes and say “Go.” Their reaction tells me all I need to know.
The guy probably new from the first part of the interview that he didn’t want to hire you. Why assume it’s because of school background? Maybe you just did not give a good impression.
well he’s a Bain contractor so highly doubt its going to be him making the hiring decisions anyway. I’ve been in touch with HR today and haven’t been dinged yet, however already told the internal recruiter that if I have to work with that guy on a daily basis, I’ll probably pass.
theres 3 other positions open that I’m interested in also within other departments and I’m in pretty good with the recruiter given he’s said things like, “it’ll be their loss” and “there’s other positions open if this one doesn’t work out”.
Perhaps it is presumptuous to think it was related to background, however I don’t think it really matters when the guy was simply a douche from the get go. I could tell by his voice and disposition. It’s almost as if the VP made it mandatory for him to call me when he obviously didn’t have any interest in speaking in the first, which happens so it’s not unrealistic to think.
what’s most interesting is that I literally have zero applicable work experience. It’s basically an FPnA role with some M&A sprinkled in while my background is working in sell side mortgage backed securities research and then a year of alts before that. Perhaps they saw level III CFA candidate and thought ok maybe? Idk
I think ohai is giving he interviewer too much credit. Some people just are not good at dealing with others. I had a guy (good, albeit academic credentials) ask me out of the blue the inputs for formulas (Greeks, etc.) and other similar questions for a position requiring 10 years experience. Have to know your sh!t.
You ever consider that maybe its no them, it’s you? Similarly to Ohai’s point, maybe you threw off flags in the first part or maybe nonchalant guy was just there to ask his three questions, rubber stamp if you did well and move on? Anyhow 2/3 during screening does not win you a job in most cases, gotta come correct.
You keep having these millennial moments and your few sentences above seem out of sync with where you are in your career. Nobody hiring really cares what the next jr analyst is passionate about, you’re there to do things they couldn’t automate yet while hopefully not annoying anybody and maybe grow in the role, that’s mostly it. The only “disservice” granted may have been to yourself because your inflated self worth may be getting in the way of your career.
Stepping back, the whole reason you’ve been looking for jobs since February is because you threw a hissy fit over vacation approval in the first place because people didn’t “properly value” the employee they were paying $70k a year. So this seems to be thematic and may need adjusted before it becomes a critical obstacle.
I would not get so comfortable with the recruiter. Yes, they’re in a different department but you don’t know how they relate to the hiring managers and other interviewers. The recruiter just needs to get qualified candidates in the door. If you don’t get hired, it’s not their problem. He’ll keep pushing you as long as you apply. Then he’ll tell his friends what you said to him in confidence. I’ve seen departments where the recruiter works in the same office as the team. I’ve seen recruitment departments completely separate from the team office. I’ve worked with recruiters as an outside contractor for people applying to a job in the same company and department where my wife works as a Physician. The interviewees don’t know the relationship and speak freely to me. Most of it I keep to myself but the recruiters do want to know what I hear. If the person stays thinks that show they would make my wife’s life miserable, you better believe I will tell her everything they say and do.
I’ve been looking for jobs since the middle of August when I found out I cleared LII, not February lol. But there may be some truth to the rest of your post though; for once. I had just got off the call when I wrote about the interviews so I was pretty pissed atm. However, I have now looked at it as a good experience to discuss my background and have practice interviewing at the worst. Also, it’s important that I have 4 other opportunities in the pipeline here next week, two calls tomorrow, a call Tuesday and one on Wednesday so I can’t get tunnel vision.
well I would have liked to be asked a few more questions than exactly 3 if knowing my Sh!t was compulsory to moving on.
He could have squeezed a few more brain busters in there during the entire 20 minutes the call lasted. Oh well, this “portfolio” company was so a$$ backwards to begin with having the most simple things ironed out like interview scheduling (VP missed the first interview I had scheduled due to “getting held up in a meeting” to then one team member calling me WHILE I’m on the phone with another interviewing) that I wouldn’t be surprised either way where things go from here.