How to practice for a real estate private equity interview

Introduction

This article focuses on how you should personally prepare for real estate private equity interview questions. Most students will just download a guide and memorize responses to questions. But this practice does not develop a strong mental model. In fact, interviews exist to probe your understanding. Your interviewer’s job is to hit you from every angle to expose your weaknesses. If your only defense is a rote understanding of common interview questions, then you will not hold up against a seasoned interviewer. So, what can you do to best develop true understanding ahead of your interview?

Always practice for interviews by speaking out loud

When preparing for real estate private equity interview questions, it’s all too easy to allow your brain to go on auto-pilot. Thus, I always make my mentees practice their interview questions out loud. Yes, it probably feels uncomfortable to speak out loud when you are alone. But get over it. Preparing for interviews by speaking out loud forces your brain into full presence. It’s hard to zone out when you’re actively speaking, so make sure you always practice your interview questions by speaking your responses out loud. 

Whether you’re an undergraduate or full-time career-switcher, your time is valuable. You probably only have half an hour every day on average to even prepare for your interviews, between exams or your day job. Thus, why waste that thirty minutes with your brain in the back-seat, passively reading through questions and answers? In your interview, you will need to respond out loud. So not only will you improve your focus while preparing, but you’ll also develop the critical muscle memory you will need to perform under the immense stress of an interview for your dream job.

Practice Five Days a Week

You have seven days each week to prepare. Give yourself two off days, and that means you should absolutely practice at least five days per week. I recommend you keep track of this in a personal commitment spreadsheet or physical calendar. You can mark off the days when you practice and keep a running tally of your adherence. Even ten minutes of practice is better than nothing at all.

Keep your responses short

Your responses should last no longer than 45 seconds. The only exception is the inevitable “walk me through your resume” question, where you should feel fine speaking for up to two minutes. Yet aside from that, brevity is your friend. Answering succinctly makes you appear more in control, and has the added benefit of not showing all your cards at once. If you receive a follow-up question, you’d much rather have some information you did not give in your brief first answer than to have laid it all bare in a long-winded first answer.

Know your interview timeline

If you do not stay on top of your interview timeline, it will catch you off guard. Figure out the funds you want to work for, then learn when they plan to hold interviews. Perhaps there is a fixed schedule, or maybe it is ad hoc. Perhaps no process exists yet, but you can put your name in the drawing hat. Whatever the case, make sure you are always appraised of the latest regarding your interview timelines.

Test your knowledge by modeling

We at Leveraged Breakdowns believe that real estate private equity model help you tie everything together. Thus, don’t just practice interview questions off of guides and articles. Rather, put your knowledge to the test with a real-world private equity model built from scratch with source materials. Our course Breaking Down REPE allows you to test your knowledge of the investments process from start to finish. If you’re in a pinch, check out our faster REPE Starter Kit, which aims to teach the core skills as quickly as possible.