Getting through the private equity recruitment process is time-consuming, high-pressure and painful. But when you’re working 80-100 hours every week in IBD, there’s the additional headache of getting out for the interview. Doing it without generating any suspicion or having your work suffer is about as likely as getting a ‘thank you’ from your managing director these days.

The problem is threefold: (i) you need time to apply;  (ii) you need to get out for interviews, and, (iii) you need to do all this without either your peers or superiors getting wind of it.

The first bit is easy. The advantage of working in IBD is that after about a year headhunters will start hounding you. Calls at your desk, emails, LinkedIn messages…following you home. You’ll get a steady stream of opportunities handed to you on a plate. All you need to do is update your CV, hand it over to a recruiter, and off you go.

The interview process is where the fun begins. While slipping in to an empty meeting room for a quick first round phone interview might be easy, getting to a 4-hour modelling test isn’t, especially if you need to spend an hour going across town and back in the middle of the day just to get there. On top of that, if you get through the modelling test, PE employers will then want to run you through their 4, 5 or 6-stage process in the matter of a week or two.

There are two basic approaches you could take. Honesty or lies.

While Honesty might sound a bit mad (because in my opinion, it is), I have heard of people do it. If you’re trying to move from IBD to buy-side, deep down no one is really going to blame you. If it doesn’t impact anyone’s workload and you’re BFFs with your boss, you might just get away with it. But personally I’d say you’re setting yourself up for a fall.

So, lies it is. Remember, if your employer figures out you’re interviewing and then you don’t get the job, which is the most likely outcome when you’re going for a PE job, then you’re going to have to stick around in a potentially very unfriendly atmosphere.

Now there are the usual ‘standard’ excuses that will probably get you through the first couple of rounds but there are only so many doctor appointments and broken boilers you can throw out there. People seem to use “family emergencies” a lot but it’s best not to tempt fate and again, how many family emergencies can you really have?

The best option is to come up with your “cornerstone” excuse ahead of time and start laying the groundwork early. You need to have something that gives you enough flexibility to have repeated absences in a short period that doesn’t come as a surprise to people because you’ve mentioned it a week or two ahead of the actual interviews.

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