PJT Partners Interview Questions & Prep

“Why PJT over a traditional bulge-bracket institution?”

What they test. Understanding of the pure-play, conflict-free advisory model, lean teams and cross-border capability.

Weak answer. Generic remarks about prestigious culture, a boutique feel or good deal flow with no structural advantage cited.

Strong answer. Highlights that PJT has no balance-sheet lending conflicts, so mandates are won on intellectual capital, and references specific cross-border or sovereign mandates and the benefits of lean teams.

“Why RSSG instead of Strategic Advisory?”

What they test. Real appreciation of the legal, structural and game-theoretic nuances of distressed assets.

Weak answer. 'Restructuring is counter-cyclical so it is safer', which is shallow and transactional.

Strong answer. Articulates RSSG as the intersection of corporate finance, bankruptcy law and distressed valuation, with interest in the fulcrum security and stakeholder dynamics.

“Which recent PJT European transaction has caught your attention, and what were the structural drivers?”

What they test. Commercial curiosity and the ability to break down transaction logic.

Weak answer. Naming a large global deal with no grasp of the mechanics.

Strong answer. Dissects a UK or European deal (such as a Part 26A plan or an M&A carve-out), covering leverage, liquidity, creditor classes and the outcome.

“Why build a career in London's advisory market rather than New York or continental Europe?”

What they test. Commitment to London and awareness of UK legal and financial frameworks.

Weak answer. 'London is a great global hub and a great city to live in.'

Strong answer. Cites London as the primary hub for complex European cross-border restructuring and its English-law tools such as Schemes of Arrangement and Part 26A.

“What aspect of Park Hill's capital-solutions model appeals to you?”

What they test. Differentiating fund placement and secondaries from standard banking.

Weak answer. Conflating Park Hill with asset management or vanilla ECM.

Strong answer. Demonstrates knowledge of advising PE, real-estate and hedge-fund managers on capital raising, GP-led secondaries and LP liquidity in a tough fundraising market.

“Tell me about persuading a highly resistant team member to adopt your analytical approach.”

What they test. Data-driven persuasion, emotional intelligence and non-hierarchical collaboration.

Weak answer. Personal arguments, shouting or simply voting to override the person.

Strong answer. A STAR narrative using empirical analysis and a working model to walk the detractor through the logic to consensus.

“Describe discovering a critical error in your own analysis right before a deadline. How did you manage it?”

What they test. Integrity, attention to detail and transparency under time pressure.

Weak answer. Minimising or hiding the error, or blaming bad source data.

Strong answer. Owning it instantly, quantifying the impact, presenting corrected data with a clear explanation, and building a personal sanity-check framework.

“Walk me through juggling multiple high-priority deliverables with conflicting deadlines.”

What they test. Prioritisation, communication and resilience.

Weak answer. 'I just worked 24 hours straight', or missing a deadline through poor organisation.

Strong answer. A specific triage method by urgency and impact, proactive stakeholder communication, and delivering all streams without sacrificing quality.

“Give an example of an ambiguous problem with no historical data or guidelines. How did you progress?”

What they test. Intellectual autonomy, first-principles thinking and comfort with ambiguity.

Weak answer. Paralysis, waiting for instructions, or guessing with no framework.

Strong answer. Breaking the problem into components, building proxies from comparable situations, testing assumptions and delivering a structured recommendation.

“Describe a time you failed to achieve a goal. What structural changes did you make to your workflow?”

What they test. Self-awareness, objective self-critique and coachability.

Weak answer. A fake failure or blaming external factors.

Strong answer. A genuine failure, full accountability and precise behavioural and technical adjustments to prevent recurrence.

“Walk me through your CV in two minutes, highlighting what prepares you for PJT.”

What they test. Narrative structure, impact orientation and an understanding of the advisory profile.

Weak answer. Reading line by line, meandering through hobbies, or exceeding two minutes with no finance skills surfaced.

Strong answer. A chronological, high-impact narrative from university choices through technical societies into internships, with an explicit bridge to PJT.

“On your CV you note a deal analysis for a company. Walk me through the operational drivers and your valuation methods.”

What they test. Ownership of your CV lines and depth of technical execution.

Weak answer. Hesitating on fundamental metrics or admitting a teammate did the numbers.

Strong answer. Citing the revenues, EBITDA margins and leverage, then defending the beta, cost of debt, terminal value and the exact peer group used.

“You achieved a first-class mark in corporate finance. What was the most challenging topic, and how do you apply it to live markets?”

What they test. Academic curiosity and the ability to translate theory into market reality.

Weak answer. Naming a basic concept like calculating WACC with no bridge to practice.

Strong answer. Pointing to an advanced concept, such as Modigliani-Miller breaking down under tax and distress costs, and linking it to how PJT structures debt or evaluates distressed companies.

“With £100 million for one UK macro trend or sector over three years, where would you deploy it and how would you hedge the risks?”

What they test. Macro insight, structural risk assessment and capital-allocation logic.

Weak answer. Cliches like 'invest in AI' or 'buy UK residential property' with no framework.

Strong answer. A specific, non-obvious sector (such as UK digital infrastructure or sticky B2B SaaS) with cash-flow dynamics, inflation indexing and explicit hedging.

“Explain how current Bank of England policy and gilt-yield volatility hit restructuring versus large-cap M&A.”

What they test. How macro levers drive PJT's distinct product groups.

Weak answer. 'High rates are bad for all businesses.'

Strong answer. Higher or volatile gilt yields raise the cost of debt, suppressing large-cap M&A via weaker LBO returns and bid-ask gaps, while stressing leveraged balance sheets and driving refinancing defaults into RSSG.

“Pitch a UK or European company that is a prime activist target, and the changes the activist should demand.”

What they test. Corporate governance, strategic advisory and PJT's activism-defence franchise.

Weak answer. Pitching an optimised mega-cap with no granular thesis.

Strong answer. A listed entity trading at a discount to sum-of-the-parts, with a value-creation plan: a non-core carve-out, optimising an under-leveraged structure, or replacing underperforming management.

“Walk me through how a £100 million asset impairment cascades through the three statements.”

What they test. Pure accounting articulation and mechanical clarity.

Weak answer. Stating cash drops by £100m, or failing to balance the balance sheet.

Strong answer. At a 25% rate: EBIT down £100m, net income down £75m; on cash flow the £100m non-cash impairment is added back so cash rises £25m; on the balance sheet cash up £25m and PP&E or intangibles down £100m, total assets down £75m, matched by retained earnings down £75m.

“Why might a distressed company's Enterprise Value stay stable while its Equity Value falls to near zero?”

What they test. Advanced capital-structure and enterprise-valuation understanding.

Weak answer. Conflating EV and Equity Value, or saying EV must fall when the stock does.

Strong answer. EV reflects the operating-asset value (Equity Value plus net debt, preferred and minority interest); if operations hold but debt is unsustainable, equity collapses toward zero while EV stays pinned to the operating value, now claimed by debt holders.

“With £500m senior secured notes at 90, £300m subordinated unsecured at 40, sustainable EBITDA of £60m and a 7x distressed multiple, where is the fulcrum and what does each class recover?”

What they test. RSSG waterfall analysis and debt-valuation mechanics.

Weak answer. Saying both classes recover equally, or skipping the implied EV.

Strong answer. Implied distressed EV is £60m times 7, or £420m. The £500m senior secured claim absorbs all £420m, recovering about 84%; the subordinated unsecured recovers 0%. The senior secured notes are the fulcrum security that converts to equity.

“Walk me through unlevering and relevering an asset beta. Why adjust for debt?”

What they test. Cost-of-equity mechanics and capital-structure effects.

Weak answer. Reciting a formula with no rationale.

Strong answer. Unlever each peer's beta to strip out its leverage, average the asset betas, then relever at the target's structure; levered beta equals unlevered beta times one plus (one minus the tax rate) times the debt-to-equity ratio, because debt adds financial risk to equity holders.

“Explain the absolute priority rule. Are there situations where it can be breached?”

What they test. Restructuring legal and structural awareness.

Weak answer. Treating all creditors as equal.

Strong answer. Senior claims are satisfied in full before junior tiers receive anything; it can be bent in negotiated outcomes where senior creditors grant a small consideration to junior classes to avoid litigation and speed a consensual deal.

“If you had to remove one of the three financial statements, which would you lose and why?”

What they test. Deep understanding of accounting interconnectedness.

Weak answer. Keeping only the income statement because 'it shows profit', ignoring liquidity.

Strong answer. Drop the cash-flow statement, since you can rebuild it from the income statement and the change in balance-sheet items; alternatively keep cash flow and balance sheet to track liquidity directly.

“An enterprise software business has recurring revenue but negative EBITDA from heavy R&D. How would you structure a debt facility if it cannot access leveraged loans?”

What they test. Creative capital structuring and debt-market agility.

Weak answer. Saying it cannot borrow, or forcing a standard senior secured facility into default.

Strong answer. A recurring-revenue or growth-debt facility with covenants tied to ARR, net revenue retention or an LTV multiple of ARR, possibly with PIK interest to preserve near-term cash.

“If you could advise the UK government on restructuring or selling one public asset, which and why?”

What they test. Structured argument on an unfamiliar topic under pressure.

Weak answer. A shallow choice with no rationale.

Strong answer. A clear thesis on a specific asset, the value or efficiency case, and the main execution risks.