PJT Partners · Investment banking analyst · Summer Analyst / Analyst
Final round technicals
The seat that separates PJT: liability management, recoveries and distressed M&A
What they actually ask
The question shapes this round uses. Larpy does not read these out. It builds each one from your own resume, because the generic version is the one you have already rehearsed.
- “What are the differences between in court and out of court bankruptcies?”
- “What are some of the differences between distressed M&A and traditional M&A?”
- “How might you be able to make a junior piece of debt more senior? What if the 1L refuses to cooperate?”
- “Why might a company with a negative or zero theoretical equity value still have a positive market capitalization?”
- “Why might two bonds from the same issuer, with a similar seniority in the capital structure, trade at different prices?”
What this round is judged on
- Restructuring judgment · in-court against out-of-court, and the tradeoffs
- Liability management · priming, amendments and what creditors will accept
- Capital structure · recoveries, seniority and why identical claims price apart
- Merger math · accretion, premiums and all-stock consideration
How Larpy grades this
We score these the way an analyst would. Per topic, what a strong answer lands and the confidently-wrong answers Larpy catches.
- LBOWhy an LBO generates a return
- Strong
- names the three drivers: deleveraging, EBITDA growth, multiple expansion; explains leverage amplifies the equity return.
- We flag
- says the return comes from the debt itself rather than deleveraging plus growth; cannot name the return drivers.
- MAAccretion / dilution
- Strong
- compares the two P/Es for a stock deal (higher acquirer P/E = accretive); for cash/debt, compares financing cost to the earnings yield; notes synergies can change the outcome.
- We flag
- claims an all-stock deal is always accretive because no cash is spent; ignores the relative multiples entirely.
Larpy builds a fresh question per topic from your resume and grades the full answer live. Start the mock for the worked model answer.
Where this round sits
PJT Partners’s published process. Lime marks the stage this round runs.
- 01Explore (not simulated here)
- 02Application Selection
- 03Suited Assessment (not simulated here)
- 04Recruiter screen
- 05Interview, first round
- 06Interview, final roundthis round
- 07Offer Decisions
What happens in each stage›
- Explore (not simulated here)
- PJT names this as the first stage of its own process: research the firm and the broader industry and attend on-campus or virtual events. It is not an interview, but it is the stage the later ones test, because the interview leans on industry understanding.
- Application Selection
- Recruiters and professionals review applications, submitted as PDFs, and make interview selections on academic background and industry knowledge. US Summer Analyst applications open in spring and close before summer; EMEA and Asia open in September and close in October; full-time roles post in early August with interviews in August and September.
- Suited Assessment (not simulated here)
- An AI-scored assessment linked in the job description, measuring traits and characteristics PJT says can be better predictors of success than a resume. PJT states it is used alongside other data and is not weighted more than other evaluation factors. It is not a conversation, so it is not simulated here.
- Recruiter screen
- A short conversation with recruiting before the structured interview. PJT publishes Explore, Application Selection, Interview and Offer Decisions but not this step, so its presence and form are candidate-reported. The content is a resume walk, motivation and a first check on what you know about the firm.
- Interview, first round
- PJT publishes a single structured interview stage that it says assesses aptitude, potential and cultural fit through questions on industry understanding and corporate finance fundamentals. In practice that starts as a first round with bankers, and at PJT the corporate finance half arrives early.
- Interview, final round
- Back-to-back sessions with senior bankers. Restructuring and Special Situations is one of the firm-defining businesses, and the final-round technical content goes there: in-court versus out-of-court, DIP financing, liability management, creditor recoveries and distressed M&A, on top of the standard fundamentals.
- Offer Decisions
- PJT says successful candidates are the ones who exhibited strong potential across the range of attributes that predict success in the role, and that it typically hires a majority of the class from its internship programs.
Sources
Built from what PJT Partners publishes about its own process and from real interview data. No leaked question lists. The questions you get are generated against your own resume, so they are not from anyone else's interview.
The published four-stage process (Explore, Application Selection, Interview, Offer Decisions), the statement that PJT runs a structured interview process aiming to assess aptitude, potential and cultural fit through questions on industry understanding and corporate finance fundamentals, the Suited Assessment linked in the job description and explicitly not weighted more than other factors, penultimate-year eligibility for the Summer Analyst Programme, US applications opening in spring and closing before summer, EMEA and Asia applications opening in September and closing in October, full-time roles posted in early August with interviews in August and September, and the fact that most of the class is hired from the internship programs.
The firm-level framing of the process: from the initial application through interviews and evaluations PJT says it focuses on getting to know the whole person, their skills, aspirations and potential.
The evaluation standard PJT states directly, that through comprehensive interviews it assesses each candidate's expertise, aptitude and alignment with its values, and the values themselves: curiosity, collaboration and integrity. Also names the business lines, including Restructuring and Special Situations.
Investment banking compensation and level context. No interview-process content.
Sources last checked . Hiring loops change, so this date is the honest limit on everything above.