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PJT Partners interview questions
PJT-specific prep: RSSG's restructuring rigor, spin-off history, and the technical bar of a top boutique.
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Every question in the deck
- How was PJT Partners created, and when did it become an independent public company?
- Who is Paul J. Taubman, and why does his background matter in a PJT interview?
- What was PJT Capital, and what did Taubman accomplish in the period between leaving Morgan Stanley and the Blackstone deal?
- Why did Blackstone spin off its advisory businesses to create PJT Partners? Explain the conflict logic an interviewer expects you to articulate.
- Which businesses did PJT Partners inherit from Blackstone in the 2015 spin-off?
- What kind of firm is PJT Partners, and how would you describe its positioning in one or two sentences?
- Where is PJT Partners headquartered?
- How does PJT's origin story differ from boutiques like Moelis or Centerview, and why is that a useful interview point?
- What does PJT's 'advice-only' model mean concretely, and what are the honest tradeoffs versus a balance-sheet bank?
- Sketch the historical arc of PJT Partners in five beats — the version that shows real homework in a 'what do you know about us' answer.
- Give the model answer structure for 'Why PJT Partners specifically?'
- How do you answer 'Why PJT over a bulge bracket?' without sounding naive about what bulge brackets offer?
- How do you answer 'Why PJT over Evercore, Centerview, Lazard, or Moelis?' — the boutique-versus-boutique question?
- What cultural traits does PJT emphasize about itself, and how do you evidence them credibly in an interview?
- What does a 'lean deal team' actually mean for an analyst's day-to-day at a firm like PJT?
- Give the model answer structure for 'Why restructuring?' in a PJT RSSG interview.
- How do you talk about the advantages of independent advice without trashing banks that lend and trade?
- What questions should you ASK a PJT interviewer at the end?
- Give the 30-second 'what do you know about PJT Partners' opening — the basic version every candidate must have cold.
- PJT's analyst classes are small. How should that reshape your behavioral interview strategy compared with a bulge bracket process?
- What are PJT Partners' main business lines?
- What does PJT's Strategic Advisory business actually do beyond sell-side and buy-side M&A?
- What is RSSG at PJT, and where did the franchise come from?
- Why is the restructuring business considered strategically valuable to PJT as a firm — not just prestigious?
- What is PJT Park Hill, and what does a placement agent actually do?
- What is PJT Camberview, and why did PJT buy it?
- In restructuring, what's the difference between debtor-side and creditor-side mandates?
- Make the strategic case for how PJT's pieces fit together — the 'diversified pure-advisory firm' argument.
- How does recruiting at PJT Partners work structurally — what should a candidate verify before applying?
- What is PJT RSSG's reputation among candidates for technical difficulty, and what does that imply for prep?
- Build a prep plan for a PJT RSSG interview — what do strong candidates actually study?
- What are the most common self-inflicted mistakes in PJT interviews, and how do you avoid each?
- An RSSG interviewer asks a restructuring technical you genuinely don't know. What's the recovery protocol?
- What typically pushes a company into restructuring? Distinguish the two core types of distress.
- What are the key credit metrics you'd check to assess whether a company's capital structure is sustainable?
- What are the three core valuation methodologies, and how does a restructuring context change how each is used?
- Walk me through the priority waterfall — who gets paid in what order in a bankruptcy?
- What is DIP financing, and why would anyone lend money to a company that just filed for bankruptcy?
- Chapter 7 versus Chapter 11 — what's the difference, and what is a 363 sale?
- Explain the automatic stay, the plan of reorganization, and cramdown — the core Chapter 11 machinery.
- What is the fulcrum security, and why does everyone in a restructuring care where it sits?
- Out-of-court restructuring versus Chapter 11 — walk through the tradeoffs an advisor weighs.
- A bond is trading at 60 cents on the dollar. What does that tell you, and what's the difference between its current yield and yield to maturity?
- How do you value a distressed company? Walk through how the standard toolkit changes and what gets added.
- A company in restructuring gets $100 of debt forgiven. Walk through the three statements, and flag the tax nuance.
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