We’ll be honest: The odds of getting hired as a first-year analyst at Blackstone are pretty grim.
As we reported recently in Fortune, this past year 62,000 people applied for 169 spots, making it 12 times as tough as gaining acceptance to Harvard. That said, there are things you can do to improve your odds. Fortune spoke to Paige Ross, global head of human resources at Blackstone, to gain some intel on the process. Ross reports that technology has helped Blackstone expand its reach. In 2015, Blackstone’s in-person approach meant it recruited from just nine schools. The firm currently uses a hybrid in-person and virtual recruiting strategy to connect to more than 1,000 schools, including historically black colleges and universities, Ross said.
Blackstone employees, like most Wall Street staffers, are back in the office. For many at BX, the day starts between 8:30 a.m. and 9 a.m. each morning and finishes whenever the work is done. (One former Blackstone analyst said staff will work until 9 p.m. when their managers are in the office. When they’re not present, employees typically leave between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m.) Blackstone employees don’t watch the clock, Ross noted. “We hire people that are really talented and professional, and we ask them to use their judgment,” she said.
Here are some tips for navigating the Blackstone interview process:
1. Be on time for your interview. Blackstone won’t hold arriving late against you, but it’s not a good thing, Ross said.
2. Be a team player. Blackstone likes people who are friendly and know how to work well with others. Candidates who can speak about their experiences in teams or clubs, as well as their leadership roles, typically do better. Those who emphasize their accomplishments alone (i.e., “I did this, I won that”) don’t.
3. Send thank-you notes and make sure to get the proper spelling of the executive’s name. While emails are acceptable, Ross said she has received about a dozen handwritten notes in her career and appreciated each of them. “I don’t really get [handwritten notes] anymore. When I do get one, I’m like, ‘Oh, that’s so nice,’” she said.
4. References are more important for senior hires and less so for analyst roles.
5. In interviews, candidates should be prepared to speak about themselves while answering questions. One question that Ross said she often asks is: “Give me an example of something that you didn’t do well. What did you do to fix it, and what did you learn from it?”
Another possible question is: “What advice would you give your younger self?”
6. When answering questions, candidates should avoid blaming others. Throwing others “under the bus” is a red flag for Blackstone.
7. Make sure to check your résumé for spelling and grammar. Firms will often throw out résumés with errors, the former BX analyst said.
8. Prepare for interviews by doing more than just reading up on salient topics during your subway ride to the meeting. When interviewing with a specific group, learn what they do and come armed with good questions.
9. Update your LinkedIn profile and make sure it’s correct.
10. Double-check that your social media is private and/or clean.