Rothschild & Co interview process

1. Step 1

   First round

   A phone or video screen on your resume, technical basics, and why Rothschild, after online reasoning tests.

   • Expect questions on your background, technical fundamentals, and motivation for advisory work.
   • Numerical and logical reasoning tests run online beforehand as a pass/fail filter.
   • “Why Rothschild?”
   • “Walk through a DCF, including how you'd handle terminal-value sensitivity.”

2. Step 2

   Assessment centre

   An assessment centre (Europe) or superday (US): a group case exercise, an individual CIM case, and senior-banker interviews.

   • Prepare a 60-minute individual case: review a CIM, then present a recommendation.
   • A team case study exercise tests how you build a transaction strategy with peers.
   • Two to three interviews with senior bankers probe commercial awareness and cultural fit.
   • “Explain the difference between FCFF and FCFE.”
   • “How does depreciation flow through the three financial statements?”

Share of the 10 Rothschild & Co questions in our bank by topic. Each topic links to a worked example.

1. Behavioral questions50%
2. Mental math and markets20%
3. Enterprise value bridge10%
4. DCF questions10%
5. Accretion and dilution10%

• A full DCF walkthrough, including how terminal-value assumptions change the answer.
• The difference between FCFF and FCFE, and how each feeds a valuation.
• How depreciation moves through the income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement.
• Accretion and dilution mechanics and precedent-transaction analysis for M&A questions.
• For the New York office: capital structure, the Chapter 11 process, and credit analysis.

Real questions from the set. Open one to answer it with grading.

• Walk me through a recent M&A dealBehavioral questions|Advanced
• Senior vs junior debt in a capital structureMental math and markets|Advanced
• Enterprise value vs equity value and the bridgeEnterprise value bridge|Basic
• Walk me through a DCFDCF questions|Basic
• Is a stock-for-stock deal accretive or dilutive?Accretion and dilution|Advanced
• Why R&Co and not a bulge bracket or Lazard?Behavioral questions|Basic
• What is the price of oil, and what is your view on the markets?Mental math and markets|Advanced
• Why DA&R (Debt Advisory & Restructuring)?Behavioral questions|Basic

• Defend your reasoning on every technical answer: interviewers here probe assumptions with follow-ups rather than accept a memorized conclusion.
• If you speak a second European language, use it naturally in conversation; it is a tested advantage in London interviews, not a footnote.
• Prepare a specific, current view on the office's market: Paris or Frankfurt M&A activity, or New York restructuring and credit trends.
• Treat the assessment centre's case study like a real CIM review: build a recommendation with named assumptions, not a rehearsed framework.