I applied through an employee referral. The process took 1 day. I interviewed at Ares Management (Los Angeles, CA) in Jan 2008
Interview
They conducted a phone interview followed by interviews with every member of the team on a one on one basis (no group interview). The questions were fairly standard around finance topics plus your usual fit questions. There were no case interviews of timed homework questions, which I know other firms use. I don't know if they have modified their interview techniques since then.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Which of our portfolio companies is the best and why?
1st Round was a super day with 3 back-to-back interviews.
The interviewers were very nice and easy to talk to, they asked high level questions about my experience to gauge how it could connect to the open role.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Describe a project that you worked on with multiple stakeholders.
I applied online. I interviewed at Ares Management in Sep 2025
Interview
Overall the interview process was very long. It consisted of an initial screening, 1st round technical, a case study assessment followed by multiple 'culture' interviews. The interviews were initially remote but majority were in person
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Asked to create a project plan related to the role
I applied through a recruiter. I interviewed at Ares Management in Feb 2025
Interview
3 stages with the final being a very difficult case study. The case study involved modelling from a blank excel and then being quizzed about it in an investment committee style presentation