Interview prep

From the inside

Reasons that work in interviews

5 reasons for Burgundy Asset Management (BMO)

The firm’s investment philosophy is published and almost no candidate reads it. Quoting a manager’s own stated criteria back to them, with one company you applied it to, beats any structural reason here. Say which part you agree with and, if you can defend it, one part you would push on.

1. 1

   Global discretionary manager for private clients, foundations, endowments, pensions and family offices, with a long-term, stable-business, risk-adjusted philosophy.

2. 2

   The research process is explicit and testable: qualitative work through management interviews, site visits and customer calls, alongside DCF-based intrinsic value where the gap to market price is the margin of safety.

3. 3

   The quality criteria are published (barriers to entry, honest and capable management as capital allocators, long-term free cash flow, conservative debt), so you can apply them to a company and bring that to the interview.

4. 4

   The firm looks at smaller businesses as individual companies rather than pieces of a market index, which is a genuine philosophical position you can agree or disagree with.

5. 5

   Small and mid-cap arms alongside the global mandate.