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Eric, 26, is an associate at a midsized private equity firm in Manhattan&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;6:30 a.m.: &lt;/b&gt; I&#39;m already up and dressed and heading out the door to catch a cab.  I&#39;m lucky enough to be making enough already to afford a cab to work every day after three years, and I only have to walk a half-block to find one. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;7:15 a.m.: &lt;/b&gt; In the door at work, a cup of Starbucks in hand.  I&#39;ve responded to the most urgent e-mails on the BlackBerry on the ride down, so at this point, I&#39;m taking on the less urgent or more complicated things that have to be done before the principal gets in at 8.  Some of these are research items that I&#39;ll have to get to later, others can be answered pretty easily.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;8:15 a.m.: &lt;/b&gt; Meet briefly with my principal to see where the day will take us.  In general, we&#39;re working on two or three different things at once.  Right now, we&#39;re in the middle of negotiations with one company, looking at distressed debt at another and in preliminary research on a third.  I&#39;m given some research to do and some calls to make for the day.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;9:00 a.m.: &lt;/b&gt; A quick chat with my opposite at the investment bank that&#39;s advising on one of our deals.  We handle the grunt stuff so the managing directors and such can do their thing.  In this case, we&#39;re trying to get details on possible debt structures to do after the deal, to see what both sides can stomach. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;10:00 a.m.: &lt;/b&gt; I spend the next couple of hours digging up some distressed debt historicals and putting together a profile of our distressed debt idea.  I&#39;m starting to wonder whether it&#39;s going to be worth it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;12:00 p.m.: &lt;/b&gt; Lunch.  Au Bon Pain today.  I take it back to my desk and keep going.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;1:00 p.m.: &lt;/b&gt; The investment bank calls back, and it looks like we may have some movement on structuring future debt at the company that&#39;s furthest along in negotiations.  I give my principal the heads up and we set up a call between their investment bank, our investment bank, us and the company.  We manage to do it for 5--pretty fast.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;2:00 p.m.: &lt;/b&gt; Prep for the conference call.  We gather all the material we have, call and e-mail back and forth, and get a basic agenda ginned up for everyone to see.  I give my principal a &quot;to-do&quot; list of things left outstanding.  I also order up some dinner for everyone in our office who will be on the call.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;5:00 p.m.: &lt;/b&gt; We start the call and start hashing out the debt structures.  If I have ideas, I pass notes to my principal.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;6:00 p.m.: &lt;/b&gt; Dinner arrives.  We keep going on the call as we eat. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;7:20 p.m.: &lt;/b&gt; The call wraps up.  There&#39;s a preliminary agreement, but both sides have to go back and run it up the flagpole.  I head back to my desk to enter my new tasks into my Outlook before I head home.  That&#39;ll include the flagpole document--I bullet out what should go in there and give it to my principal before I head home.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;8:00 p.m.:&lt;/b&gt; Cab back home.  I may work a little after dinner, or not.  This was a long day--usually I&#39;m out by 6.&lt;/p&gt;

Derek Loosvelt

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