Getting In and Staying In at Apollo

To get hired and survive in a new job, nothing matters more than fitting in with a prospective employer's corporate culture. The Wall Street Journal recently showcased three inside tips about the culture at Apollo Management, based on a campus Web site's interview with Mark Rowan, a founding partner of the influential private equity shop.

First, close to half of Apollo's staff are graduates of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School (either the undergraduate college or the M.B.A. program).

Second, be prepared to speak up frankly at meetings - and more important in your first days at the company, expect teammates to pull no punches when responding to your ideas. New hires "are almost shocked to see the three leaders of the firm yelling at each other," Rowan told the university's online magazine, Knowledge@Wharton.

Finally, have a thick skin outside of work too. Rowan describes reassuring his fur-wearing wife that the placard-waving protesters at an event they attended were there not to attack fur coats, but "hedge funds and private equity."