As some of you know, I recently quit my “career” at a Big 4 firm with no prospects, no money, and a growing family. If that sounds irresponsible to you, you’re not alone. Some of my more traditional family members have been unable to hide their disapproval, and I have the distinct feeling that people don’t buy my story; I say I quit to look for something more challenging, lucrative, and meaningful , and all they hear is that I couldn’t handle my job so I came back home. But at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what others think, only what I do.
I had been interviewing all over the place, working as hard as I could, but nothing seemed to be working out. Then, one day I received a mass email from my alma mater’s career center advertising an analyst opening at a respected local PE firm. I submitted my resume and was called back for an interview the next day. The interview went well, apparently, because I was pushed through to the next round immediately. The next round must have gone well too, because I was informed that the third round would be a case study. If I experienced fear after finding out that I didn’t get the investment banking job I was so confident about that I quit my job, it was nothing compared to the feeling I had when facing a PE case study interview with zero experience.
I was under no illusion that my success in interviews so far was because of my technical brilliance. They liked me, and I’m sure some of the interviewers went to bat for me because of that alone. So facing the prospect of a case study interview in which ex-bankers would also be competing was terrifying. After all, bills were stacking up and my only prospect happened to be my dream job. No big deal.
I studied up on case studies, financial modeling, and assessing investments, but the preparation time was very limited. The day finally came, and I woke up early to an email attachment full of historical financial data on a private company. I was still full of fear, but I got to choose how I faced it. I obtained a CapIQ login, locked myself in a room and got to work. I turned my fear into focus and 22 hours later I emerged with financial models, a slide deck, and a recommendation to invest. For all my talk, I had never actually put together a financial model before, but that day I valued the company using trading comps, transaction comps, DCF and an LBO. “Focused” isn’t often used to describe me, except when I’m working toward something I really want… like going from auditor to PE analyst. At the end of those 22 hours, I fell asleep for a few before heading to the company’s offices to present. I presented, was grilled by two associates, a VP, and an MD, and it was clear I didn’t have a pure finance background. But they must have liked something, because I wasn’t even home yet when they called me and told me that the final round is Monday and I’m one of two remaining candidates.
I don’t know what is going to happen. Obviously I hope for the best but even if I don’t get the job I’ve learned some invaluable lessons about myself. I’ve learned that fear is not necessarily a negative emotion, as long as it leads to conquering the source of the fear. I’ve learned that there is nothing to fear at all as long as you are willing to put in the work. And I’ve learned that when you work in such a way that you have no regrets, success will find you. Thomas Jefferson once said, “I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it”. If I didn’t feel that same way before, I do now.
Jesus dude, that's incredible. If you don't mind me asking a few questions (I'm also currently a Big4 auditor looking to break into PE);
1) What was your strategy from the point you quit the Big 4 job? How successful was it up until you received the email from the career center?
2) What about your profile do you think stood out to get you that interview and the interviews following?
3) What resources did you use to teach yourself financial modeling and practice case studies?
4) Did you have any other credentials besides your CPA (MBA, CFA)?
Thanks
My strategy was to work like crazy. See this blog post and this one for some of my processes. Actually, I followed these steps to a T and they really helped me.
My profile was very mediocre to be honest. I've done a few things from a volunteer perspective and I had decent GPA and I worked at Big 4 which is more impressive than we give it credit for, and I lucked into a psuedo-PE internship once. But the most important thing I did was be positive and very enthusiastic and I knew my stuff.
Patrick and Andy will like this, but I honestly used the wallstreetoasis guides like crazy. I learned all the basic ib interview questions from those, and a little from other places like ibankingfaq and BWIS. But that was only a very fundamental understanding, mainly useful in interviews. Like I said, I hadn't ever done an actual financial model. I learned modeling on the spot from templates, the Rosenbaum and Pearl book, and various investopedia articles.
I'm less than a year removed from undergrad, so no MBA. No CFA either. And I thought long and hard about CPA but didn't end up pursuing that either. So, the short answer, is no credentials. Just my experience though, I think as many credentials as possible are a good way to stand out.
Best of luck on Monday! Let us know how it goes.
I'm rooting for you - go get it!
Excellent work, Mr. Manager. Reading your post, I can sense the hope and optimism you have about attaining this job. If you do, auditors everywhere will crown you their king.
However, I implore you not to think of this as a 50% chance of success; talk is cheap. Getting a final round is a world away from getting a full time offer, no matter how many candidates they are bringing in. You need to make this final round your b*tch so they have no choice but to bring you aboard.
I don't aim to discourage you- I think your story is inspiring, and have seen you post about it on WSO and I really want you to get this job and bring your success story back to the community. Keep your eyes laser-focused on the prize and get the job!
Absolutely understand where you are coming from. I like to let some optimism shine through, but I will say I know the process is long and hard and I am not expecting anything.
can you explain exactly why you quit your job? why couldn't you just keep it until you secured your new job?
Due to the fact he was working in the Big 4. That's enough reason, although I didn't have the guts to leave in the manner OP did.
Good luck either way OP, this is a great story
Come on, it's honestly not THAT bad.
There are, however, good and bad times to leave Big 4 audit. My guess is OP didn't want to have to stick around for another busy season so he quit around Sept/Oct vs. having to work through busy season and then quitting in April.
Working 75 - 85 hours a week including weekends, commuting another 15 hours a week, while making time for my family; having daily informational calls and interviews; flying across the country on weekends; taking holiday and vacation time to make this all happen... These are things I was dealing with. In the end it was unfair to me to stay even a minute longer, and unfair to my firm because they need dedicated workers and I like to be dedicated. I had to leave.
Also: If you really want to be invested 100% in something, remove your safety net. I would never have had any of these opportunities if I hadn't left first, especially the one I'm talking about in the article.
Crush Monday.
Awesome story. My fingers are crossed for you and GL on monday!
Good story, All the best!
Best of luck on Monday!
Good work! And good luck! Let us know how it goes.
Great post, best of luck to you. I hope to read the eventual success story.
Love that Jefferson quote, it motivates me to work hard... so many people sit around waiting for their lucky break, you have to make your own luck in this world
Put on your war face and kill it.
go get it!
Go get it! As a former Big 4 employee (consulting) who moved to PE as associate....reach out if you need anything.
I like this story and the quote at the end. I hope you get the job!
That post got me all sorts of jacked up.
Really inspiring. Best of luck!!
Very inspiring! Good luck Monday!
Well done! Good luck for Monday!
Good luck Monday!!!
I love that balls to wall attitude, only way to win in this world. Even if it doesn't work out, you know you gave it all you possibly had
Me too, well done man. From being in PE, I can tell you, you didn't get the final round offer because of your background (or lack thereof) or a flashy financial engineering clinic, you got it because you showed them you wanted their job more than anybody in the candidate pool. Show that same passion Monday, and the jobs your's.
this is awesome man. i am rooting for you. keep us posted!
Great story! Good luck in your final round interview! Can't wait to hear how you nailed it and got the offer!!
To everyone wishing me luck in the process -- thank you! I'll keep you posted.
For those of you that want to follow the same path, read some of the entries in my blog where I explain how I work. It might help you too.
Good luck! I don't know if I would have the balls to quit my job with nothing lined up.
Classic Millenials.
Think they are owed something less than a year out of undergrad.
Good luck man!
The 15 hour commute is not the company's fault. If you don't like working 75-85 hour weeks then why are you going into PE? Don't like working weekends? PE is not for you either.
Sorry to break it to you but the ex-banker will get the job tomorrow.
I second ME207's comments. Classic Millenials.
He wasn't saying he quit because of the hours, he was saying he couldn't continue working those hours while looking for a new job. If you're going to be a dick at least follow the story correctly so you know what to criticize
Ha, I'd say it depends on what you spend those 75-85 hours doing, guys. I did eight years in big 4 audit and wouldn't go back, but I'd definitely take a shot at PE given the chance.
I give millennials craptoo, but some of them are asking for things I didn't have the nerve to try. If it works, great, if not, believe me they'd hire him back.
SB for you. grind hard. win big.
Definitely an inspiring story Mr Manager -- Today's the big day! Best of luck!
(Pre-offer toast) Here's to an offer today! :)
When you get a chance, it would be great if you could give us a few details on that Case study, what they asked... maybe even posting your analysis on your blog (so we youngins can learn / get inspired to make such a ballsy move!)
let u know how it works out! excited for you, and great story
Looking forward to the update... hoping its a positive one for Mr. Manager
Great story, looking forward to reading the next
That's so impressive!
All the best brah
Good luck dude. I hope you get it!!
For anyone interested, stay tuned for the update. I'll link to the new post from this one in the next few days, or you can find it on the homepage. Glad to note that the hater ratio is very, very low.
.
Hey guys, check out the link below for the conclusion to my story.
http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/blog/lessons-from-a-pe-superday
Wow!
How did you put together a financial model using DCF, transaction and trading comps plus an LBO scenario analysis in 22 hours?
Just figuring out the cost of equity using CAPM, WACC,the optimal capital structure, de-leveraging and leveraging beta , the forward spot rates might take 15 minutes. Then you have to factor filling in blank depreciation schedules, debt schedules plus tax adjusted SBC not too mention deferred tax assets and liabilities in the cash flow...that's at least 45 minutes. Another 5 minutes had to be spent "normalizing" earnings. A pro forma LBO balance sheet, income, cash flow, IRR forecast might take 10 minutes as well...
Calculating Enterprise Value/EBITDA and Enterprise Value/Revenue for 20 peer companies including figuring out dilution using the Treasury Stock method had to take at least 5 minutes.
The Gordon Growth formula for valuing DCF terminal value tales a whopping 30 seconds?
In short, why did it take you so long to do simple valuations?
Congratulations, not sure about anyone else but I'm impressed by your benchmark times. Really, I'm slow clapping.
I know it took me a long time, and normally I wouldn't care to explain myself. But since there is maybe a 1% chance you were asking a real question and not just trying to reach record-level unpleasantness, I'll oblige.
I had one or two days in my entire undergrad devoted to valuations in a single summer finance class.
I had literally never built a valuation model in my life. I taught myself how to build the models during those 22 hours.
I had never used a financial database before, and I got the hang of both Bloomberg and CapIQ during those 22 hours.
I built my models from scratch. I did not plug numbers into a template. I built an entire workbook with a different tab for the LBO, DCF, Comps, precedent transactions, WACC calculation, and projected financials.
I formatted and perfected each model. You will not find a single spelling, math, or formula error.
I spent considerable time learning the industry. My qualitative analysis was apparently just as impressive as my quantitative, as it should be in PE.
I spent considerable time on the PowerPoint presentation. I wrote and re-wrote each slide numerous times in order to clearly and concisely convey my analysis.
Finally, I double checked everything. And then I triple checked it.
At the end of the day, I learned in 22 hours what most people learn over the course of their undergraduate degrees or in the first few months of a job. I'm pretty proud of that.
Furthermore, I was given roughly 26 hours to do it, and I had exactly one chance. Why wouldn't I take as much of that time as possible to present the most polished and accurate analysis possible? I couldn't control what my competition would do, so I did everything I could do. And in case you missed my other post, I got the job.
But someday, if I'm lucky, I'll be able to do all of those valuations in exactly 1 hour 20 minutes and 30 seconds, just like you.
Just kidding! If true, Really impressed with your ability...
Thank you :) Sorry for the snarkiness... Don't know why I got defensive, since I've basically been freaking out with excitement for the last week.
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