How did you know you wanted to do PE and what PE firms to recruit for?
Been getting contacted by some headhunters recently but was never one of those people with the PE or bust mindset since day 1. Banking hasn't been horrible so far me, but I also don't have any passion for it. It's a job. However, it's also a job I don't see myself doing forever. And because of those headhunter emails, I'm feeling some pressure to jump to private equity. But I don't think I'd feel much different towards PE. It'd just be another job. So how did you guys decide to go into PE? Especially interested in hearing from people who also didn't have a burning passion for it.
My thinking right now is that I might enjoy a MM / LMM firm due to generally better hours and potentially more involvement in the portfolio companies, which I do think would be kind of cool. I'm also definitely willing to take less pay. Assuming I continue down this line of thinking, how should I narrow down the firms to apply to? Would really appreciate any advice!
Bump
I decided to go to PE for a few reasons:
1) Was getting burned out at my MBB, which are typically touted as having better WLB than banking/other careers--but the workload was much higher than I had been pitched (mostly because of COVID, but whatever) and I decided that, hell, if I was going to be working the hours I was working, I might as well double my pay
2) I had heard from everyone that getting into PE after business school was MUCH harder if you didn't have it on your resume. While this point has some debate, I think that it generally stood true and frankly I didn't want to close the door on an industry I hadn't tried, I was pretty risk averse in that way so decided to take the plunge and recruit for it
3) I grew up in a trailer and did not come from money or wealth, so knowing that I could go into an industry (outside consulting) that would earn me more than I had ever seen in my life, and afford me the ability to re-buy my mother that powder-blue 1965 Mustang that she sold to when our house burned down to make ends meet made me want it even more
But I wasn't an excel monkey and being from MBB made me want to get in there with the portcos and get my hands dirty. I didn't want my skillset to be focused on getting better leverage or modeling deals, I wanted it to be on growing and professionalizing businesses (outside of the investing) so LMM/MM was clearly a better for for me than UMM or MF. I was also very clear that I didn't want to live in NYC or SF (family of 4 so didn't want to spend half my salary on rent alone), so my choices were narrowed. Once I got my offer, and confirmed that I would be 1) working less, 2) getting paid more, 3) have more autonomy and 4) able to work remote, it was a no-brainer.
But a more high level comment--you've got the ability to grind, know how to do amazing quant work, and have been around high performers in banking. This experience puts you above, like, and insane amount of the population. I wouldn't get caught in the trap of thinking that PE is the place to be just because the headhunters are talking about it--don't let exposure/frequency bias get to you. You should also look at business development in tech/F500 because that might be right up your alley. Point is, if all you're seeing is headhunter emails, then all you're going to think about it PE. You should get on lists from headhunters that do everything else and PE (like Glocap or the Accelerated Newsletter) and really see what the options are. You'll see more and you'll have a better base off which to choose where to go.
LMK if that's clear!
This is incredibly insightful! Thanks so much!
I recruited on-cycle for my UMM role back in 2019 when on-cycle kicked off 2 months into our first year analyst stint. Learned the hard way that I really didn't do enough diligence before prepping for interviews so you are asking the right questions. My two cents:
So, applying the above to your situation, it kind of sounds like you know what you want. I'd target LMM / MM firms where you may have a better lifestyle at the sake of lower comp (but frankly the comp difference at age 25 does not matter in the long run; longevity in the industry matters more). I'd also look to Growth Equity / VC as those generally have a bit better lifestyles than PE, though are a slightly different role.
If you are uncertain at all about PE, don't feel compelled to do on-cycle. My best analyst buddy decided not to do on-cycle and found a perfect firm in off-cycle, so really the pressure to do on-cycle is overrated unless you really know you want to work at a MF. Hope this helps!
Also incredibly helpful! I couldn't imagine jumping into PE recruiting 2 months into the job lol. I'm several months into IB and still feel like I haven't fully gotten the whole experience yet
Given my non-target background etc, I viewed getting into the best PE shop I could as a personal challenge first rather than prioritizing whether I was interested in being a principal investor. Truth be told I was very happy in my banking role and had a good team around me but chose to pursue PE because of my own poorly informed insecurities of proving to myself and others that I could secure and crush the role. Hindsight of course, is 20/20, and this ended up being a role I was not happy in at all but figured this perspective might help.
Point being, don't feel like you need to go into PE just because you're getting reach-outs or because other people in your class are going into it. If you're not passionate about banking, think about industry jobs which might be interesting or think about pivoting into something outside of finance like product at a tech company. Obviously the money aspect is there that you won't get paid as well but leave it out of the equation and focus on what will actually make you happy day to day.
Did you ever consider going back to banking
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