How to get into PE without any banking experience?
(Senior Monkey, 71
Points)
on 12/11/08 at 5:29am
I am currently a college senior. I have accepted a full time offer at a risky BB bank, but also recently applied and interviewed with HBS and Stanford GSB. If I am admitted to HBS, I think I would enroll over doing the analyst program. My concern is whether I will be able to get into PE down the road and whether not doing the analyst program and coming straight from an MBA will shut this door altogether. I am targeting the larger funds, especially Bain Capital and TH Lee.
Hmmm
Wow, congratulations. That's great stuff. Assuming you're accepted to either one of those schools, I think the best thing would be to talk with someone there about your concern. Obviously they know exactly what you're talking about, so they might be willing to help you devise a strategy. As you may know, they are now helping their 2+2 applicants complete two year stints at various firms, include many consulting/IBD groups. My hunch is if you come to them, they will help you out.
Good luck!
just have your dad make a
just have your dad make a phone call to some pe guys and ask them if they could take you on at a measly $120K a year (thats the base salary only, obviously you'll bringing in at least half a million in bonuses/carried interest) and go from there.
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Thank you for the advice
Thank you for the advice Alphaholic. I had spoken with someone at HBS during their college seniors day, and they simply mentioned the possibility of deferring matriculation for 1-2 years while gaining some work experience. This wouldn't be helpful, as it would simply allow me to gain IB work experience, but not pre-MBA PE work experience, which is with what I am most concerned. I feel that most of the adcom don't actually have very much experience with employment recruiting.
Uhm... Ibanking is the
Uhm... Ibanking is the closest experience you can get to PE... If you understand the sell-side deal processes then you'll definetley understand the buy-side alot more.. Plus, you need the modeling experience. PE firms are lean, small deal teams where the Associate handles the bulk of the work so modelling is highly preferrable unless they have a template... What you'll learn at in your MBA theoretical finance class is crap compared to learning about legal documentation and real finance termanology and work...
I was under the impression
I was under the impression that HBS heavily favored some work experience in their candidates.
RE:
MezzCat, i think his point is just doing banking before going to HBS/GSB won't position himself that much better than anyone else without any pre-MBA PE experience... which i think is partially true. if you don't have PE on your resume before going to HBS/Stanford, the people who do at those schools are going to get most of the PE interviews when the firms get to campus
the reason i say partially, getting a PE job w/o pre-MBA experience has been done before, but i hear it's tough... it's gotta be near impossible without any work experience at all.
FreeCashFool - yes, that is
FreeCashFool - yes, that is my concern. Would it be advisable to reapply in 4-5 years after doing both the IB analyst program and a pre-MBA PE associate program or is there a way around this? Time-wise, it would make much more sense to just do the MBA now, but I fear that I am closing future doors by doing so. The reason that I applied to HBS so early is because I feel that at this point in my life my profile is unique enough where it might get me in. I fear that if I pass up this opportunity and reapply a few years down the line, I might not be able to get in.
Speaking a bit from experience..
and the concensus on these boards, PE shops big and small do favor 1-2 years in banking and 2-4 in PE before b-school as you've said.
Find someone else at H/S and talk with them. Explain to them your situation, and ask their advice. Once you're in, look to speak with someone from their career center. Obviously they will know better than adcomm.
If you go directly to an MBA
If you go directly to an MBA program from undergrad rather than gaining some work experience, you are going to close a lot of opportunities, not just PE....
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I'm from Europe and MBAs are
I'm from Europe and MBAs are not so common over here as opposed to the US, so I was wondering why someone would go back to business school when already having a job in a PE firm? I always thought people would do it after 1-5 years work experience in order to reach another level career-wise or just to switch industries, like from IT into Finance or more common from I-Banking into PE. If they are already in PE, what's the sense? just to build a network? one could assume by then they would have built a strong network already anyway..?
RE:
@uru: personally, i wouldn't go to b-school right after undergrad because i do believe it closes some doors... plus you're not nearly as marketable as the people you're competing with in your class (when they already have 2-5 years of experience). it's the same idea from a PE perspective.. you won't have PE experience or any modeling/due diligence experience from banking/consulting, so why would any PE firm recruit you?
i think it's a worthy gamble... defer 2 years, go do your IB stint, interview with PE firms, if things don't shake out, then go to b-school. if things do work out, tell HBS/GSB sorry that you have to defer longer or you'll reapply when the time is right.
of course this is all moot if you don't get in, but here's hoping you do.. you have some good options ahead of you.
@panta_rhei: my sense for this is that people are burnt out after 2 yrs of banking and 2 yrs of PE... you need time to recover and b-school is a perfect, sensible way of doing that without sacrificing your career. PE firms generally are big supporters of their pre-MBAs going off to b-school too because they feel the network is quite valuable. that said, if you can withstand the grind and you do get an offer to stay, then getting an MBA is probably suboptimal
If I had an offer to
If I had an offer to continue on as a post-MBA without getting one, I would. Most bigger funds require MBA's, though.
follow-up question: how
follow-up question: how possible is it to go from being a banking Associate to a PE Associate (Undergrad -> MBA -> IB -> PE)? Would this be at all possible?
Blackstone, Silver Lake and
Blackstone, Silver Lake and Bain have hired PE "analysts" this year - Silver Lake in particular has recently increased the size of this program. These are jobs right out of college and they work on deal teams with "associates" - the pre-mba former banking analysts.
HBS and GSB have given people out of college two year deferrals. Not as a part of the 2+2 program at HBS
Bottom line is that given the market blows and there are so many hitters coming out of the labor market, both HBS and GSB may be more accommodating in relinquishing one of the spots this year than most. Get in. Be pumped. And then worry about the game plan to PE - which will likely be different two years from now. Good Luck.