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Military to PE
 

CCMonkey's picture
(Chimp, 5
 
Points)
 on 5/28/12 at 7:45am
military to private equity

I am an MD at a mid market PE fund. Service Academy grad. Figured I would give my two cents on the whole military to PE question...

Military experience is nice. I like to see it. In fact I will always take time out of my schedule to talk to a veteran or current military member who calls or emails me, even if it is a totally random cold call. However, please realize that not all military backgrounds are the same.

I admit it, I discriminate a bit based on what someone actually did in the military. For me that means I am more likely to bend over backwards for someone who was in the same service/branch than someone who did something totally different than what I did. I suspect other veterans have the same attitude even if they don’t realize it.

Simply put, military experience is not a determinant on who we hire. We need transaction experience not military experience. Also, as I am only guy with military experience at my fund, we aren’t going to take a chance on someone with no finance experience just because they were in the military. If, however, a pre-MBA analyst candidate is coming off 2 years as an analyst at a legitimate bank and has a couple of years of prior active duty service, I would think that they would be a very strong candidate (although personally I have never seen any pre-MBA candidates who were active duty prior service).

A post-MBA candidate without any transaction experience is in the same boat as a pre-MBA candidate. They really don’t add enough value to justify the expense and aren’t someone we would hire. A prior service MBA who spent a couple of years as an associate at an investment bank is probably in the same position as other MBA’s with only sell-side experience trying to get into PE: Without any buy-side time it’s tough. Really tough.

All that being said, each fund and its managers are different. Sometimes being at the right place at the right time is the most important thing. The guy on here who was able to network directly from the air force to a PE analyst gig obviously didn’t have any transaction experience, so it can be done, but it’s the exception rather than the rule. My advice would be to network as much as possible, but have a backup plan as the odds are long.

As a side note, Service Academy guys suck at networking. We are really bad. While I don’t bother with linkedin, I am listed in some alumni data bases as being in private equity. I think I have received less than 3 networking attempts/cold calls/emails from other service academy grads over the last 5 years. Considering there aren’t many folks listed as being in PE in the first place it means no one is even bothering to network.

Tags:
cplpayne's picture

Your PM inbox must be flooded

IB
(Gorilla, 518
 
Points)
 on 5/28/12 at 9:14am

Your PM inbox must be flooded by now

"One should recognize reality even when one doesn't like it, indeed, especially when one doesn't like it." - Charlie Munger

Imperialian's picture

i think it depends. there

ST
(Baboon, 173
 
Points)
 on 5/28/12 at 9:52am

i think it depends. there are some people who really hated their time at the Military.

Whiskey5's picture

Happy memorial day and thanks

IB
(Gorilla, 703
 
Points)
 on 5/28/12 at 11:24am

Happy memorial day and thanks for your service.

wannabeaballer's picture

Thanks for the advice. I

O
 
Points)
 on 5/28/12 at 3:24pm

Thanks for the advice. I will try to develop my networking skills.

Gun Control Discussion

Rupert Pupkin's picture

cplpayne: Your PM inbox must

IB
 
Points)
 on 5/28/12 at 9:28pm
cplpayne:

Your PM inbox must be flooded by now

You would think so, but I would imagine the amount of prior enlisted guys who made it into IB is pretty low.

cplpayne's picture

Rupert

IB
(Gorilla, 518
 
Points)
 on 5/28/12 at 11:12pm
Rupert Pupkin:
cplpayne:

Your PM inbox must be flooded by now

You would think so, but I would imagine the amount of prior enlisted guys who made it into IB is pretty low.

True.....I meant just for putting it out there that he was an MD at a PE firm in general.

"One should recognize reality even when one doesn't like it, indeed, especially when one doesn't like it." - Charlie Munger

Rupert Pupkin's picture

cplpayne: Rupert

IB
 
Points)
 on 5/28/12 at 11:19pm
cplpayne:
Rupert Pupkin:
cplpayne:

Your PM inbox must be flooded by now

You would think so, but I would imagine the amount of prior enlisted guys who made it into IB is pretty low.

True.....I meant just for putting it out there that he was an MD at a PE firm in general.

Oh ya I'm sure his inbox is at full capacity.

military_monkey's picture

Based on your outlook, I take

 
Points)
 on 6/5/12 at 12:55pm

Based on your outlook, I take it that you would advise military candidates to try to get transaction experience in IB before trying to enter PE, correct?

I successfully networked into consulting coming out of the military and am trying to do the same in PE.

cphbravo96's picture

CCMonkey, thanks for taking

PE
 
Points)
 on 6/5/12 at 2:06pm

CCMonkey, thanks for taking the time to explain your view. I think most of the veterans that post here somewhat regularly generally explain what you've outlined, but it's good to get confirmation from the top.

As an aside, I would like for you to check out American Corporate Partners (if you've never heard of it), which is a mentoring program for veterans. The organization tries to link up departing service members and veterans with people in the corporate world in an effort to help them make that transition. I participated in the program a few years back and think it's a great program. The one major drawback is getting people in 'high finance' to participate. I realize that the job responsibilities of investment banking and private equity don't lend itself to vast amounts of spare time but the program really isn't too time consuming for the mentor's point of view.

Coincidentally, I was on the phone with one of their representatives about an hour ago and she made the comment about not having very many 'finance' guys as mentors. I believe they typically end up with Fortune 500 folks so, at best, their "finance guys" are more corporate finance, maybe corporate development type folks. Now, clearly something is better than nothing for our veterans, but I personally believe there are some unique aspects to making the transition to IB and then PE that someone with direct experience could provide some great insight on. Additionally, the career decisions that these guys face later on, such as whether or not to pursue an MBA or take a different path just can't be answered by the majority of the guys that work in corporate finance roles at industry giants. Point is, you could serve as a great mentor because you have direct knowledge of the path that some mentees are attempting to navigate and you could provide some great career guidance. Plus you know others (not necessarily veterans) that could also serve as quality mentors.

Anyways, thanks again for your point of view. Here's their website...

http://www.acp-usa.org/

Regards

"The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant, it's just that they know so much that isn't so."
- Ronald Reagan

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