MBA PE Internships

Greetings monkeys!

I intend to focus on recruiting for MBB and corporate finance there is still a masochistic streak in me that wants to at least attempt PE recruiting. My background is in oil and gas trading.

For there to be any hope whatsoever, there are a few factors I think are requirements. Am I overplaying the importance of the below, as compared to PE recruiting in NY?

  • Focus on small-to-MM oil and gas funds in lower-demand cities like Houston or Dallas
  • Intern with at least one firm before or during business school

So my question here is: would it be useful to reach out to local firms and offer to help work on some project before heading off to school? Or would they view that mostly as a nuisance? I have a list of about 50 firms that are local and operate in oil and gas, albeit only a handful of direct contacts at any of those funds.

 
Best Response

If you want to do it and have the time, I would say it can't hurt.

One other comment not related to the pre-MBA internship. I'm a Booth 2Y joining MBB and I do think you should consider the constraints of the recruiting timeline before you spread yourself too thin. It's basically impossible to recruit for full time roles in PE if you get an offer from MBB. PE firms tend to do just in time hiring, so it's unlikely you'll get full time offers before April / May of your second year. MBB offers (for both returning interns and full time hires) are set to expire on December 1st as that's Booth's policy to firms that come on campus.

This often turns the situation into an either / or decision for the (very few) folks that are split b/w MBB and PE. You MIGHT be able to find a PE firm that gives you an offer prior to the MBB offer expiration, but it's highly unlikely, especially given the career switching aspect.

Just my $.02.

 
ConsultingQuant:
If you want to do it and have the time, I would say it can't hurt.
Really appreciate your advice broadly, and specifically in response to this - do you guys feel it would be best to 'soft open' and ask to talk about their firm/experience in PE/etc. before broaching the topic of an internship, or just come right out with the ask of helping out on a one-off project?
 

The only way you are going to successfully transition is by hustling hard to find internships before and during your program to gain actual on the job experience. Although you have a decent background, you lack the transactional experience that is a must for post MBA PE and as it currently stands, I would say that your chances of landing PE is incredibly slim. Keep in mind though that even if you intern before you start and during school, getting PE will still be a long shot and a fairly risky move because: -As mentioned above, you cannot recruit both for MBB and PE, the timeline just don't match. MBB recruiting is very structured and deadline for offers will fall much before PE recruiting so if you decide on going for PE, you'll have to put all all of you hope on PE as you won't be able to benefit from OCR (since it will be done by the time PE firms get around to giving offers). -To my knowledge, there aren't any energy PE firms in Chicago so interning during the school year might be more challenging. You could potentially find something where you work remotely, but I think people would discount that experience a bit. -Overall, in the industry, there's attrition at the MBA (ie. less people leave bschool for PE than people coming in from PE). Why, PE firms have senior associate / vp classes that are way, way smaller than their associate classes. In practice, it means you will be competing for jobs with a lot of people who did the traditional 2+2 and were not offered a spot back at their old fund. Even with a ton of internship experience, it's going to be really, really hard to compete against those guys.

It's definitely not impossible, 2 of my good friends transitioned from tier 2 consulting to PE by continuously working 1 or 2 internships (ie. 2-4 days for week at the office on top of school), but keep in mind that it will be A LOT of work with no guarantee of success.

 

Thanks everyone! Looks like bananas were just the incentive we needed.

So I guess one way to go about it is try for PE lab in year one, meanwhile talking to tons of Houston/Dallas firms, trying to gauge what level of traction I would have in FT recruiting. Then after summer internship in consulting, make the judgment call on just how big my risk appetite is. It seems extremely risky no matter how you slice it, as I am not apt to graduating in debt and with no job or prospects...

mtnmmnn:
-To my knowledge, there aren't any energy PE firms in Chicago so interning during the school year might be more challenging. You could potentially find something where you work remotely, but I think people would discount that experience a bit.
There are a very small handful, but I should have been more clear that I would be industry agnostic as far as any internship in Chicago goes. Obviously PE experience is paramount there rather than being myopic about which industry they invest in. Thanks for the feedback!
 
Sirabid:

Referrals of you MDs and VPs/Principals will help you secure interviews. And Stern alum in PE in whatever market should be helpful.

The problem I have is that I'm in a small firm in the midwest and they don't have much of a network in NYC, so I can't get referrals from them really. I don't want to come back here, either, so I'm looking at working at developing a new network in NYC, essentially. Of course, the Partners I work with would be more than willing to provide me with a recommendation, if that's what you meant, but they don't have anyone they could refer me to in NYC.

Also, my firm focuses mainly in industrial/manufacturing businesses, but I'm on the board for a health insurance company outside of work. Could I leverage that to transition to healthcare PE?

 
TwoThrones:

Dang @Khayembii sorry to derail thread, but you chose Stern? Any reasons why?

It was the only one I wasn't rejected at lol. In the end though I'm fine with it, at least it gets me into the city to network and also IMO is a much better school than the prestige whores on WSO say. Will I have a disadvantage if I wanted to go megafund? Definitely, but my prior experience already pretty much rules that out anyways.

 

The key here, as others have said, it networking. Referrals don't matter as much as your prior experience. You should be able to speak intelligently about your experiences in PE and that will count for a lot. Big advantage in my opinion.

Commercial Real Estate Developer
 

I've always heard its H/S/W for PE otherwise its a pretty uphill battle. If I were you I'd reapply to any of these schools or try going into Banking / Consulting after school and then try to transition. Otherwise, you could try to work for a no-name middle market PE fund in NYC but I don't find this really adds to much since prestige is very important at these jobs. Good luck!

 

I won't reiterate networking - seems we've got that topic prettttty well covered on this thread. So I'll add some ON campus things you should consider. For one, and I'm sure you'll do this, but join and become really active in the Stern PE club. Not only does this help you with networking, but a lot of opportunities in niche industries circumvent campus recruiting (VC, startups, etc. are the others). Also, take PE coursework as soon as you possibly can. Doing well in those classes (try to stand out as a student) can open you up to the network of the professors too. Many professors have informal policies where they'll help anyone who gets an A in their class or something to that effect. So make sure you fully exploit the Stern community / experience too! But yeah, holy coffee chats Batman!

Bhavik

Bhavik | Managing Partner Critical Square | MBA Admissions Services Sign up for a free consultation today! https://criticalsquare.com/contact-us/free-mba-profile-consultation/
 

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