Blackstone Recruiting Has Gone Bonkers

Good luck to anyone applying for their private equity group. Just about every single one of the analysts is a summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa graduate of an Ivy league institution. Many of them were valedictorian or salutatorian of their college class, too.

Most them have profiles like: National Merit Scholar > Oxford University study abroad > Goldman internship > Ivy League valedictorian > Blackstone Analyst

The other groups (e.g. real estate) seem a bit more inclusive of different profiles. Basically you need to have a Rhodes-Scholar-like profile from an Ivy institution in order to get into the private equity group. (A big exception, of course, for some "diversity" hires, as Blackstone has a recruiter assigned to recruit exclusively female candidates.)



 
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Blame yourself for not being a competitive applicant

 
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just checked some female blackstone PE analysts' linkedin profiles. if you think they are less qualified than their male counterparts, you are more than likely a slow adult. like, very slow. 

 

Sorry not in PE. Is this a joke on low returns or a praise of high returns?

 

It’s pretty low for PE as a whole but not as much for its size. For context, you’ll get 10% from the S&P in an average year.

“When you pull on that jersey, the name on the front is a hell of a lot more important than the name on the back"
 

Net returns for every BCP fund: 19, 32, 14, 36, 8, 13, and 21 percent.

If you put $1 in the S&P and $1 in BCP I and let it compound, you'd have under $25 in the S&P and over $250 in BCP. They get rich because they're good.

But yeah, whatever let's you sleep at night.

Most of those big IRRs were from their earlier funds, which were significantly smaller. Their most recent funds (the current, scaled version of BX) - BCP V (~$21B), VI (~$15B), and VII (~$19B), generated net returns of 8%, 13%, and 21%, respectively. Solid, but not THAT amazing.

No disrespect at all to BX, they've built a fantastic business and brand, but their returns are not as good as they used to be. There's just a lot of capital chasing too few opportunities. I think PE is still a great asset class to invest in, but as an LP there are a handful of other GPs I'd give my money to first.

 

^ There are several valedictorians at Harvard each year. It's really a matter of majoring in a soft subject (not STEM) to avoid getting the 1 A- that the next 20 kids all ranked "second" got hit by. It requires a lot of brushing up to professors/TAs but it's not as earth-shattering as it seems. That said, still very impressive, and very deserving of the spot (gender is definitely not a consideration here).

Recruitment process for BX aside from the network/connection hires is legit. I don't understand why there's so much hate...it's the best / safest MFPE analyst program in existence and an unparalleled one for placing into elite HF after 3-year analyst program. Obviously they take the top pedigree students. There's only 5 spots in their traditional corporate PE group. People complaining are just mad because they didn't spend as much time grinding their GPAs or failed the interviews.

 

All those tricks/games to win the valedictorian badge (gerrymandering the measuring stick, hobnobbing and brown nosing, only playing the game that makes you look best, etc) necessary are real world skills that help you excel far more than getting an A+ in biochem based on pure mental horsepower and brute force studying — unless your life goal is being a particle physicist at Princeton.

 

The GE analyst profiles are fake PE. They're in portco valuations and BX tends to take kids from F500 FLDP programs to fill these roles at analyst comp w/o the bonus

 

Seriously. Dating has gone absolutely bonkers. Everyone dating a model is either attractive, has a good personality, or has money

 

^ hasn't this always been the case? they are models after all. at the end of the day, physical attractiveness is the most probable characteristic that guys look for.

You can replace personality with 6ft+ height. With the ridiculous attention ratios that women are getting via instagram/tiktok/tinder nowadays, personality isn't even a variable when there's not enough time to read any message.

 

Just to be clear, are you more concerned about the competitiveness of Blackstone as a whole or of the PE group specifically? I know someone who went to a non-target school (ranked around 30 nationally) who transitioned to Blackstone after two years as an IB analyst at a BB. He was capable academically, but didn't stand out in any profound way like the candidates you describe. Given, he's in the Credit division and not PE, but there are plenty of other examples on LinkedIn (where I assume you are finding these "profiles") of people that went to similar non-HYPMS schools and are working at Blackstone. They usually don't specify that they're in PE or not, but I don't see a reason to assume they aren't. 

 

I just really think it does a disservice to anyone who comes across this site. Maybe the graduate from IU/UofI/Penn State doesn't get the interview for BX. Regardless, I'm sure said student will get interviews at most UMM/MM PE funds and a plethora of HFs that care less about pedigree. There are at most 50 MF associate seats to fill a year; if the prospect of not having access to one of those seats really bothers you, then I suggest you pretend like they don't even exist. You'll be just as happy and successful at another place.

 

Good luck to anyone applying for their private equity group. Just about every single one of the analysts is a summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa graduate of an Ivy league institution. Many of them were valedictorian or salutatorian of their college class, too.

Most them have profiles like: National Merit Scholar > Oxford University study abroad > Goldman internship > Ivy League valedictorian > Blackstone Analyst

The other groups (e.g. real estate) seem a bit more inclusive of different profiles. Basically you need to have a Rhodes-Scholar-like profile from an Ivy institution in order to get into the private equity group. (A big exception, of course, for some "diversity" hires, as Blackstone has a recruiter assigned to recruit exclusively female candidates.)

For entry-level, this is true, but if you look at the profile of senior people in the private equity group (Managing Director and Senior Managing Director), you will see much less people with such "gold plated" resumes. Still very accomplished people, no doubt, but they weren't necessarily people who graduated at the top of their class and/or got uber-selective Oxbridge fellowships

Moreover, many of these senior folks joined Blackstone after doing private equity elsewhere or even career-switched from completely different industries (e.g. consulting). I was curious so I looked up a few of the gentlemen who had Harvard or HBS on their profiles, many of them didn't even graduate with honors (I am a Harvard alum so I have access to the alumni directory which displays - besides the usual contact information, etc. - whether someone graduated with honors)

The key takeaway is to not focus on specific firms and just get into the industry. Period.

 

I second Deo's opinion. I work with many PEs including BlackRock.  BlackRock assoc are really capable day one (don't believe I have spoken to one of their analysts).  Over time these gold plated education resume folks move around carving out their own niches and that creates opportunity for people with excellent work experience and success to work at BlackRock (KKR, Carlyle etc).  Of course the real goal is wealth.  Wealth comes from ownership.  Aspire to get in the industry, learn it, and look for a place to become a partner - or a group to create your own shop.

 

Moral of the story: if you don't have that kind of resume, make sure you're born into a family that's worth $30B like several past and present BX PE analysts

 

Really speaks volumes about your intellect if you think I'm "calling him out" in any way shape or form...

 

Well. have you considered dancing really hard in front of thier NYC office. Just get out there and bust some sick moves in from of Steve. He'll probably ignore the fact that you never graduated from space academy

 

Ugh - spin a good story with SG and you'll at least get a phone screen from these guys. And yeah if it looks like their PE team has those hires as the majority, is it really such a surprise? They are regarded as the best, why wouldn't they hire those regarded as the best? They're not even known to be scrappy like certain other MFs. Super prestige-driven. Find your own and what works

 

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