HF <---> PE Internships

So I'm currently interviewing for a few internships, a HF, a boutique M&A firm, and a PE firm, and whilst I'm currently leaning towards the HF as I think I see myself best suited to public markets in the long term, I am also very interested in PE. I've seen a few other posts on here implying a difficulty in jumping from HF to PE due to a perception of a lack of transaction skills.

My question therefore is whether or not this is just the case for those wanting to move across years into their career, or whether it applies to internships as well.

I'd love to, hypothetically, do the HF internship and then do a PE internship afterwards and give myself options into both, and so I want to make sure I'm not pigeonholing myself too early on. For reference, I also have 6 months of M&A internship to date. 

Appreciate any advice on this.

9 Comments
 

Does the timing matter though? Wouldn't a PE firm find it a bit confusing if you had most recently interned at a HF before applying for a FT PE role for example? Or can you always just reason that you were experience gathering prior to taking a FT role?

 

Yep all good I would say, for better safe than sorry, make sure it is a high quality HF experience and not a trash seat that nobody will respect. I would take between HF and PE whichever is better... if we're comparing BX to some guy with $10mm he's investing, take BX. If we're talking some PE fund with $50mm and a guy who's never done deals vs. Tiger global, then you take Tiger (or whoever)

 
Most Helpful

I have personally interned in PE, also did a consulting (T2 firm) internship, and am currently interning at a small L/S HF.

Main problems I see are related to:

  • hard to tell a story of why this/that - if you then want to move to anything else you better be able to give a solid reasoning
  • you may be a less competitive candidate vis a vis candidates who have specialised in something (done couple internships on the same area)

All in all, I still think that it can be a good think to intern in different places, get exposure to different things, and truly figure out what you want to do full-time!

Hope this somehow helps.

 

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