Chance to leave for PE in 1 year

Good morning apes,

I'm an AN1 (started my job 3 months ago) at a decent bank. Lateral'd from a private credit buyside analyst role because I realized I wasn't interested in credit for long-term. I was at my old job for 6 months, so total of 9 months of experience. I've recently been getting a few headhunter inbounds about summer 2022 PE associate opportunities. I'm guessing while I wasn't eligible for on-cycle 2022 given I'm an AN1, since I have 6 months of prior experience I'm being considered for off-cycle 2022. 

Any thoughts on leaving for buyside after a year? Have heard some people say this can hurt your long-term and that would be my 3rd job in 2 years. 

6 Comments
 

Biggest issue here is you're competing against AN2s who have more experience, both deals and modeling. It'll be very difficult for you to convince them that you are a better bet over someone who has a full year of additional IB reps. Leaving after 1 year is common enough these days, but typically they are targeting 1st years for those roles and they are signed up as immediate starts a month or two out, so everyone is on the same playing field.

I'd hold off on recruiting until at least 1 year into the job. You can still shop for immediate starts if you want them, you'll get far better opportunities for late 2022/summer 2023, and will actually be able to talk about what you've done on the job. PE firms and HHs will only meet you once so don't waste the meeting on talking now. 

 

Thanks for your thorough response. Can you clarify what you mean by "HHs will only meet you once"? For example, one of the opportunities is a decent MM fund from Amity - what are the risks if I express interest / take the intro call? I'm assuming I can learn more about the opportunity and turn down the chance to interview if it's not a good fit for me, and that won't damage my relationship with Amity going forward? 

Thanks!

 

If the HH isn't impressed with you in the intro call, they can and will ghost you going forward. Intro calls go both ways, HHs are definitely asking about your deal experience, why PE, etc. You need to be ready to go if you hop on these calls. Amity is a solid HH, I would get some reps before talking to them.

It'd be different if this were on cycle 2023, but given that off cycle 2022 is JUST starting, they expect to talk to people with experience at the moment.

 

Sorry not much to offer but how was recruiting from DL to IB? I am an incoming SA at a DL shop in a larger AM (i.e KKR Credit, BlackRock, Ares, GSO, PIMCO) and am interested in potentially recruiting for IB FT or lateral. Was it easy to get interviews? How did people look on your experience in interviews?  

 

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