21 Comments
 

Much more competitive. IB recruiting is a joke since no one really knows the industry that well and it's more networking/school. PE recruiting everyone's already in IB, been trained, and literally this is their career now.

Array
 

You joke about this but remember that IB kids have gone through a few rigorous weeks of training so they at least have a pretty sound knowledge of the finance technicals. Whereas campus recruiting is still very much behavioral/fit especially if you got looped in a summer and then returned for full time...

Yes, all things said, PE recruiting is supposedly still amateur-level stuff but at least you're expected to know how to build a LBO model and understand some intermediate level accounting...

Array
 

It's just a funnel. Few IB roles for tons of applicants, even fewer PE roles for the people already in IB. With that in mind, they just find more draconian ways of weeding people out.

Beside that the process is just way more challenging. You're making a full time job out of interviewing at firm after firm for a straight week while trying to balance your already considerable workload from banking. IB interviews are just bullshit hypotheticals and the assumption is that you're a smooth-brained moron that can maybe learn fast. PE interviews you have to actually get answers right, build out models, and display some amount of critical thinking.

 

It’s IB^2

Getting a phone interview in the UK for a PE fund is about as hard as getting an assessment centre for IB.

 

sounds like you have no idea how competitive it is at a target like wharton

 

IB: You PE: The guy she tells you not to worry about

Just kidding. The first step is to figure out what you want to do. IB isn't better than PE and PE isn't better than IB. It all depends on what you like as the two fields are very different.

PE recruiting is in general, more competitive than IB recruiting because you are oftentimes competing with top IB analysts, and there are fewer spots.

 
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