Non-Target life after banking

bump....interested as well

Also interested.

Megafund recruiting will be somewhat impacted by non target. Plenty of non targs get in, it's just not as straightforward.

MM PE and family office recruiting, again, are somewhat affected but much less so than megafunds because they care more about ability to do the job, likeability, etc etc etc than pedigree

A surprising amount also become associates.

To my knowledge and what I've read on here, there are a few places that will continue to care and are pretty selective in taking those from the top groups who are also Wharton/Harvard kids. For the most part though, it seems like firm/group trumps school 9 times out of 10. Perhaps if you had 2 equal candidates both from a top group and one was from Wharton the other from an unknown non-target the Wharton kid might win out, but that seems rare/I have no idea how true that is.

interested

From what I've heard from alumni in my school the barriers to entry can still be fairly/very high...

I'd be very interested in hearing about HF and AM. I'm from a lower tier Big 10 school and the alumnis that worked at BB IBD have gone to 5~20B funds, so it seems like it's not a huge deal in PE.

Some firms care, but the vast majority of PE / HF care much more about your group and experience in banking. It is FAR easier than recruiting for a banking analyst position as a nontarget

Depends on the firm, and it's not necessary the megafunds who are the most stringent. Some of the top middle market firms like Berkshire, New Mountain, H&F, are almost exclusively Ivy League, while Carlyle is more open to non top Ivy backgrounds

For hedge funds, once again it depends. Places like Eton park are almost all Harvard or Wharton, but some shops are also much more open. The largest funds are not always the most elitist; in fact, they'll sometimes be more willing to take someone from a non top background simply because they can interview more candidates, allowing someone who isn't perfect on paper a chance to stand out

What about non-target undergrad, break into IBD at boutique/MM level, work 2-3 years, get top 10 MBA?

I know a guy from an SEC school now at a mega fund. If you're good enough, it's possible.

No and yes. As a non-target school person, if you break into a solid IBD analyst program, and perform well, I'd venture to guess 80-85% (this may be higher, or lower depending where in the country you are) of all the PE gig's available to your target peers can / will be available to you. However, there are some funds that have their ideal profile for associates and if you don't fit into it, tough luck.

There was a similar threat a while back..some of the more popular posts basically said that you can never overcome it. That doesn't mean you can't be successful in spite of it, but it is a part of you and your image and there to stay. People will judge you for it and many other things: what you look like, how you carry yourself, what car you drive, how hot your girlfriend is, etc. etc.

I think there is a lot of truth to that, but I also think it is very difficult to generalize something like this. A firm, or a megafund, does not have a mind of its own. The firm doesn't care, and the firm doesn't judge you, it is incapable of doing that because it does not have a brain to think with. This is such an obvious statement, although I think it is often overlooked.

A firm is made up of a group of people. Some of these people are very shallow and will have things like 'Undergrad Institution' and 'Attractive Girlfriend' higher on their list of criteria they judge people by. Some people will be more open minded and pay attention to how you carry yourself and the thoughts and ideas you convey in your conversations.

I guess what I'm getting at is: it depends. Undergrad institution is something you cannot change, and it is one of a number of factors that people will judge you on. Whether it is something you are able to overcome or not depends on the person who you are meeting / interviewing with, what they value and how they judge people, and what other characteristics / values you bring to the table. Like just about everything else in finance, it is part luck and part preparation.

MindOverMonkey:

So you're from a non-target school and got an offer for a BB IBD NY internship. You secure the FT offer and move on to your prestigious career as an excel slave in IB. Year 2 rolls around and people are receiving offers to go bask in the supposed glory that is the buy side.

Will you have already broken the curse of being from a non-target school by making it to IB and performing well or will you still be put lower on the totem pole than your target school colleagues? Would HFs care more than PE firms?

Here's to hoping it won't take till an MBA.

Salesy jobs will care more than research/modeling type jobs. HFs won't give a crap as long as you perform your role well (their websites don't even list roster), but PEs like to keep around lots of targets and so it might affect you ceteris paribus when competing against a similar candidate for a job.