PE kick off this year

Of course, no one knows for sure, but what rumors have you been hearing? I know a few firms have been hosting coffee events lately (WP, TPG...) and rumors are floating around that this year's process will be earlier than last year's process (April). Recruiters have been telling me to get ready by early March, and friends who are second years and new PE associates are telling me might be early-mid March. Other recruiters are telling me that early March would be too early, and to expect a late March/early April start.

13 Comments
 

If recruiters have given you a timeframe, and current first year PE associates have chimed in with their thoughts, and there are rumors about it...what the fuck is the point of this thread. If recruiters don't know, how is anyone else supposed to know...

And does it matter? No. If you're not prepared now, chances are you won't be in any better shape in a month. If you are prepared, then calm down and wait.

"Look, you're my best friend, so don't take this the wrong way. In twenty years, if you're still livin' here, comin' over to my house to watch the Patriots games, still workin' construction, I'll fuckin' kill you. That's not a threat, that's a fact.
 

I was trying to get a consensus to see what other people were hearing. Also the recruiters were sending mixed messages of early March and late March/early April. I think in one month, you won't become the best candidate, but you can make decent improvement. But then again, what do I know, I'm just a first year analyst.

 
confused23

I was trying to get a consensus to see what other people were hearing. Also the recruiters were sending mixed messages of early March and late March/early April. I think in one month, you won't become the best candidate, but you can make decent improvement. But then again, what do I know, I'm just a first year analyst.

I hear you, but the truth is nobody knows when it will kick off. It could be early March, it could be early April. All it takes is one firm to schedule an interview and then it's off to the races. Just prepare for as early as possible. What I've heard is that the analysts who got positions at the top pe/ hedge funds were good enough/knew enough before banking to get them out of college. After all, 8 months as an analyst doesn't really teach you much besides how an actual deal process works, and how to meet the needs of a client.

All of the finance knowledge is the same shit you learn in any undergraduate business program or read in a WSO guide.

"Look, you're my best friend, so don't take this the wrong way. In twenty years, if you're still livin' here, comin' over to my house to watch the Patriots games, still workin' construction, I'll fuckin' kill you. That's not a threat, that's a fact.
 

If you were a year away from this process (i.e. a college senior starting at BB this summer) what would you be doing to make yourself as competitive as possible if it's true that you don't learn much in those first months in banking? I was able to piece together some advice from earlier threads but I'd be curious to hear your take since you seem informed on the topic.

"This is the business we've chosen"!
 
Best Response

Honestly, I would not stress about it too much and enjoy what you have left of college life. I don't agree with what Will Hunting said about recruiting with regard to PE ("the analysts who got positions at the top pe/ hedge funds were good enough/knew enough before banking to get them out of college") though that statement is definitely applicable to HFs where you're pitching stocks or other investment ideas that exist outside of the traditional IB universe. As WH says, the reason is because it's very difficult to understand the intricacies how an M&A process works until you've actually been through one from start to finish, so what probably works best is to make sure you get good deal experience once you're actually on the job.

The one thing I will say is that apart from the modeling test, PE interviews (from my experience anyway) tended to be less technical than banking. By less technical, I mean there are fewer accounting or academic finance type questions, and more questions along the lines of "Here's an investment opportunity, here's the information you get, what else do you need and what do you think?" type questions (sometimes baked into the modeling test). The other half is talking about what you did on deals and how you approached problems and your thoughts on valuation.

Basically, enjoy life. There's not much you can do now to prepare for PE recruiting since you're not on any deals. Maybe if you're dead sick, can't leave your room, and super bored, you could build an lbo model from scratch or something, but even then I'd say just watch a new movie on Netflix instead.

 

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