Seeking Advice for PE/HF
Fellow Monkeys,
Created this account to stay anonymous. I'm a first year analyst in public finance at one of the BBs and wanted advice on breaking into the PE or the HF industry, as well as any advice for talking to recruiters as I am terrified to even reply to any of their emails (received well over 20 of the generic ones). A quick back story on me: I'm in NYC and work on some pretty exciting stuff, actually. And, to be quite honest, I really like my work, but coming from a pretty poor family, I've always wanted to strive for more and I hate settling and being content. I don't want my future family to ever endure what I had to go through and I think having a background in PE pre-mba will set me up to realize my dreams, not to be super wealthy but to secure a spot in the industry where my familys future generations can still reap the benefits. So with that's lets divulge...
Like I mentioned earlier, I've been exposed to some really cool deals. In my short time at my firm, I've been able to work on P3 deals, specifically in building infrastructure for educational housing and commercial real estate (which takes working with a ton of investment in the form of equity, hence PE exposure so I've seen a ton of those models), as well as having the opportunity to work with top distressed hedge funds for refunding analysis for their portfolios aimed at distressed credit.
Though I believe I am smart enough to navigate, I'm kind of lost in the direction to take as 1) I don't want to get fired if I am outed, and I need money to support my family as they are in really bad shape, 2) I feel like Public Finance kids get a bad rep for not having "transferable skills" (which is bullshit, to be quite honest). Also, regarding #2, during my tenure, I've seen two kids go PE from our group, and have heard of plenty who have left for PE/HF prior to me joining, and others who have pursued business school (most go to MBA business schools">M7 programs) and do whatever they want after.
So, when do you feel its appropriate to respond to said emails from recruiters? Should I target infrastructure and credit funds?
Anyway, any help/guidance is greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot guys! This site has been wildly helpful for me even breaking in in the first place.
anyone?
If I were you I'd go ahead and start answering those recruiter emails. Unless you're at Goldman Sachs, I doubt they'll really care that you're networking around and potentially taking interviews as long as you're not acting like an ass. I have no clue what the recruiting situation is like for PE/HF from public finance, but no doubt the ones who have left before you do. Email them, figure it out, get out there and do it.
To be extra safe, maybe email them from your personal email address?
Do what you gotta do - but something that may interest you: in a AMA thread by someone high up in AM, it was noted that the general rule of thumb seems to be that a career on the sell-side usually pays more than one on the buy-side (on average) but the buy-side career usually has a significantly better lifestyle.
Although people on WSO think PE is the end of the rainbow, if you're looking at it from a financial perspective, building a career on the sell-side may actually be more lucrative for you if you're suited to it....some food for thought.
Sent you a PM - don't know if you check this account anymore.
Thanks for the responses, guys! Been incredibly helpful. In terms of lateraling, would you guys consider it? Try and get another IBD job in a more corporate-side role? Let me know what you think! Thanks again.
bump. Thoughts on lateraling? A little afraid to lose such a reputable name to go to another coverage group at, hopefully, another BB
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