Sincerely need serious help in explaining my past work experience
Hello all. This issue has been bothering me for a very long time. I really hope to get some suggestions or help and cannot think of a better place to talk about it.
I had a couple of years experience in BB MO/BO role. After that, due to some family issues I had to relocate. I personally was very drawn to PE at that time and was headstrong (influenced by this forum) to switch career out of MO/BO. So I took a job in a startup PE fund outside US. However, just from the firm name, it looks quite obvious that I took a step down. Also, it turned out that I did not close any deal or learned much hard skills (such as financial modelling ) at the job. It was attempting to conduct a large cross-border deal but failed. (I was partially drawn by the deal and the growth of the firm, but turned out I was too naive I guess.) The PE landscape is quite different in an emerging market. Most of the stuff is relationship driven in my past firm. And because I lack that BB IBD sell side experience, my technical is quite weak. Also, I am not sure for how long the fund is going to last, since it has not been successfully doing much recently. I soon realized it was not an ideal place to work but was stuck as I was applying for B school, though the actual time I was at the firm was not very long.
Right now I am enrolled in a top MBA program. My post MBA goal is banking/PE/hedge fund/VC/Corp in TMT in US. Initially I was only aiming at buyside opportunities in US. My past work experience does not go into TMT, but I am trying to build a startup of my own so are learning about the industry on my own. If I don't go to the MBA program, I will probably do my startup full time.
Aside from my last job, the rest of my resume looks quite decent. I have good company names, solid GPA, good schools, etc. I am also confident of my own caliber. But I am really afraid that the last job ruins all of that. I do not know how to present in my future interview and how to position myself. Since my goal is high finance in US, for instance, I won't be able to answer technical questions or describe my past PE experience in detail in an interview with the expectation that I have already had some PE experience.
I really do not know what to do, how to explain my last experience/career move. This has been bothering me so much. Should I delete that experience to leave it as a gap in employment or just put on my startup plan? And honestly what should I be aiming for after graduation?
