Why IB and not PE

During my bachelor I interned at a some PE shops. Now in my IB Interviews (Gap Year before master) I was always asked why IB when you have worked in PE.

I always struggled with this and eventually failed the interview. The interviewer told me afterwards that I failed since I could not really Express why I would want to work in banking for ca 3-5 years and he got the feeling I would most likely work for 6-12months and then go to the PE shop.

Tbh even though this was my plan I never said anything remotely like that during the interview. But I still couldnt convince him that I want to do banking because "it's better than PE".

Unfortunately the PE shops don't hand out offers directly to graduates and require IB beforehand.

Do you have any ideas on how I could argument that IB is better and the right choice for me?

Thanks

7 Comments
 

I enjoyed the work much more in PE since it was "less marketing" and more of an operating approach. In IB most of the times you sell a company within 3 months. In 99% of the cases your not involved in their operating activities and instead try to make the company as presentable as possible. In PE you work for years with one company and depending on the fund you work much closer with the company and are more involved in their day to day business.

Also my internships in PE were really model intensiv (at the two funds I interned at least) whereas the IB had a standard models which were only slightly adjusted.

There are a number of reasons but these are the most important ones

 

As mentioned the PE funds told me I had to work at least 6 preferably up to two years in a Bank or at least in a consulting firm. Hence in order to get accepted at that fund its essential to work in IB.

I also have the possibility to work in some micro/to small cap funds but mid to large cap always require previous work experience in IB and also a masters degree. (FYI in case you are wondering why the funds dont accepted analysts I am not from the US but from Germany and the people there love master degrees and previous finance experience)

I hope that sums it up, as to why I want to work in banking

 

As the poster above said, just say you love seeing all different kinds of deals with different companies, crafting each company's story, helping clients out, etc.. You could also say that competition in PE makes winning auction processes and buying companies at a good price difficult, and you don't want to spend tons of time researching a company only to fail to acquire the company because the bidding was too competitive.

 
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