Age discrimination in European/London PE recruiting?

Are post-MBA / post-Big 4 IB associates with 2–5 years of deal experience going to be unfavorably looked at compared to those with similar years of IB experience who started IB as analysts?

8 Comments
 

Idk why you'd think it's to do with age.

You have not considered that the latter group are more expensive risks. You're talking late associates/VPs Vs analysts/early assocs. And different nature of responsibilities between those two levels too.

 

I mean lateraling into an associate PE role at UMM/MF despite being a senior associate

 
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If there is any "discrimination," it's because of firms' past experiences. At my firm, we've had a hit or miss track record with folks with more experience than "normal" for the associate role. The people who were successful accepted that they need to take a step back and come through the bottom of the totem pole. The people who weren't (e.g. ex-MBB who were nearing the manager stage) were immediately frustrated by being managed by a younger person who has more PE experience than them and were constantly pushing to be managers again / early promo. That doesn't work so well in a small team, esp. when the new person only knows some dimensions of the job and doesn't have the reps in. 

As a result, over the last few years and particularly more recently when we're hiring fewer people, it's less likely that these candidates get a proper look. Not your fault that this is the case, but this is the unfortunate reality.

 

Would second that. One has to realize that some funds are quite particular and, rightfully, want their people to work the way they do/ learn their style and approach to investing etc. It is very likely then that a 25 year old PE Assoc who has been there for 3 years has way more to say than a lateral hire from IB or MBB aged maybe 28/29 with more years of work, but not pe, experience. It has nothing to do with age but everything to do with relevant (!) experience, trust and knowing the firm. For some it is a hard pill to swallow but i would recommend every new person to take a step back, learn as much as possible from ppl who have been there for longer, build a good relationship, and just wait a bit. The new persons turn will come and then you can still draw on your pre PE experience and generate am edge for yourself. What is certainly true though is that nobody likes new joiners behaving like they know everything better. This is not to say that new inputs / ideas from time to time are not welcomed.

 
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The age part was more of a click bait—I'm more interested in their preferences between people who started IB as Associate-laterals (such as MBA hires in London)—and those who started IB more conventionally as analysts

 

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