Demystifying The Buyside Recruiting Process

From a friend who recruited from MBB to MF PE:

PE firms used to recruit their classes 2 years in advance, but COVID shifted the cycle to 1 year in advance. Right now, funds recruit new classes 12-18 months in advance, so within 6-12 months of your first year as an analyst. PE funds all use search firms to source candidates, and these search firms will send email blasts to classes of analysts at top firms. It's possible to figure out which funds use which search firms. It's helpful to have a target PE firm in mind and know ahead of time which search firm they use. If you're missing an email or two from search funds, reach out to your analyst class and they can forward them to you. Sometimes a firm will miss a few candidates when sending emails Interview slots are filled very quickly -- interview slots get filled less than a week after initial recruiting emails are sent out. She gave an example of how she received an invite one afternoon to interview the following morning. The search firms schedule quick coffee chats with candidates which function as a phone screen. The search fund will make their decisions and then pass candidates on to the PE firms for the rest of the interview process.

Current people in PE will offer much more detailed information than I am able to give, but I hope this helps.