No experience, finance, and secondaries

I am a recent engineering grad from an Ivy and moved to nyc to work at a green energy startup. The startup lost a VC investment and my offer was rescinded, so I have since been looking for other opportunities. Since there is next to 0 engg opportunities in nyc, and even fewer for entry level positions I have expanded my search for financial positions (ibanking, PE, hedge funds) as well. Finance is something that has always interested me, but I engrossed myself in engineering in college. As such, all of my past internships are in engineering. In finance I am much more interested in the investment side rather than advising. To me that means PE or hedge funds; however, I also understand that those positions are highly selective and usually recruit from top IB analysts. Through a temp agency I have been lined up for a position at a very small secondary LP interest firm. So I am looking for a wide variety advice 1) how does someone with little experience get their foot in the door in finance (internships after graduation, temp agencies) besides networking and other obvious means? 2) What are the chances I could move into direct PE after a secondary? From what I have researched it seems unlikely without an MBA, but even then it is not a sure thing so would I be shooting myself in the foot here even though it’s a rare opportunity? 3) Anyone working in secondaries how do you like it? 4) Anyone who moved from a secondary to PE how did you accomplish it?
Any and all advice will be appreciated as I am quite new to this
Thanks