Recruitment out of MBA
How difficult would it be to move into private equity or investment banking as an associate post-MBA if your pre-MBA experience was with a respected FMP/FLDP program (GE, Raytheon, Lockheed, EMC, etc.)? When banks and private equity firms hire candidates out of MBA programs, do they strongly prefer prior work in banking?
Private equity really likes people to have prior PE experience before being hired. It may still be possible to get a job in PE, but you would have to go out network hard and create your own opportunities, that would probably be with a smaller fund.
Banking would probably be an easier nut to crack. Depending on the year and recruiting it is very possible to get into investment banking from a background which you have described.
There are other issues that play into this as well, i.e. Where you go to school for your MBA, the economy, hiring trends, etc.
PE hires look like this:
IB analyst --> pre mba PE --> top 10 MBA --> PE
Not saying it's impossible to enter PE from a different direction, but anyone who doesn't follow this path is looked upon with extreme suspicion. PE isn't a place where learning happens - they expect their guys to crank complicated financial modeling from day one. Since IB analyst programs are the ideal training ground for this, that's usually the first stop on the PE path.
Like goalie said, IB associate is probably a more realistic goal. As long as your story of why IB makes sense, I think you'll find that your industry background gives you a lot of traction with respect to getting a look from banks. As a post MBA hire, IB's are looking for people who have a larger than miniscule chance of making MD one day. Or that is to say, earning revenue for the firm. The way you do that is to have industry contacts and by knowing an industry extremely well. Convince them that you're a) committed to banking and b) can add a lot of value in an Aerospace/Government/Defense group and I think your chances are good.
So I assume it's very difficult, to go
Corp Finance/FLDP>Pre MBA PE>Top 20 MBA>PE?
As the "Modeling," is different.......
The first step in your equation is very near impossible without some heavy connections and an iron glad resume outside of your work experience. Also, by Top 20 MBA, I'm going to assume you mean 11 - 20, otherwise you would have said Top 10. If this is the case, this is also another very difficult jump as PE firms typically hire H/S/W exclusively, and some don't even go to Wharton.
The best advice I read above was to try to go through invesmtent banking. Investment banks are much more willing to hire a Top 20 MBA than PE firms, and they also don't require prior experience in the field. I've encountered a number of associates who were from financial leadership programs prior to joining investment banks. It isn't the majority, but it's certainly possible.
Thanks for all this input.
Something I've been wondering...
Is it possible to go:
IB (2 years at MS,GS,Elite Boutique) --> HBS --> Top 50 PE Fund Post-MBA Associate
I know that HBS has been trending towards taking younger candidates with "potential," and this seems like a way to speed up the career path. How much will the lack of pre-MBA PE experience affect this plan?
while that might be possible if you're a superstar in all other aspects (HYPSW undergrad, leadership , etc), most finance folks I know at HBS have 2 years banking + 2 years preMBA PE.
You might try HBS 2+2 program, but that's hard in itself.
You might have a better chance if you go 2/3 years MBB -> HBS -> MM PE cuz they tend to take people straight out of top consulting more so than IB.
When you say "they", do you mean HBS? And can anyone else comment on the viability of getting into PE post-MBA with MBB, not from HYPSW Undergrad? I think I have a decent shot at H/S/W B-School, given GMAT, grades, leadership, etc.
No one gets into PE except former i-banking analysts. Read the bios of PE Associates on a fund website. They ALL come from analyst programs. There are no other paths to PE. Please stop asking about the viability of different paths because the answer is almost nil.
That is just not true. PE Funds also hire a lot of people from MBB. Some PE Funds that are more operationally involved with their portfolio companies, also hire people with prior industry experience, assuming you attended an elite school - think H/S. To be sure, the vast majority of funds recruit people with the path described above, but you still have a shot. As a matter of fact, this could actually be a factor that plays to your advantage as most people in these schools have an almost identical career path. This is also more applicable to funds that have an in-house training program that rivals those of BB IBanks (e.g., Blackstone).
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