Advice for 1st year MBA student trying to get into PE
I am going into my first year at a top 20 MBA program, and my goal is to get into private equity after school. For the past four years I have been doing commercial real estate (brokerage), so I am a complete career switcher. Does anyone have any advice on how to get into private equity and things I should be doing while I'm school to best position myself? Thanks.
its going to be next to impossible without previous banking/consulting exp. If I were you find some PE shops in your area maybe with alums from your school and start networking now so you have a shot at an internship next summer.
My advice is hedge your bets and look else where. Your best chance for private equity is to first do banking/consulting after your MBA and then try to get in later. I don't know why any PE firm would hire someone without that background where there are more people than positions available with it. PE isn't like banking/consulting where there are training programs in place. You are expected to be contributing from day one. It takes actual deal experience not a class room to develop a solid PE skill set. Aside from your lack of experience I'm sure you would be grilled on why the change, from an interview perspective you don't show that you have a true passion for PE/finance as you have 4 years in an entirely separate field. Like the above poster said its gonna be next to impossible if not down right impossible. So build your finance experience else where and try to get in later.
have you considered looking at PE funds investing in real estate? i totally second what ke18sb wrote but i'd give you a better chance at a fund that invests in a market that you already have some knowledge of. the interview grilling would likely not be as tough either. what remains true though is that you should start networking with alumns asap to have a shot at a summer internship.
Thanks everyone. Your responses are not much of a surprise, and of course not what I wanted to hear, but what I expected. I'll definitely network with alumns a lot this year and see what happens.
I'll echo the comments above. From a top 20 program without prior deal experience, you're more likely to find success in investment banking than you are private equity. I suggest you peruse the websites of various private equity groups and look at the biographies to get a sense for what typical backgrounds are. If you find someone with a story similar to yours, shoot them an email.
Thanks CompBanker.
Is it still hard for even people at the VP/MD level to transition to PE?
Focus on real estate-centric PE funds. I do RE IBD, primarily ECM origination with large REITs and portfolio acq. / dispositions, and have met a number of professionals who came from brokerage. The transition is not that difficult as I presume you have familiarity with the key metrics (cap rates, revPAR, etc.) and cash flow projection methods that most banks use; however, you likely have greater familiarity with property-level diligence and operations. My former associate just finished his first year at Booth and interned at a MM PE shop during the year to reinforce his IBD only resume. A similar strategy would help you.
If you do not want to be locked into real estate post-MBA, then I agree with the other comments and it is going to be extremely difficult. There's a difference between not having an IBD/MC background because you were an IT technician and not having it but still having relevant industry exposure.
I would second his comments as well but also reiterate what someone else above said and that is you should also hedge your bets. You may have to work twice as hard as everyone else in your class but you need to put in time to find PE firms that might be a fit for you while also looking at IBs too. The market is so tough right now, so much so that people who are seemingly more qualified/experienced than you are still get shafted when it comes to PE spots.
Just like everything on this board, it certainly isn't impossible...just not likely. But be diligent and look for alums that work in RE focused PE firms and look for those that have brokerage backgrounds and just reach out to them. They will likely sympathize with you which could lead to an internship or a FT job.
Sometimes being the odd man out is a good thing...if you know how to work it to your advantage. Good luck.
Regards
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