All Things On Cycle 2027
All Things On Cycle 2027
PE Firms Who Participate and The Type of Candidates They Hire
As an associate who participated in the process as an analyst, it’s no longer a surprise that the timelines continue to creep up, so thought I’d share a breakdown for prospective candidates on the options that exist for them during on cycle recruiting.
However, it’s important to consider: Do you want to go to a megafund because it’s the “most prestigious” job in finance or do you truly have an interest in investing? There are a couple hundred students out there who have been preparing their entire senior year for these interviews, and are going to take ~50-75% of all spots that exist during on cycle. The rest will likely go to those who studied hard in the spring or late summer, and a few who for whatever reason you can think of found a way to land an offer. No one’s experience is the same and there is tons of randomness to the process.
It’s a serious commitment to study for these interviews around your graduation and moving to NYC, so make sure it’s the right decision for you, not because it’s seen as the “best” outcome to others.
1A. KKR / H&F / Apollo / TPG / CD&R / Warburg
- Top of the top. Even if you’re from a top school, top bank, top group, the odds are heavily against you landing at one of the megafunds (not necessarily because you can’t perform well in an interview, but because these firms are incredibly picky in who they are willing to interview on top of having brutal interview processes)
- Often filling their class with candidate profiles such as Ivy League + top banking groups GS TMT/FIG, MS M&A, PJT RX / EVR RX, EVR M&A, JPM HC, etc
- Even those from BB/EB banks that weren’t in “highly sought after groups” had trouble getting interviews from some of the firms above, so come prepared in headhunter calls because being from MS or JPM or Moelis is no a guarantee to be shown MF looks unless you can prove you are polished to the gatekeepers
- Certain groups at these firms have a consistent pipeline from banking groups (RX groups to Apollo, JPM HC to CD&R, MS M&A to H&F)
- Then you have candidates from the T10 schools, 3.9+ GPA, top BB/EB also filling seats
- Just knowing how to build a model or do a basic case study is not what lands candidates offers at these firms. It’s their ability to demonstrate genuine interest, likeability, and extremely polished answers through the many portions of the interview process
- The reason they are so focused on a limited set of elite backgrounds is because when interviewing so early on, they are seeking data points on a past history of excellence
- If someone went to Harvard, received perfect marks, landed a top banking internship, and spent their last 6 months of college learning how to model and think about investing, these are all data points for the firm to know that 2 years from now, you will be the candidate who is ready for the MF PE experience (which is much more intense and challenging than any banking experience)
On cycle is a fast process, and most prepared candidates who want MF do not end up with one. It’s important to be ready to quickly get over interviews and move on to the next firm once you receive a rejection, even though it will sting in the moment.
Other megafunds + Top UMM
1B. Carlyle, Bain, Apax, New Mountain, Veritas
- Same interview process / difficulty as the above 1A names, but are generally willing to interview more candidates than the 1A names
- Typical candidates who get offers: T10 School / 3.9+ GPA / Top BB/EB, but generally less restricted on schools they hire from compared to the 1A names
- In my experience, people were usually less likely to go to one of these firms first, but they are amazing places in their own right there are a lot of reasons to take a Bain or Carlyle offer over the above mentioned names if you actually know what the associate years are like at places in the 1A category
Distressed / Deep Value PE: Oaktree, Sycamore, Centerbridge, Silver Point
Hard to bucket these names given their strategy. Usually those ending up at these firms knew they wanted to do deep value investing and actively sought them out over MFs during recruiting
Sprinkle of UMM + MM + Growth
AEA, Berkshire, Lindsay Goldberg, General Atlantic, TPG Growth, GTCR, Charlesbank
Hard to compare these firms to one another. Some are raising 10bn+ funds and have phenomenal recent performance (GTCR), while others haven’t raised a new fund in years and are shrinking in fund size (AEA which hasn’t raised a new fund since 2019 and next fund will be a major downsize). The process is rushed and aimed at creating pressure for candidates to sign quickly so think hard about your intentions before you begin interviewing.
Remaining possibilities:
Advent, Permira, Vista Eauity, Clearlake?
It’s been a few years since I recruited but others may have insights into if they participate
Good luck to all participating and prepare for the madness that is on-cycle recruiting
It’s important to remember that most people, even from the best groups in banking, end up in MM PE.
This is a great outcome and don’t go into on cycle with a “MF or die” mentality.
Would also think huge difference in what MM means in terms of desirability. I think a lot of people would be very happy with a growing MM like a Parthenon, and know some analysts optimize for that over an MF, huge difference between that vs. a shrinking MM like AmSec or Onex.
AEA is in fact raising most likely raising a down fund, believe their recent SEC filings have them at ~3Bn raised, which although bad just to be clear is nowhere nearly as bad as an AmSec or Onex and it should still be a fine experience at the flagship fund (their small business fund/LMM fund is growing pretty well and just raised a up fund recently but is way smaller, so different story). Would still think AEA is a great offer to get for purely 2 years, but naturally a fund raising down funds probably has less room for growth (read possible lower promotion odds).
^^^^ Extremely good point. MF or die mentality only leads to unhappiness because even if you get there it becomes H/S or die and then Pershing square or die etc and eventually you inevitably will fail on one of these
Also for my MBB friends note that a lot of people strike out entirely coming from consulting so if you have a rough on-cycle/ recruit for a while please have resilience if you actually want the job (coming from a 3.9+ ivy MBB guy that had to recruit a ton to get a LMM/MM and have MBB friends from HYP that striked out entirely)
But how will I get a job at TCI/Pershing/Tiger Cub from MMPE??
And this is why people don’t realize how quickly the funnel shrinks in size
~200 MF PE Associates
~25 of those will be promoted, ~25 will go to top SM HFs, ~100 MBA, rest moving down market within PE or to other adjacent roles
It’s a brutal game requiring a lot of sacrifice
Important item to note - after speaking with HHs from these respective funds NONE of them filled all their seats during oncycle
.
Not encouraging people to go on cycle if they aren’t ready — there are top notch seats available off cycle and waiting gives you the chance to think about areas aside from PE, which is a big plus
But on the comment around funds not filling their class on cycle, would be wary of reading too much into this. A lot of funds have varying levels of quality across teams, such that you often have some teams interviewing for longer/off cycle while others fill their class in the first 48hrs.
.
What does on-cycle look like at smaller shops that firmly operate in the MM space? Is it later or at the same time, and what kind of profile is competitive?
Technically how hard do the case studies go? Are you expected to know as much as a second year analyst? What were types of questions where people got tripped up?
Bump
Does networking help in the process?
this. should I be proactively reaching out to associates who are alumni, after webinars, etc?
no
Missing a lot of firms but this is helpful for incoming analysts
My biggest piece of advice is to be well read on all the respective firms and strategies and determine what you want to do and articulate that coherently to headhunters, your impressions to them are extremely important
Its challenging to know what you want but be decisive, trust your instinct, and renege later if you change your mind
Or if you don't know then simply don't do on cycle...
Advent went on cycle last year, and some Carlyle groups did. Pretty sure Permira and Vista did not, am also pretty sure Clearlake no. Apax did not and has been recruiting for summer 2026 last month or so (they go later).
Only other thing to note is that I had friends from Kelley get interviews from 1A... just super random sometimes.
You're wrong about more than 1 name. Don't want to dox myself but just an FYI to others - don't believe everything you see.
How do we need to know specifically which PE strategies we want to do when doing on cycle?
If you don't know then don't do on cycle
What are you naturally drawn to / find yourself reading about (obvious not specific PE deals but in general) like consumer, tech, manufacturing, healthcare, etc.
That should tell you, or if nothing else the group youre joining
Have a buddy at Apollo. Be ready on May 16.
that's before our graduation lmaoo
Must be trolling, no way it begins on a Friday
Given the pace of coffee chats would expect it to kick off in May
Guys I’m going to miss my once in a life time summer Europe trip with my best friends to really grind peak frameworks alone in my room and fully grasp the mechanics of a paper LBO.
Same here brother
Genuine question, do you think it’s worth it? From a regret minimization standpoint, which would you regret 20 years from now?
Why can't you do both brother
If anyone wants to practice together or exchange some past model tests from last years cycle PM me, happy to trade
Does this apply only to buyout/flagship (e.g. Apollo HV vs Buyout)
Anyone have further color on the distress/deep value bucket? Which fund at each of the listed? Do any other similar names run on cycle?
For reference, interested in distress/special sits “capital solutions” type mandates. HPS SS, Silver Point, APO HV, Centerbridge bucketish
all except HPS went on-cycle last year, however always liable to change this year
how long after coffee chats and webinars does the process tend to kick off? would expect it to be a few days after but this soon seems weird considering some schools are still taking final exams...
bumping
Have heard the earliest they are willing to go is early June? I could be wrong though
Participated in on cycle last year and started doing coffee chats 2-3 weeks before interviews, wouldn’t be surprised if it was less time this year though
How did these coffee chats happen, through the HH or did you reach out to people at the firm?
what firms have started their coffee chats?
bumping this
cd&r has been emailing a lot
I had one with H&F and apollo
can anyone confirm h&f? heard from my contact they hadn't gone out yet
bain
bump have coffee chats been going out?
yes
where?
where?
how recently was this?
Can confirm
Yes, don't think most. Have heard of a few firms that traditionally go on-cycle that haven't even had webinars yet. Fewer and fewer firms are going on-cycle, so not sure if it's just because they might've stopped going on-cycle, though.
Helppp I am not getting coffee chats
Same here incoming FT at top BB group (non GS, JPM, MS) and guess only super target/top groups/div only being looked at rn 😔
Yeah can confirm, incoming at one of those firms.
does no coffee chat = no interview invite once the process kicks off?
bump
Bump
most likely yes. know some people who were even waiting to do coffee chats last year when on cycle kicked off and didn't end up interviewing. firms have limited spots, and you can only invite so many people to a superday. No point interviewing someone you haven't even had a first round with (which is what a coffee chat is)
Bain cap started coffee chat
today?
Yup
I can confirm, I had one last week
Did GTCR start?
if you are seeing this coffee chats are out and there have been a lot of them, cope
Has anyone done catch-up calls with HHs? How were they?
Basic Technicals, nothing crazy
Anyone know if webinars or coffee chats have gone out for Berkshire or AEA?
Only for aea middle market that I've seen
Does on-cycle usually start on Monday or kick off over the weekend? How do HHs know who to prioritize when they barely even ask any technicals during the follow-up calls?
Is doing the WSP assessment important for getting Bain interview?
prioritize based on IB group + school. On cycle + PE recruiting as a whole is extremely prestige focused.
Any idea on what firms might go this year given what firms went on-cycle or early last year? I would think given pushed back timeline, the firms that went earlier but not on-cycle last year might just go on-cycle.
Timeline?
is 3.9+ really strict?
its starting - buckle up
Do tell....
This a lie
L Catterton?
Most firms seem to be aligned for late Jan / early Feb kickoff. Chill out with the December. People are heading into the holidays and will not be fully back until a few weeks after
Love this, thank you A1
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