Breaking into PE lacking the sterotypical banking background

I'm all caught up on the basics of LBO modeling and deal process. I've been working for a corporate for the last 3 years with limited deal closing experience (although we worked on plenty of cool deals) but I'm just confused why it's so stringent that the PE firms are all looking for fresh bankers who are just starting their jobs. All they are doing as analysts is making pitchbooks and pressing F9 in excel, whereas I've at least had some experience and am now willing to jump into PE even though I'm later than most.

How should I go about breaking in? Are headhunters the best way to go or am I missing something here? I went to a HPY target too so my network is strong

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