has anyone ever found an INTERNSHIP at a PE?

Got the ding at some BBs, waiting to hear back from others. Emailed private equity firms across the board and got an unanimous answer: No summer internship, only hire ppl with 2-3 years of relevant banking experience.

Btw, I'm not a finance major and know nothing about finance, only general markets.

Region
 

im pretty sure you should be able to find something if you cast your net wide enough. look hard and look at smaller places. im a freshman and i've been granted an interview at one (not in NYC, but in another very large northeastern city). if you've literally contacted every imaginable place you can find in nyc that you'd like to intern at and none of them will give you a chance, then look in other cities. that's all i've got. good luck.

 

"Another large northeastern city"... I am also at an internship in Durham, new hampshire

 

definitely happens, but mostly through connections. I have a friend who's going to Barclays LA whose backup job was a $3 billion AUM PE firm for a summer internship. Lett is slightly exaggerating, but it is a pretty good idea of how selective Blackstone is with internships. They have taken people from Umich and Berkeley for the PE group i kno.

 

Don't respond to this tool's posts (or any of his other 27 screen names):

ananano32 bigbilly2312 bceagles57 Lett20087

I call him out on all his posts so that he ends up deleting them, which makes me happy. What kind of tool makes a billion user names on an internet forum so he can validate one identity's comments from a different identity...

 
Best Response

I actually set up a friend with an internship at a small PE firm... think it was only $200-300MM under management, but hey still a legit summer internship.

He got lots of FT PE offers, mostly from MM places like Audax. Not sure how well he fared with KKR etc.

My advice: use your alumni network and go for smaller PE firms that still need summer people. Many local places will still hire you because they always need interns to handle the day-to-day tasks and relieve senior people of work.

 

I've heard of people with (undergrad) internships at Blackstone PE, Audax, Macquarie, and Goldman PIA.

I know firsthand that there was recruiting that last year (through job postings at Wharton/Harvard or special hires) for 1-2 undergrad hires at Blackstone, Audax, Cerebrus, Silverlake, Goldman, and Bain Capital. All in their respective pe arms.

I have heard there are no internships / undergrad hires at Apollo,TPG,KKR in their PE groups.

 
wantoknow:
I've heard of people with (undergrad) internships at Blackstone PE, Audax, Macquarie, and Goldman PIA.

I know firsthand that there was recruiting that last year (through job postings at Wharton/Harvard or special hires) for 1-2 undergrad hires at Blackstone, Audax, Cerebrus, Silverlake, Goldman, and Bain Capital. All in their respective pe arms.

I have heard there are no internships / undergrad hires at Apollo,TPG,KKR in their PE groups.

clarification

goldman pia has a few slots every year.

don't know how you found people at audax since they just started their internship this year (summer 09).

bain cap does not recruit for the pe arm. only for the ventures arm.

all this can be confirmed by others at targets who've seen these postings. etc.

 

Goldman PIA will be hiring its first analyst directly from undergrad for the first time in a few years. They do not have a few slots every year.

Sorry, I meant Audax for first year this time. Grouped it in.

Bain Cap was looking for one intern for the pe arm. i spoke directly with a recruiter after seeing a posting in the Penn school newspaper last year.

 

i think only some of the mega-PE funds offer SA/FT positions at analyst level. many BB have PE groups but very few hire undergrads. GS PIA, Leh Merchant Banking in London etc do hire undergrad. another route is to get into IBD and be transferred to their PE group.

i was an BB IBD SA but got transferred to my BB's PE group because of bad market conditions. we all know JPM is moving a lot of people around, and 1/3 of my class got moved. luckily i got a break and got PE.

 

You can definitely get into PE. I actually got an offer from a PE fund that manages about 2 billion dollars or so in New York. Didn't take it though. I also know Blackstone recruits at UVA and UT-Austin (all the BBs recruit there as well i think). Not sure about KKR though. I know some PE firms that recruit at UF but they are all local and are not that large, i.e. AUM 300-400million. I also know CS merchant banking hires three or four every year, at least that's what the HR lady told me when i went for my interview.

 

I want to know this, too. FT in PE after undergrad? Is it possible? Also does it make sense to go straight to PE, without banking/consulting experience? In both funds I worked with, most partners and associates seem to be from banking or consulting background, and they actually suggested the same path to me.

 

Qui illo quaerat qui excepturi. Molestiae placeat impedit minus consequatur neque iste assumenda sunt. Eum sapiente quis ipsum et architecto. Sapiente ut consequuntur et atque doloremque mollitia beatae.

Career Advancement Opportunities

April 2024 Private Equity

  • The Riverside Company 99.5%
  • Blackstone Group 99.0%
  • Warburg Pincus 98.4%
  • KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts) 97.9%
  • Bain Capital 97.4%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

April 2024 Private Equity

  • The Riverside Company 99.5%
  • Blackstone Group 98.9%
  • KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts) 98.4%
  • Ardian 97.9%
  • Bain Capital 97.4%

Professional Growth Opportunities

April 2024 Private Equity

  • The Riverside Company 99.5%
  • Bain Capital 99.0%
  • Blackstone Group 98.4%
  • Warburg Pincus 97.9%
  • Starwood Capital Group 97.4%

Total Avg Compensation

April 2024 Private Equity

  • Principal (9) $653
  • Director/MD (22) $569
  • Vice President (92) $362
  • 3rd+ Year Associate (90) $280
  • 2nd Year Associate (204) $268
  • 1st Year Associate (387) $229
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (29) $154
  • 2nd Year Analyst (83) $134
  • 1st Year Analyst (246) $122
  • Intern/Summer Associate (32) $82
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (314) $59
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
3
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
4
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
99.0
5
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
6
kanon's picture
kanon
98.9
7
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
8
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
9
bolo up's picture
bolo up
98.8
10
numi's picture
numi
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”