How fucked am I? Please help me plan how to get out of consulting and into PE.

So, the prodigal son returns. I was on "the track" (a la the leveraged sell out article) but I fucked up and decided I wanted a "work life balance" and to go "travel around".

I'm currently an M7 undergrad right now and I have a few consulting offers, though I'm not sure which to take. One is OW which does sell side work and has great reputation on the street, but I worry that it'll basically be glorified, actuarial, bean counting–that I might not get staffed on the sexy strategy projects or even PE diligence. The second is Strategy& doing Deals Strategy, all M&A work, 75% work for PE shops at 25% growth strategy projects for corporate clients. The third is LEK which is just a total sweatshop I hear, though they do pay almost $110k, but that one isn't in NY.

So, I'm thinking that I'll try to go to S& and get in touch with all the headhunting firms to try to get an operational role at a MM growth firm. But, that doesn't help me get into the investment committee track. Am I doing this the right way? How would you go about doing this? How fucked am I?

7 Comments
 

I've seen a lot of guys make the switch to PE from LEK..maybe something to take into account when making your decision.

I'm talking about liquid. Rich enough to have your own jet. Rich enough not to waste time. Fifty, a hundred million dollars, buddy. A player. Or nothing. See my Blog & AMA
 

Good to know, thank you. Is that a product of reputation? What about someone from OW that did lots of PE work in the corporate finance & advisory horizontal? Would they be an equal candidate by function of the work or would they be at a disadvantage because of name alone?

 

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