How hard can you move internally in a top megafund P/E?
I’m starting a new role in a P/E firm in the compliance dept. how hard will it be to move to other departments down the road?
I’m starting a new role in a P/E firm in the compliance dept. how hard will it be to move to other departments down the road?
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Title doesn’t make sense again man
“How hard is it to move around within a top MF” is what you want
Hahah there we go again lol Just edited it
Like move from being a compliance officer to an IP? Never seen it happen but good luck
Thanks, let's see. I honestly had an amazing interview experience and just learning all aspects of compliance in a P/E firm not bad
Does IP stand for investment professional?
Yes IP is investment professional and IR is investor relations
Did Toby move to another department? Compliance is compliance man, you're not getting transferable skills to move to another department
To start, stop putting “/“ between PE. One is an acceptable abbreviation for Private Equity (PE), the other is price-to-earnings ratio (P/E)
And no, the skills in compliance are not transferable to front office. What you could try and do is try and find an external junior analyst role at a small-MM firm or something to lateral into. Or push the restart button via MBA (at a very reputable school with great track record for placements) and move into front office (IB) that way. But if you just look at the profiles of people that get hired into megafund PE firms (either out of undergrad, or more often externally), a pattern will quickly emerge - prior IB (sometimes consulting) experience, andor prior PE experience. If the megafund has an in-house strategy / “operations” team - it’s people with deep consulting and/or industry experience. Either way, they value certain skills and experience you won’t get in compliance.
I just made a similar move at my firm (MM/UMM).
To be honest, it’s an extremely difficult path to take, and requires a lot of risks and if your firm isn’t supportive (which most aren’t), there is a very good chance that you get let-go. No manager really wants to keep someone who they know doesn’t want to sit in that seat.
I also had some of the requisite experience needed, but still have an uphill battle ahead as I try to progress in this role as I won’t have the standard banking/consulting experience. I also likely took a step back in my career on a pure promotions basis (probably will be promoted at least 2 years later if I even will be promoted). Happy to discuss but I would strongly recommend against taking the role solely to try to lateral.
So you went from compliance to an analyst / associate role? Good for you man, as I said earlier I’ve never seen that before (probably looked at 1000+ backgrounds over the years) I respect your hustle
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