I'm based in Europe and looking to recruit for PE (likely MM/UMM from what I heard LC and above are way too sweaty). In general I am really excited about it since I always enjoyed finance but opted out of IB recruiting due the bad lifestyle and wanting to have a more generalist business education that consulting offers.
Now I have to say ... I have it quiet cushy in consulting. I am mostly doing project around a well known peer group of ~30 professionals which are all really nice and maintain really good lifestyle (haven't worked a lot of times past 9 pm the last 3-4 months, thursdays always before 8 pm). I am also used to regular downtime (like know, being on the beach with WFH everyday and effectively working a couple of hours from 10.00 and logging off).
I am kind of unsure what am I getting into myself but I have the feeling that PE will be tremendously rougher.
At the same time, staying at MBB will also only get tougher. As soon as I hit EM or even AP the pressure will rise tremendously and there is no crusing as top-rated associates can do from time to time when they are settled.
How would you see this? Am I in for a very rough awakening?
Sorry but yeah, PE will be quite different from what you're working now. Help us bridge - (i) based on your knowledge of PE, what do you think the hours are (we'll confirm/deny)?, (ii) what type of hours/schedule would ultimately dissuade you from moving into the industry?
Thank you for structuring a bit. That question makes totally sense and I will answer (ii).
I would say my current pain tolerance is 09.00 (start) to 11.00 PM from Mo-Wed and I would appreciate a bit of an earlier leave on Thursday (08.00 PM) and Friday (06.00 PM). At the moment I could not imagine working weekends but I would be willing to do so given different urgency (i.e., multi-million dollar live deal vs. some random PMO type consulting project) and it is rewarded with pay.
I'm not really thinking that I can go to PE and clock out at 7-9 pm everyday but what would turn me off immensely if this is some sort of IBD 2.0 and people expect me to work till 01.00-2.00 am on a frequent basis (alas every week 1-2 times).
The issue is that whereas in IBD it is very clear what you get yourself into in PE there are tons of people spreading different informations about the lifestyle in the MM/UMM space.
I’m not sure about Europe but at least in the US, I think working past midnight relatively often + being available on weekends is the norm…
I would add like 20 hours to your current workweek, with it mostly weighing towards and around your weekend (unfortunately).
The money is a lot better with more upside but up to you to decide if this is worth it.
Alternatively just imagine getting 45 emails a day that say “help us bridge” and then have a numbered list with sub bullets and that will get you close to what it’s like
Went from MBB to UMM PE 3.5 years ago, so can provide a bit of context here.
In MBB, I had a similar WLB to you. In PEG, I worked M-Th 9am to 10pm; F until 6 and weekend protected. None PEG deals were a 9-7ish setup. PE was much worse and also far more unpredictable. I would describe PE hours as falling into the following buckets:
How this shows up on a day to day may vary. I've had weeks that run through the entirety of the above. It's difficult to predict. The ratio also changes a lot. I found senior associate to have more getting railed times vs. 1st year.
Net net you're working much more and more unpredictable hours.
I also personally went MBB to MM. This is a great summary.
Thank you for the insight! I might sound douchey, but this does not sound *extremely* crazy compared to IB?
My MBB hours above are in the ~top 10% of best working hours at the firm for sure. There are tons of consultants at our firm working 09.00-24.00 if not longer in some known sweaty industries. Weekend work, however, is typically a really big no-no in consulting.
I think it all comes down to what I want to do in the long-term and essentially to the questions whether I want career progression in a high paced professional services environment or PE vs. a better WLB ina corporate setting.
If I stay at MBB I guarantee you that AP hours are not better than the posted PE hours and that will also start to include weekend work.
Edit: Nonetheless the unpredictability makes it sound much worse than my current lifestyle. Can't really fathom telling my partner/SO occasionally on a Friday that we need to cancel our weekend plans. Or spending 5-6h on my laptop while at a family gathering on a sunday.
I think that is why bankers do so well in PE. To me it is extremely difficult to stomach a potential increase in time-spend at work from what for 99% of people is already an extremely tough WLB (at MBB). While for bankers it seems like a slight step-down.
Yes, I think for most of my banking colleagues PE was an improvement in lifestyle. Low bar of course.
I mean that’s why you’re paid so much in PE (at a UMM or MF) and also have millions in carry (on paper). If you weren’t I highly doubt very smart individuals would put themselves through this.
Step down in total hours SOMETIMES but the hours are all high intensity which makes it overall more tiring and draining (also more stimulating)
I will chime in here I went from IB > MBB > Private Credit / Mezz Fund
As an MBB your biggest risk is just surviving your first year because frankly if your only experience is MBB - you are fucked from a technical POV and that means even if you are smart you will fuck up the modelling - and finance is ruthless. If you fuck up on a small thing and partners are deploying their own money in that fund you will be seen as incompetent, useless, a god damn lepper. No one will give you any work or worse they will micro manage you. Really really really soul search - do you want this? Because fuck me, it is not easy and MBB is not really the best training ground for the ruthless world of the buyside.
Good insights. I think we over-focus on "breaking in" rather than realizing that this is only the first tiny step.
With all these comments I am really wondering if I am not talking myself into something that doesn't really sound fullfilling at all.
On the flip side if I don't at least try for it I will maybe look back in 10-15 years and hate myself for never taking any risks/looking outside my current career trajectory. In any case, I don't think it would be too difficult (given market circumstances) to do ~2-3 years MBB, ~1-2 years PE and then back to MBB with the branding of having first hand insights into capital allocation/buyside processes.
No one goes back to MBB from PE and that’s for good reason. PE opens much more attractive doors than MBB. MBB is just not a good gig unless you’re somehow into being an advisor. But once you’re on the other side of the fence you’ll realise it’s no fun being an advisor and how people actually view your work and what they do with it. Which means you can’t go back now you’ve seen the reality your MBB partners are desperately trying to hide from you (or they’re too oblivious to realise themselves how futile it is - some are).
Life doesn’t exist between MBB or PE. There are lots of other fulfilling well paid jobs. They might not give you the same ‘prestige’ with your uni mates but they can actually be much better from an hours, purpose and content point of view. And some even give lots of upside potential.
Based on how you view WLB I don’t think you’re super likely to be successful nor wanting to stay around for the long term so I’m not sure PE is right for you.
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