IB Analyst -> Associate -> PE - is it possible?

As the title alludes, I’m wondering what recruiting looks like for people who did two years as an IB analyst, stayed on as an associate, but decided they wanted to do PE later. What do the options look like? Let’s say I wanted to give banking its fair shout before trying out PE, or I wanted to further hone my technical skills, or wanted a little bit more “managerial” experience before moving on. 
 

There’s a lot of content on this for people who do post-MBA associate. But that’s not what I’m looking for here. 

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100% possible, though will still need to come in as a pre-MBA associate with no seniority changes.  Would be good if you didn't do on-cycle a couple years earlier as well. 

Your probably beat target would be doing off-cycle recruiting for funds normally in your firms strike zone as waiting another 1.75 years doesn't seem conducive if you are recruiting as an A2A promote. May also depend on where you did your analyst years (ie; A2A GS TMT is very different than 2 years no name boutique -> Barclays associate or something).

Though how many years out we talking? Like you are already 4 years in for banking? 

 

Easiest path I saw for ppl doing this was HBS or GSB getting an internship while in MBA then converting.

Other than that I’ve seen it happen, but as everyone mentioned offcycle is your best bet. But like everything off the traditional path it’s possible you just have to put a decent amount of effort to make it happen. Networking is always huge for things like this

 

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