Hey everyone, saw a similar post about Blackstone, so wanted to start this one. Curious about KKR and the culture, specifically in their PE groups. What are the SF/NYC groups and do they have different reputations/cultures? Curious about the types of people that would fit in and which industry groups are toughest/best/most chill. Don’t want to ruin my life, so also would appreciate insight into work-life balance. Thanks everyone!
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Also curious about this. Have been hearing a lot about "rough" culture at BX and APO lately but KKR has been quiet. Granted, this is an associate role anyways so I guess one should expect a rough culture. But would like to hear more anyways.
Could be that it's so quiet because everyone at KKR is getting worked too hard to have time to respond to a WSO thread
bump
Probably harder to generalize the associate experience at KKR as they are silo’d by industry team so the experience can vary a bit
I keep seeing these posts, and maybe I’m wrong, but I feel like they’re ridiculous. Nobody is turning down a MF PE offer because of culture, so who cares? Anyone would be lucky to get a single MF offer, so the number of people that have to decide on going to BX vs KKR vs Apollo because they got offers from multiple has to be virtually nonexistent. Again, I could be wrong, but these seem awfully like the Harvard vs Stanford posts on college confidential by high school juniors with a 3.5 and a 1300
True, but since on cycle interviews all happen at the same time kids are forced to prioritize who they meet with so there's at least some value to threads like this.
This is just wrong, there's a lot of people who go into banking and then realize the MF PE route isn't for them. Namely, the upward mobility at places like that is not that great and unless you want to go work at a Tiger Cub afterwards you end up taking a huge pay cut / prestige cut for the role after MF PE. Also this year, there seems to be a lower acceptance rate to top business schools due to deferrals so I could see more people rethinking the MF PE route going forward. Similar to how the smartest people don't do finance (specifically IB) anymore and go into CS nowadays, the same phenomenon is probably happening in PE as the opportunity set is less attractive.
Like the other commenter said it's useful to prioritize where you interview. Furthermore, it may be useful to determine if you even want to do MF PE at all. There are many growth equity opportunities with a similar prestige, pay, and exit opportunities with a better work / life balance that some other people may find more interesting than putting yourself through the wringer at BX for 2 years.
I agree. Large cap PE is one of the biggest regrets of my life. I am posting here on 3am on a Friday and not even at LOI stage.
How much better is work life balance in growth?
Spot on - I'm at a group that places well into MF / UMM PE but the lifestyle has just completely turned me off. I work with MF sponsors quite frequently and the associates get crushed equally, if not more, compared to me.
Looking to transition into the corporate side, and the pay cut isn't as much as I expected, at least in NYC. If money is not your sole driver, there are plenty of reasons why someone would not recruit for MF PE (or PE in general).
Yup, I was pretty far in the interview rounds with a UMM and probably could have swung a MF offer (had connections) if I had waited, but I took a LMM PE offer pretty early in the process close to my hometown with really reasonable hours. Knock on wood that the gamble pays off.
From what I hear from a buddy of mine that works there: the culture is pretty great but the hours can add up
Looking for honest thoughts on culture at KKR - Specifically their Healthcare Growth / Middle Market team. Apparently they're building out a middle market practice?
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