Laid Off from UMM PE — Struggling to Rebound in Brutal Market (London)
Hi all,
I’m writing this anonymously but candidly in the hope that someone here has insight or advice. I spent ~4 years in investment banking at a BB before moving to a UMM private equity fund, where I worked for over 4 years. I was recently laid off (2 months ago), I could not hack the VP promo and have been actively looking for my next role since.
Despite what I thought was a solid pedigree and broad experience in Industrials, the job market has been brutal. I’ve reached out to a large number of headhunters — many of whom are unresponsive or ghost me after an initial conversation. I’ve been open-minded in my search: PE, growth equity, secondaries, private credit, special sits and even strategic finance or corp dev roles in strong businesses. But nothing is sticking.
I’m starting to feel lost, desperate and shitty — not just about the next step, but about how to stay motivated in a process that feels so broken. If anyone’s been through this or has any practical advice (on search strategy, roles I might be overlooking, or even just mindset), I’d really appreciate it.
Thanks in advance.
2 months is nothing at your level. keep at it – you'll find something since you're open to corp roles too. maybe worth leveraging PE connects to see if portcos needa corpdev hire?
Thank you - yes, I am using my network to find corporate roles in PE-backed companies too.
You have some savings right and don’t have a wild lifestyle? If so you should be fine. Things take time to work out. It is not rare that jobs take weeks if not months to fill. Building a rapport with someone to get some sort of inside track (ie not just applying blindly) takes time. Keep going! But have some patience.
Good luck
I feel like the white collar job market is majorly screwed in almost most verticals ... I'm at at MBB and just a few years ago people got bombarded, nearly begged, to change ships .. not only PE but also tons of sexy/interesting corporate roles (corp. dev., M&A, chief of staff at big companies).
I also always keep a look out for opportunities in case something smells interesting and my candid impression is that there is almost nothing at mid level right now in London
Keep plugging away. It takes months on average to find something.
After 8 years experience, what do you mean you could not hack it at the VP level? Did something specific happen?
Hey - I went through something similar, and ended up in a solid position now. It took me close to 6 months. Completely agree with what everyone else is saying.
In your position, it's very easy to fall into a 'mediocre job'. You'll get plenty of offers to join some OK role with OK salary in an OK company. But that's a trap because you then can't escape it. Instead hold yourself accountable to meet a certain bar. This will take months, and London is an absolutely brutal job market right now.
While you're recruiting, I would suggest finding an interim role and if possible doing some travelling. It keeps you busy, gets some money in, helps with telling a story during recruitment, and can be a path to full time positions.
Best of luck - it's a tough market but back yourself and have patience.
Hi OP - I completely agree with what everyone else is saying. The market in London is super tough right now with most roles at entry level rather than mid level. You are casting a wide enough net, and with time, something will land. In the meantime, I would say try to do something that you enjoy outside of finding your next role, as you would likely regret not having spending enough time doing those when you eventually land something.
Keep at it and good luck. You are also not alone in this.
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