Life after 2 years in Private Equity
Hey guys, so I know a lot of what bankers do these days is 2 years in banking, 2 in PE and then 2 for MBA, but what comes after? (assuming of course we are disregarding the people that just stay in banking after the 2 years, and the ones who are lucky enough to make VP in PE and stay on as well).
What happens at this point after the MBA?
They take responsibility for their career and figure things out.
Your life, and your career, is not a boat being taken through "It's a Small World After All". It's an aircraft, and you're the pilot. For the first 28 years of your life, there was a procedure to get the plane launched, and then you had to fly in the traffic pattern, but now you exit it and go wherever-- you make your own decisions about your career and take responsibility for them.
I can assure you that at some point in our early careers-- typically a few years into your first job out of college but sometimes further down if there's a set career track-- a lot of people will have an existential crisis. They realize that they're out of the pattern, they're flying the plane, nobody else is, and they're responsible for figuring out where the plane is going to go. And it can be a little intimidating.
I recommend flying the plane somewhere warm, with water, that you haven't been before. The Florida Keys? Baja? Either way, you'll figure it out.
I can't give you top 3, but I can give you a few more specific avenues than what has been mentioned so far.
PE: People that do PE pre MBA tend to try and go back post MBA. Because PE is so selective and most firms really only take people if they have a background in PE, Pre MBA PE associates have the best chances to get back into these roles.
Corp Dev: Corporate development within a specific business/company. This could be categorized as industry and is usually the easiest landing spot for a traditional banker to move back into a business. Pay is obviously less, but the life is much better and post guys use these Corp dev roles to try and move up within the business.
Hedge Funds/ Asset Management/ Family Office/VC: As much as people glamorize deals and dealmaking it can be slow and pretty shitty at times. Hedge Funds and other "high finance" professions offer an alternative to this.
Those are probably the big three I can think of. I guess the 4th might be going into industry in other roles such as Product Management or Marketing.
As others have mentioned if one has made it to this point they're usually pretty well connected, smart, and fortunate. The path forward really just depends on how they want to live life. Is it time to take an asset management role in a smaller city and settle down there? Maybe move to silicon valley to work at the next big startup? Or go back into PE and try to get on partner track. There really isn't any set path.