London PE recruiting

Sorry to sound silly to not know how it works, but I’m not some hardo who’s been prepping for private equity since I was 11 years old.

Current IB analyst at an EB in a tier 2 European city (I.e not Paris or London), aiming for PE in London. How does recruitment actually work? Do PE firms / recruiters just reach out to tonnes of analysts / associates and I enter processes that way? Do I need to network in the first place to have any chance of getting my name in the hat for processes?

How well can I expect to do in terms of opportunities?

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Hi mate! Participated in a couple of PE processes (MM and UMM funds in London). It works both ways..

1. Headhunters will reach out to you via LinkedIn (however I reached out to them in advance to express my interest for the PE industry, type of funds I like, strategies, etc.....so I am under their radar for opportunities

2. Coldmailing --> reached out directly to MDs and/or Partners in funds to express my interest (having of course an intro of my profile etc). They might not hire or they would like to set up an intro call/interview to know you better. It worked out very well for me ;) 

Personal experience: DO NOT RELY SOLELY ON HEADHUNTERS (especially if you are based outside London)

 

To follow up on this, is it typically DP who cover most of the UMM firms or are there others you’d recommend reaching out to as well?

 
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