Have 4 years of consulting experience, 3 years of IB / M&A experience, and 2 years of PE experience. Sitting on offers for an M7 MBA and an UMM PE firm. Which should I take? I think I’m just about the oldest I could be to go get an MBA without employers asking questions as to why I waited but also the PE firm is offering me only a two year stint, so I’ll have to recruit to another firm in two years and feel like I won’t have the optionality that I would if I went for an MBA. Any advice is appreciated.
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PE firm lol
What optionality do you need exactly? You are senior enough that you need to pick a path and commit to advancing in it. Optionality is great in your 20s but you are getting to the point where your peers/competitors for future jobs have 5-10 years of experience in a field... makes it hard to recruit at some point if you keep hopping to different focus areas.
I would do the PE firm and try to do well enough they keep you on after 2 years. Or pick another path, but given the diversity of your experience you really shouldn't even need an MBA to get into the main exits available out of MBA.
This issue is I was specifically told they only hire Associates for two years and likely don’t have appetite for promotion. So lateraling out in two years after the PE associate program is what I’m concerned about. Lateral market has always been tight and these funds are seemingly getting impossible to make it to Principal, the concern is lateraling when I’m older coming out as an Associate vs going to an M7 and finding a firm that offers better upward mobility and is more longer term oriented but I understand that’s not a guarantee either.
I would only even consider mba if it’s H/S/W. If it’s not, don’t waste your time and money and risk not getting back into PE. It will not open any new doors and your network will be largely irrelevant for a career in PE.
If it is H/S/W - understand that the value prop of these degrees has degraded significantly over the last 10 years and you will likely get no credit for your time in MBA on your career path and you will be fighting to get the exact UMM offer you have right now. The only reason to go is if it’s free and if you are okay risking not getting back into PE afterwards.
With the current state of the industry you should be optimizing for experience, upward mobility, and longevity above all else. There is a massive oversupply of talent and not everyone will have the opportunity to make a career in PE even if they want to.
If you like PE, and want a career in PE - do the PE path and evaluate the offer on its own merits vs. comparing it to the MBA path. They are two seperate questions. You need to start with the end-game in mind, you can only get a straight forward answer when you ask a straight forward question or when you have a clear direction in life. Once you have that, the answer is pretty simple because you can optimize for it. If you want to stay in PE, then an MBA does not matter at all, the PE option is, as you already probably know, better. If however, you want to extend your horizons, and explore corporate leadership roles outside finance, then the MBA is better. But again it is rooted in the end goal.
If you are unclear on the end goal, which is completely valid, normal and fair (no judgement whatsoever - been there done that), then your goal is to sit in a room and figure that shit out first.
You will wander forever if you do not have a destination in mind. Does not need to be super clear but have a general sense.
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