Megafund Credit to Bschool
I'm planning on joining the Credit team (looking at HY specifically) for a MF firm (GSO, Apollo, Ares, Bain Capital) as a first year analyst out of undergrad. I'm obviously aware of PE placement from these firms but are Credit analysts/associates looked at in the same manner? My goal is to eventually join a Distressed Debt HF. In that regard, does Bschool make sense?
bump
you can join a distressed HF coming from one of those place even without an MBA
Other buy-side roles: Yes, it matters. You're a credit guy (this is NOT a negative thing). We do not look at someone coming from your role the same as we would look at an analyst coming from an M&A group or strong industry group. Your experience is different. The perception of your skill set is different, even if you're just as capable as someone coming from an M&A group. I want to stress this isn't a negative thing though. You can still find a regular or distressed PE/HF role. I do think you might have to work a little harder. We get so many pre- and post-MBA resumes from "vanilla" candidates coming from IB or lateraling from another PE shop. A credit guy would have to be very impressive. I'm speaking from my own experience. Someone else might feel different. Ultimately, I think your professional goal makes sense.
I don't understand your bschool question. Are you asking if you can get into a good bschool as a credit guy? OR Does it make sense to leave a distressed debt HF for bschool? I'm going to assume you're asking if you can get into a good bschool as a credit guy.
Bschool: No, it does not matter. Getting into HSW (or any bschool) is all about presenting your experience the right way. These schools want to know you were impactful, taking on leadership roles, and experienced/overcame challenges. It's not the magnitude of your role (i.e. Mega PE vs. back office IB guy) that matters. It's the meaning and "why" behind all your actions. The adcom is trying to solve for how the classroom and school community will be different because you're enrolled. Can you add something to the discussion that someone else can't? They are not going to care about you doing credit. They are going to care about "why" you did credit and how your team was improved because you were there. This goes beyond your excel/technical skills. Did you mentor a junior teammate? Start some new initiative at the firm, etc. I've seen people in prestigious roles miss the HSW shot and I've seen people in the most uninteresting roles make it.
Thanks for the insightful response. I can definitely see why making the jump to PE to from a credit role would be more difficult. The M&A work associated with banking groups clearly aligns with the tasks that you would be expected to complete in a buyout shop. From the perspective of a distressed credit shop however, would it not make more sense to hire someone who already has experience in credit investing? Whereas a banker (disregarding LevFin) may not have the background to be able judge the downside risk associated with credit analysis, an analyst with background at one of these shops would reasonably have developed that skillset within 2 years. Obviously the training that a banker gets in a M&A group would not be matched by a buyside role after college.
Maybe it just comes down to the fact that like you said, there are just a lot more data points with banking analysts involved with buyside recruiting in comparison to first year credit analysts.
Completely understand the b-school point. Clearly I had a flawed perspective there.
Not to bump a dead thread, but do you think an M&A banker can get into a distressed PE / HF role? Or is that reserved mostly for the restructuring guys?
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