MFPE experience in a non-US country/geography not valuable/discounted in US recruitment?
Associate at Mega Fund PE (BX/Warbrg/Carlye) in Mumbai (India), ex-MBB planing for MBA at H/W/S. However surfing through wso, reddit, i develop a doubt about whether my PE experience in a non-US geography particularly India is disadvantageous? Is it not good enough? What I have heard is Domestic (US) deals, MBB/IB experience is more valuable & recruitment at MBA will be next to impossible.
Becuse the other option I am left with is Post-MBA IB associate -> PE which I have been told us next to impossible as IB associate aren't being recruited.
Thanks for any clarification/help.
It's nearly impossible at the moment.
I did my MBA at one of the listed schools recently and most of my Indian PE classmates ended up i) going back to their pre-MBA fund in India, ii) pivoting to public markets, or iii) finding a startup/tech job in the US.
The combination of a weak VP market, the number of high-quality candidates with domestic MFPE experience, and the current environment around work sponsorship made it an uphill climb for all international students (surprisingly including those from London/Europe, Australia, and Canada).
Candidly, a lot of my international friends also mentioned that they felt their accents were holding them back, so much so that they resorted to developing a localized American accent, and I feel as though a lot of them regret their decision to go with the benefit of hindsight.
Truthfully, it's a tough PE hiring market for domestic students too. A lot of domestic students ended up taking a meaningful change in fund size/strategy (i.e. infrastructure, credit, secondaries) or just returned to their pre-MBA shop in order to stay in private markets. There was a lot of self-selection of people who go to an MBA going to pivot careers, so within the domestic students who didn't go back most ended up doing public markets, search funds, or startups (although it's hard to know how much of that was their first choice going in)
I don't blame you for wanting to leave since most of my Indian PE friends complained about the work culture, but getting paid in USD in Mumbai at a BainCap or something is a pretty sweet setup, so it might be worth exploring the domestic market opportunities or targetting a GIC-type firm that is more open to move people around.
Honestly, if I were you, I would really try to come to an agreement with your pre-MBA firm around returning/lateralling to a HK/Singapore/London at at the same time, recruit for a more international friendly jurisdiction (London, Dubai) at a firm that could move you around.
Good luck!
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