MM PE Lateral from Non-core city to NYC

Hi All,

I am currently an analyst at a top MM bank in NYC. After responding to ~200 NYC PE applications from headhunters, I received only two phone screens. It wasn't resume issues, as I had friends at MFs/Upper MM PE shops review my resume. I have a very non-traditional background except for my banking experience and just wasn't competitive in the NYC PE applicant pool.

Starting to freak out that I would get stuck in banking forever, I accepted an offer at a lower MM fund in a non-major city thinking that I could do ~2 years as an Associate and lateral to a lower MM fund in NYC.

I recently spoke with a VP in my group who thinks it will be impossible to return to NYC after leaving.

Anyone have thoughts or experience in a situation like this? My goal is to end up in a partner track associate role in NYC in a few years.

4 Comments
 
Most Helpful

This is such a close minded response. Have comfort in the fact that Pan Euro Monkey does not work in PE and is therefore talking with zero credibility. PE firms care about the quality of experience your getting when making their hiring decisions, not what city you're working in. Sure, it is not straight forward to move from a LMM to MF, but people hop from LMM to MM / UMM frequently (from tier 2 cities at that). Just look at HIG's Principal bios..

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