Non-Stellar PE Recruiting Questions
T50 but Non-target, no test scores (all canceled due to COVID), 3.7 GPA, returning FT this summer at a mid-BB (BofA, Citi, Barclays) to an average industry group that has not seen many exits to PE or the buy-side in general. For context, it is a pretty broad coverage group (ex. healthcare, c&r, industrials)
How does PE recruiting go for people in these situations? I have been reading about on-cycle and a lot about the MFs, but haven't been able to find much on the non-stellar candidates who aren't realistic for MF and probably even UMM. My goal is to place into the largest fund possible, and ideally be a generalist but it is what it is
A few questions I have:
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Do these people usually take part in on-cycle? Do MM firms take part?
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How can I increase my odds if my group has no recent exits? Is networking a thing or is it all through HHs?
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Do most MM funds use HHs? LMM?
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Assuming I know my shit with modeling and cases is a UMM a realistic goal size to tell a HH asking for preferences?
Don't have any family or friends who have been through the process so I'm just trying to learn as much as possible while I start to study for recruiting in the next few months
Where do people from your group go? Even for a not-great industry group people have to go somewhere, would be kind of unusual for literally everyone to move to corp dev.
You may get oncycle invites - or you may not if your group truly has no placements, but can't hurt to be prepared early. It'd be unusual for an entire BB group to not get ANY oncycle outreach but maybe that group does exist. Some MM funds do oncycle, if you get interviews and are ready you should throw your hat in the ring as the bar is lower for those who are prepared enough to pass interviews that early. But many, especially those closer to LMM, will wait as they are not competing for the same candidates as APO/BX.
Don't think UMM is realistic if your group truly never places to buyside. MM/LMM do use HHs so networking isn't really a thing, but especially on the LMM side these are not too difficult to land from a BB. If you're not getting HH outreach, ask your buddies in other groups/banks to forward a few of the HHs. Just reach out and say you're an analyst at XYZ bank and you will get on their list.
corp dev, small VC, lateral, some industry specific HFs
Don't think it's wise to restrict yourself to UMM. It's also very silly to want to go to the "biggest fund possible".
It's not that I only care about the size of the fund. I care about culture, rep, hours, etc but I just ideally want to work on larger deals.
I also definitely don't want to limit myself to UMM, as idek if it would be possible for me to get a seat. More than content and happy with MM but just wasn't sure what was a realistic goal
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