Not full time offer for MBB internship, how can I still break into PE long term?

I interned at MBB this summer but ultimately didn’t get a full time offer. I am just hopping back into recruiting but there aren’t many IB or consulting jobs open right now. 
 

if I for example do a normal investment related roll what would the path to PE be?

would I need to try to recruit for IB out after and network to get interviews? 
 

should I consider getting a masters for 2 years more to recruit?

I was previously prelaw should I just cut my losses and purse that full speed? 

10 Comments
 
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What do you mean by a "normal investment related role"? That is an extremely broad category

Try regional or LMM IB/PE, corporate banking, big 4 advisory/consulting, valuations, any of those roles that you can lateral into IB at 8-12 months. Then you can recruit for PE.

This is not the end of the world at all. Law school is a huge commitment both time and money, far bigger than spending a year elsewhere before you jump into IB. If you get to spring semester with no job, I'd apply to 1-year masters (look on here for a target list, but unless you're competitive for Princeton STEM, which you need work exp for, a 2 year masters is not worth it). I would only do grad school if you have no other options. I really bet you'll find something you can get into IB from though.

 

How would you go about lateraling into IB from CB? Just finished my junior internship, returning there fulltime.

 

Very doable after a year, especially if you stay in the same industry. CB is one of the closest places to IB, not a hard move at all if you're at a BB.

If you like your bank, quietly start to network internally at around 6-8 months (you will work with people in the IB industry group, grab them for coffee). There's often a person or two in IB groups who has come from either CB or another group within the bank... figure out if that person exists on LinkedIn and start with them, or people you're alrready staffed with. Can also expand to external networking as needed.

 

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