Office transfer or apply to IB from MBB

Situation:

Upcoming MBB associate/consultant at post MBA level. Prior experience was corp strat at a major bank. Planning to move to PE investment side ideally after 2-3yrs. Ideally, I'd hope to work in a UMM/MF PE

Problem:

I'm in a non-US office where PE is not as strong and consulting to PE is even more difficult. I can expect a decent amount of DD work but there are just too many bankers from both this region and the US who are overall better perceived. And the reason that I'm targeting UMM/MF funds is simply that MM is not the same concept in this region, and the comp/deals/nature of work will be very different from UMM/MF, which on the other hand don't have that many seats. 

Options:
1/ Stay at my MBB and try my luck at the limited seats at Bain Capital alike or growth funds after the standard 2-3 yrs;
2/ Transfer to US/London in 1.5-2yrs, stay for a little bit, and try my luck in PE in a stronger market;
3/ Stay for ~1-1.5 yrs at my MBB, apply to a BB/EB (possibly FIG and maybe other groups), and apply to PE after ~2yrs. 

I know at the end of the day part of this comes down to how badly I want it/ where I see myself in the long term (eg. option 3 takes a long time and I'll still start as an asso/snr asso after all these years). But just curious about how often do you guys see these happen (or other options if any), and what would you do if you're in my shoes?

2 Comments
 
Most Helpful

I don't have great advice for you, all of these paths make sense and it's really up to what you want to do. Just adding that if you're not from the US, a lot of PE firms will automatically reject you because it can be difficult to get visas. So PE is just that much harder for internationals.

I think #3 would be challenging because most senior aso don't move to PE - it is possible, but your recruiting options will be quite limited. #2 makes the most sense in my mind, maybe London is easier with visas.

 

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