On Cycle 2025 Advice

After probably 50-100 1st year analysts reach out to me for advice on on-cycle (pre-cycle?) 2025 recruiting, I'll sum it all up here:

1) Just because the process is starting doesn't mean you have to jump into it. The earlier on-cycle recruiting goes, (i) the less firms that participate in on-cycle - especially when it's this ridiculously early and (ii) the less spots are actually filled during on-cycle vs. off-cycle

2) While there will be less candidates you're competing against in on-cycle, there will still be all those hardos who graduated early to spend their 2nd semester preparing for buyside recruiting / have been recruiting for the last 6 months so it's still an ultra competitive process

3) If you're not from a super demanded background (ultra target / DEI), you're going to get lost in the sauce of on-cycle recruiting, so just wait until you have more time to prepare and can really stand out with deal experience / crush technicals and behaviorals

4) Don't get swept up in this panic and go to a MF for the sake of the name. There's a ton of cool opportunities out there and the vast majority of spots aren't available on cycle.

5) You can do a much better job diligencing the interviewing firm (directly and back-channeling) when you go off-cycle, so if you care about culture / WLB at all, then you should probably sit this first wave out and do your homework.

Just my humble opinions...

Mod alert: We have announced a PE Interview boot camp for July 21, 2023. Check it out here: https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/courses/live-training/private-equity-interview-bootcamp. Happy recruiting!

Edit: The Bootcamp is sold out. If you couldn't get a seat, please check out our PE interview Course. Good luck with the interviews!