PE Networking?

Hi

Whilst the art of networking for banking roles has been covered extensively, it seems like the conversation regarding PE networking hasn’t really been touched upon.

I’m currently at an EB and looking to move to PE. As such I’ve started to research certain firms that I’m interested in and the sort of backgrounds that they hire from. I was thinking about reaching out to discuss with some of the more junior guys how they made the move, but I’m a bit concerned about how this might look should it get back to my Bank.

For example, there is a fund I’m interested in and I can see they hired someone with a very similar background - naturally it seems like reaching out would be very insightful for me, however I am conscious that my current Bank deals with this guy on a weekly basis (i.e. he knows my seniors very well). Is it naive to reach out to them given this? Is this generally a done thing, or would it be weird to some extent for me to reach out for an informational chat - it seems like the dynamics would be different for an employed professional reaching out in this manner vs. A university student

For what its worth I’m looking at this from a London perspective, but interested to hear all views.

3 Comments
 
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I'm not sure if networking protocols differ in London, so just wanted to put that disclaimer out there.

As a former avid networker pre-banking myself, I noticed a distinct change when it came to PE. Junior bankers tend to have a lot of free time, and if anything, seem to like helping out. Junior PE professionals tend to be pretty busy and seem to entertain these networking calls a bit less UNLESS they're doing it as a favor for a friend. My recommendation would be to leverage your friends/mentors to put you in touch with the people you'd like to speak to.

The important thing to remember is that junior PE professionals, like junior bankers, can have a big say on whether or not you get a first round interview and can help compensate for a poor HH interview.

 

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