PE recruiting at HBS / GSB
Background - Just got in to HBS / GSB. Was at middle market PE fund (3bn fund) and a BB before that. Went to top 20 undergrad
Goal is to make the jump to UmM or MF pe. Can current students walk me through how the process works!? Do funds generally offer internships, come onto campus, things you had wish you had known before starting
No prospects please - only interested in current mba students
Bump
Good luck
F
Bump
At H/S. Two routes:
1) Funds come to campus. One of two things can happen: (1) They look at H/S’s resume bank (which includes yours) and they put together invite only events at a local restaurant where they do a meet and greet for networking. You apply through your school’s OCR online portal and then interviews happen on campus. These folks will also have public information sessions but those are mostly for optics of fairness to genpop at school. Might also have coffee chats you can sign up for. At an $3bn fund, there will be some you are invited to and some you are not. I think you’ll be invited to most invite only networking events. Option (2) they have public information sessions and/or coffee chats and no invite only events. Same deal with OCR apps and interviews.
2) You network like a regular human being. A lot of funds just don’t always come to campus. One of the main MFs just isn’t recruiting this year but I’m sure if you networked you could create your own process.
Bump on the below question tysm
Thank you for the incredibly helpful advice. Had a couple of follow ups
1) do people who come from 15bn plus dollar latest funds have an advantage in these events eg folk from Carlyle, Eqt, KkR etc or once you get the interview it is a level playing field
2) People who came from PE at h or s, do they usually get a pe job post mba or are there instances when this is not the case
3) any tips to prep and position myself ahead of starting next year
thank you agai for the helpful response and taking the tim
There are obviously exceptions but it's generally going to be an uphill battle to go upmarket unless you are a diversity candidate with pre-MBA PE experience. Ignore the title -- currently a VP in PE. Feels like most people that recruit for PE with pre-MBA IB/Consulting + PE experience do end up landing somewhere, typically between a similar-sized fund to downmarket. But as the other poster noted, it's well worth taking the lead to do a lot of networking on your own outside of campus recruiting to ensure you better canvas the universe of potential options.
The hiring market for '21 and '22 grads was a slight exception given how busy most PE shops were and how eager they were to add headcount around the time offers were being sent out. Will be interesting to see how '23 shakes out.
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A note to add on networking - you should be reaching out to your headhunter network, as many MM firms will do MBA summer hires via HHs. Just blast them and set up some time to reconnect, talk about what you're looking for, and they'll typically throw most opportunities your way if you already have PE experience.
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Your background matters here are you URM/female ?
No I am Asian male
The kiss of death.
Made the move from a $1-2Bn fund to a $10Bn+ fund post-MBA and have a handful of friends who made similar transitions but went to a school other than HBS/GSB so can't speak to the specifics of on campus recruiting. Also graduated into a much frothier market than today so ymmv.
Anyway, networking really really helps here. I connected with 50+ people at a number of funds I was interested in and kept in touch through my first year (kept the calls strictly informational) before letting folks know I was looking for a job after my summer internship. Was very helpful when I saw a job posting either on our internal careers site or via a headhunter as I could just reach out to my contact there and at least be guaranteed a first round interview and could take it from there. Also had some contacts reach out to me directly in advance of formally launching processes. All of this helped me get looks at funds where I otherwise wouldn't have stood out in a resume book. The key is to be genuine and likeable in these calls -- now that I'm on the receiving end, I can pretty easily tell when someone's just fishing for a job rather than actually interested in learning and it's a big turnoff.
Lastly, would also note that the lateral market 1-2 years post-MBA is pretty robust. I know several folks who started out at funds they weren't thrilled by but were able to trade up a year in after getting some good deal experience.
Any chance you can PM me? I am OP and would benefit a lot from a couple of additional questions just came off anon
Hey op - quick question from someone trying to get in your shoes. Did you go to a target, and what was your stats like gpa and gmat, extracurriculars? I’m trying to gauge my chances at H/S
Thanks - Do you think PE associates that don’t get a top MBA are at a disadvantage?
Currently an associate at a UMM that doesn’t promote internally, but don’t think I can get in to HBS/GSB. Want to stay in the UMM/MF
Wharton sends a ton to MF / UMM (likely more than Stanford due to self selection and class size). It’s a big drop off after that to Booth and an even steeper drop off to Columbia / Kellogg.
Why don't you apply to Wharton? They send tons to UMM/MFs.
Did you happen to go to Wharton? I feel like that's pretty much the same as H/S and makes such moves possible. Outside of HSW I'd imagine it to be tough.
What were your ECs that helped you get into HBS?
Any advice on how how to different yourself from other non diverse target + BB IB + MF/UMM PE associates w good scores / GPAs?
What's the timeline for post-MBA recruiting? Do you recruit during fall of first year for a summer internship with the goal of converting that to a full-time offer or do you recruit during second year for full-time offer?
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