Private Funds Group (CS/UBS etc)

Another name for a private funds advisor is a placement agent. About 60%+ of GPs use them to raise capital for their funds. There are good bulge brackets (CS, JPM, UBS) as well as boutiques/spin-offs that do well in the space, most based in the financial centers of the world (NY, LON, HK). At a bulge bracket the private funds group sits in the capital markets side of the business. Like other capital markets activities, the day to day job is pretty light on quantitative things and more about your soft skills. I would say soft skills is almost more important in private funds given the $ amount and the level of sophistication you are dealing with both from a client viewpoint (GPs) and a target viewpoint (LP investors). The job is also on the extreme in the sense of how important relationship-making and maintaining is to private equity. As a placement agent you have a great view of the private equity industry, as you constantly have conversations with GPs and LPs. If anyone wants to know the pulse of the industry and what trends are happening on the ground, ask a placement agent.

The entry and exit opps sort of depend on whether you're on the distribution or project management side. Distribution is a sales function so very much smile and dial, but less dialing and more smiling and meeting with clients and LPs constantly at annual meetings, conferences, charity events, etc. Project management is the execution part, excel modeling, all the legal and general documentation work (PPM), and everyone else that is not directly sales. Good entry points are people coming from S&T (particularly institutional sales), ECM, and Financial Sponsors coverage as well people from an accounting/valuation background (Big4, PE accounting & valuation). The easiest exit opps include IR and business development roles both inside PE firms as well as F500 companies, or back into banking (see entry points). Also doable but more difficult are LP and GP investing roles.

Your understanding of the market and the asset class is paramount. The job is light on technical skills vs an industry coverage banker but expect your soft skills and personality to be tested. Understand the structure of a PPM and how to evaluate a GP manager is also important. Less important is the PE lingo and more technical aspects of the job you'll learn as you go along (waterfall of LP and GP cash flow, etc.).