Struggling to exit from consulting to PE
About me: Oxbridge, currently at a T2 consulting firm doing CDDs (think LEK, Strat&, monitor) in London, 4.5 years work experience.
I've been wanting to make the move into private equity for a while now, but am not getting any interviews. Everyone I speak to says they are only looking for bankers, and I have sent literally hundreds of applications out.
I am willing to join an investment bank first if needed, but most banks only hire recent university grads for the analyst level and experienced bankers for the associate level.
I am happy to go to business school as well, but from what I've read on this forum, without prior PE experience, an MBA will not help.
So I am stuck. I know I am capable of the Private Equity job based on people who I have spoken to, and am willing to take whatever steps needed, but can't seem to find my way in. How can I make the exit or has that ship sailed?
It’s a hard hard market right now ; you’ll need to consider swallowing some pride and going smaller LMM if anything
I have absolutely no issue going to a LMM. Any suggestion on how to find ones which are hiring and get an interview? I'm already in touch with the main recruiters who said they are not recruiting much (Kea, Dartmouth, Walker Hamill) and have tried cold outreach to many of the smaller firms who have said the same
If you want LMM / Small cap funds talk to PER. They do the bulk of that end of the market. The HH you mentioned mainly do mid market, growth and large cap funds and it does seem right now that the mandates they are receiving rn are highly specialised (banking and languages).
Try for a MM IB/ boutique first. People just don't realise how competitive PE is.
You have cracked kids coming from GS, MS, JPM to MM PE (think Inflexion, Bowmark, LDC). That's the norm! They come down willingly, pay cut and all. So no offence, but imagine how someone with no IB experience and just CDD is going to fare.
That makes sense. Do you know what level I would enter into a boutique bank (I've heard that very few people actually go from consulting to banking)?
Do you have a deep sense of why you want PE? Just to be clear, it’s a lot more stressful, the pay isnt meaningfully more anymore (most portfolio companies are seriously underperforming) and fund sizes are shrinking which is limiting upward mobility. Its not a panacea btw
Depends how you perform in interviews, the confidence you exude, and whether there is any meaningful sector overlap between the CDD work you have done and the boutique's focus area. Could come in as a senior analyst.
On the consulting point, you'd be surprised, some do come from consulting but generally make the transition more quickly.
Are you in the UK? I keep getting outreach for UMM/ MF hiring in London so it isn’t that the hiring market is slow. Is there something about your profile that puts them off?
Yep, I am. I've been speaking to recruiters regularly, most say there is not suitable role. When they do say there is a suitable role, most of the time after speaking to the PE firm they come back with 'they are looking for a banker'
If you are not MBB, without diversity you are frankly cooked. All the shops that will take you will pay atrociously (you would be surprised but this is likely in line with what you earn right now) and will still work you to the bone
I'm happy to go to one of those shops for a few years and then jump to a bigger one. Any chance of success that way?
It can happen but generally people move downstream. I think your issue is that you’re not at a top tier consulting shop now is the harsh reality. In a tough market like this that’s going to be hard to make it through with. The ‘we need a banker’ bit is often just to not hurt your ego is the honest answer - if that was truly the case the recruiter wouldn’t have bothered talking to you in the first place. Have you thought of doing M&A at a PE backed portco? Can be super good and interesting gigs too
Ignore title. You mention BS won't help without prior exp - agreed for PE, disagreed for IB. If you're happy to do it, then hopefully you know this but IBs take loads of MBA SAsso's
would an exit to pe be possible after this, or would it be too late by then?
At least at my shop (MF PE) we definitely have taken people with MBAs then banking experience. In fact Europe is geared towards it, almost all of my team are Europeans with an UG > Masters > 2-5yrs IB
We would easily screen you with an MBA/banking profile (and there aren't any age limits if you're worried about that) - actually even prefer it because you have op experience
Only thing would be if you're willing to come in as an associate (maybe VP) after working in Consulting, a MBA & banking. Some resistance after that because we want our VPs-equivalent and above to be internal promotes
Can't speak to our competitors for sure, but very certain this is fine
Edit: want to emphasise that there are many other nuances too... the bank you go, the group you join, deal reps, diversity. Lots of ex-consultants everywhere in PE from various shops too, have seen 1-2 from LEK at ours in various roles. Hope this helps
Hi enteringpe,
I have a similar background as you (Tier 2 consulting) and managed to make the jump to PE. It is not impossible (although I agree that the IB route is more common) and I have seen other peers who have made the same jump (some with MBAs and some without). As someone else mentioned in this thread, PER is the best recruiter in London for PE so I would definitely get in touch with them. But don’t limit yourself to recruiters (they take an insane fee for their services which leads to a lot of small cap/mid cap PE funds choosing to hire from their network or LinkedIn), so I would also advice you to I) stay active on job ads on LinkedIn and II) keep an eye on the websites of PE funds’ recruitment pages. I would also advice you to be really quick with any application, based on my own experiences you easily get 200-300 applicants in London for one junior PE position within five working days so be quick when you see a role.
Feel free to DM me if you have any further questions.
Really helpful- thanks! Have been doing just this- speaking to recruiters (including PER- though my experience with them has not been great), and applying directly. Hopefully it's just a matter of time then before something sticks
I slightly disagree with some of the people in this post. I know a few people that personally made the switch from the same type of firms you mentioned to premier PE shops but they are all in the US and went to elite undergrads and were top of their associate classes. Forgot the headhunters and that goes for everyone. You need to leverage your network and reach out to people if HH aren’t showing you opportunities. It’s your future and you gotta take control of it. Once you get an interview, you just can’t make a single mistake. If you don’t you’ll get the offer. Sure could a MBB person make a mistake or two and get it, yeah but life isn’t fair. I’d also look at opportunities where consultants already are regardless of what tier. That should be helpful in narrowing your search. If you run out of all those opportunities, then start looking down market to LMM. You could always go to grad school and try to move upstream from there.
Understood, thanks! I would say I have a top tier undergrad background, but yes makes sense to go direct
Just to clarify when you say grad school, I'm assuming you mean start off at a LMM PE, get and MBA then move to Large cap? Just wanted to confirm that is possible?
Yes, that’s exactly what I mean but again I’m in the US so it might be different. I’m at a large cap and we have two directors who have done it, but they also went to HBS and GSB. Obviously, it’s extremely difficult and will depend on the market but it’s much better to break into the industry first. Worse case, you could always go on to one of those school and then break into the MM.
Not possible if you aren’t at MBB
Maybe LEK is doable too, esp in Euro
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