...I just accepted an offer for a freaking job!!! It's with a boutique (small) PE firm in the southeast and I will be the only junior person at the fund, so I should get some awesome experience.
Not too much value in this post, mainly just tooting my own horn, however, I have been searching for well over a year and my NETWORKING finally paid off.
If you are in a similar situation, don't give up, things are getting better (relatively).
Best of luck to those still searching.
Regards
Congrats man! Good luck on your new position. When do you start? Tell us more about the firm.
Nicely done, bro! Go kick some ass.
well played bud
congrats, good luck with the job!
That's awesome man, congrats
Thanks guys. It's a boutique firm in the southeast, with AUM of less than $100M, but they have a particular focus for this current fund, so the size is less of a concern to me because their investment size will be fairly small but large in number.
They have a few investments done already (fund is about a 1 year old) and just signed one last week, so I will be walking into a live deal, which is great. They basically have 80% of the fund left to invest in the next 4 years so I should be busy.
Should be a 2 or 3 year position depending on how many deals we get done and then I will either be off to Bschool or onto another opportunity (if available). I realize that this position isn't the "best" ever, but given my non-target background, non-stellar GPA (but very relevant internships) and my lack of industry connections from friends or family I am more than happy with where I landed. Also, I have no IB experience, just internships in PE and VC.
I don't have a firm start date, but will be starting as soon as I find a place and can relocate...so it should be within the next 2 weeks or so.
Thanks again for the information, support and encouragement everyone on the board provided, its been a long road and its easy to get discouraged when there is nothing obvious on the horizon. I am glad I just stuck with it and hope everyone that is in a similar situation will do the say.
Regards
Congratulations man. Mind telling a little about what your background was before getting the job?
Sure.
I spent 4 years in the Army (Military Intelligence Analyst) after graduating high school. I spent 2 years in community college, transferred to a small, non-target private school in the southeast. By non-target, I mean, non-target. Out career fairs consist of local businesses, accounting firms, and law enforcement. Occasionally we do get a local boutique PE, VC or IB looking for an intern but those are few and far between and typically only go to those who happen to know about the position or happen to be friends with a professor who knows.
I did happen to spend 2 semesters at a small, lower middle market PE firm and 2 more semesters at a VC firm that has ties to a known regional IB, but nothing spectacular by WSO standards, lol.
I just spent a lot of time finding smaller firms on the internet and picking an MD that I felt we had something (or the most) in common and just sending them an email letting them know that I was a recent (at the time) graduate and that I was looking to make contacts in the industry as I searched for potential career opportunities. I would usually leave it short, so it didn't take up too much of their time, and I typically sent it at a ridiculous time in the early morning (between 4 and 6 am). I have no clue if that mattered or not but I thought that (1) it showed that I was really looking for a job at all hours, not just when I felt like it, and (2) it will likely be one of the first things they see in their inbox when they get in the office....not to mention they aren't busy yet and have a little bit more time to respond then say, in the middle of the day after lunch when they have calls coming in, etc.
I had a bunch of good responses but most of them mentioned my great experience in the military and internships but that they were hiring at that point but to keep in touch. So I did.
Every couple months I would send those people an email (if they told me to stay in touch) and see how the business was going and if things were picking up. They typically responded that things are good and look to be turning around and that they may or may not have an opportunity in the next few months and to just check back.
Oddly enough, the position I just took was actually one I was in contention for a year ago, but lost out to another guy who lived in the firm's area. Due to my network (and luck) the guy who took the position a year ago decided to leave and take a IB position in NYC to get additional experience. He reached out to his classmate, who happens to be a great friend of mine, for advice. Of course my buddy, after hearing about the opening, text me that night. So I took the weekend to draft up an email and shot it out late Sunday night.
Long story short, they responded and I went through the interview process and was offered the position. The funny part was that they just found out a few days before I reached out, so they were surprised about how "efficient" my network was, which I think implied to them that I was good enough to have people/friends looking out for my best interest.
The lessons learned?
You never know when or where an opportunity will/can come up or come from. That's the benefit to a large/solid network. Additionally, don't burn bridges, you may need/want them one day. Life is as much about luck as anything else, in my opinion, but being prepared and increasing your chances of being "lucky" are possible.
Regards
^ well congratulations also due to you cph. good for you bud, coming from back-of-beyond-non-target and making it somewhere. well played.
cphbravo, I sent you a pm last week asking for your thoughts on those types of funds. If you need me to send it again just tell me.
Congratulations are in order.
Congrats!
Tempore voluptatem corporis dolore praesentium ea suscipit optio exercitationem. Maiores incidunt nobis porro similique nihil.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...