What do analyst programs look for?
I am soon to be starting at a target, and am excited to dive into uni life. I don’t consider myself a ‘hardo’ but at the same time, I want to leave as many options on the table. I am studying a stem degree, and am in the process of learning a language (for cultural reasons) and building a business.
Aside from the standard banking/pe/consulting internships, are there any other things I can do to increase my odds of getting into a PE analyst program?
Again, I don’t want to fully commit myself because:
1) I’m still not sure which career is right for me
2) I want to enjoy socialising/my hobbies as much as possible at uni
Thanks for the response :)
Typically, you will only find analyst positions at large-cap PE firms. Most often, you will need a prior internship at GS / MS / JPM to even have a shot at these positions (unless you are diversity or female). To be clear, I can't think of anything that is more competitive than landing an analyst position in PE. You will have to work extremely hard to land such a position, and it's not something that will just randomly happen while you mess around having fun at uni. Even with an internship at GS / MS / JPM and a degree from a top-tier target, your chances of landing an analyst position in PE are very slim.
Doesn't have to be one of those three banks. The key is any top bank, including independents like PJT, Evercore...
I assume that he is based in the UK. PJT and Evercore are much weaker in Europe than they are in the US. The "elite boutiques" in Europe would rather be Rothschild / Lazard, but they are focusing on much smaller deals than GS / MS / JPM and thus not as a good fit for large cap PE.
Wouldn't say PJT works on small deals. RSSG is killer and M&A team occasionally helps with US deals like Amgen/Horizon. PJT has sent a few kids to MFs after interning there in London.
Joined a MF as an analyst. Banking internship are helpful to get an interview and not much else, but yes there is a lot of dick sucking for the pedigree, which firms you intern at and which uni you go to. However, the most important thing to get pass the interview is investing acumen and commercial judgement. By the time you interview, you need to be good enough to do independent research. If you were given a name, you need to be able to come back 3 days later with a well informed and comprehensive view on the company, that IMO is the most important skill, which is similar in any buyside role really.
Going to GS/MS/JPM is helpful but what's even better is investing experience. Most MF PE analysts I know have some experience at HF or MM PE, which teaches you way more about investing than any bank would. Did IB summer internship and personally have a low rating on what it teaches you that would be applicable other than formatting nice slides.
Investing experience is definitely better than having a banking internship when you are in front of the team. Problem is how to get in front of the team. HHs are specifically instructed to just look at candidates with BB/EB internships etc.
I had a non traditional background breaking into a MFPE analyst role (not a lot of banking but lots of investing experience)and had to work really hard to get infront of funds due to HHs. once you are infront of people its a fair game for all banks/non traditional backgrounds (where frankly anyone with investing experience will immediately stand out in case studies)
Thanks for the response.
Do people tend to do 'outside' study for investing acumen, or does this tend to come naturally from experience in HFs/PE?
Basically, do I need to be grinding investment thesis in my free time?
Yes and yes. Reading is the most important thing in investing. I wouldn't describe as grinding investment thesis, but read everything you know about businesses.
Hey, do you mind speaking about your experience recruiting for PE analyst roles? How did you prep, where you found applications etc? Thanks
I'm in Europe so can't comment on how it works in the US. Outside the US the best way is to be scrappy and reach out. Like I mentioned above, the best way to prepare is read as much as you can. All the classic investing books and for more recent ones use twitter, podcasts, reddit and Value Investors Club is a good place to start. Do that everyday for 3 years and I promise you will have way better investing acumen than 99% of peers in your year.
Depends what you mean by non-traditional background, unless you're referring to startups, software engineering, academia etc. If MM PE or HF, I don't see how you would be excluded by HH. In my interview round, there were many people in the process who didn't have IB internship but had investing experience.
Not really. Anything from the below will not help you with HH but actual teams might not care
not speaking euro languages
interning at hfs but not a L/S deep value/activist funds (macro hfs, multimanager). Had a few hf internships and tbh even hf experience at deep value fund would not be advantageous in a PE process in Europe (its just impressive that you got the internship, but people start getting wary of public v private)
pe experience but not in europe
semi target
Bump
I’m at a non target and interviewed 2x for Blackstone 1x ares and 1x mf growth
No prior banking internship, just good vibes
no conversion, just flex?
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