Hard to pick out the right forum for this one. Anyway, for those that are interested in working at project finance lenders or infra PE, how is federal government experience looked upon? More specifically, how are the following agencies regarded:
- DFC (what OPIC morphed into after they merged with USAID)
- Export-Import Bank (they have a structured finance and project finance team)
- DOT's Build America Bureau that administers the TIFIA loan program
- The Dept of Energy has loan programs across a bunch of offices
There's some positions available I'm interested in the above that seem like they have pretty good job descriptions. By nature I think the deals generally lean towards not market deals in that they may be unprofitable at times/the government could be working towards some non-profit motive agenda, so the underwriting could be a little different as a result, but I would imagine this isn't always the case so it could be an opportunity to work on some interesting deals.
That being said, I don't have to get pigeon-holed for only federal positions after going down this path. I'm really interested in PF/Infra PE after and am trying to figure out if the skills would transfer.
I would try and look at some LinkedIn profiles of people who's job you would want. People leave gov't/academic employment for private sector all the time, so maybe you can find someone who has actually done what you want to do.
Best tip I can offer is not to focus on the agency/organization, but the actual job/role. The firm that hires you next will only care about how you can add value, bring to the table, do well, etc. Connections and 'inside' knowledge can certainly be part of that. I would also look for roles where you could conceivably get to network with private sector counterparts, makes whole process much easier.
TL:DR - Focus on the role/job, not the agency