Private equity --> trading (advice appreciated)

Hi monkeys,

Would love some advice from the forum here.

I started my career in FICC sales and trading c.5-6 years ago (straight out of university). However, my bank was going through some pretty bad turmoil at the time and coming from a working class background I felt that I should choose something more stable instead of risk being laid off at such bank.

So after 1 year of FICC sales and trading, I transferred to an MBB and then Private equity. However, I know that I still love trading and really don't enjoy the process of MBB/PE.

In hindsight it was a naive / highly risk averse decision at the time.

For anyone that's taken a bit of an unconventional route (back) to trading - would love your advice on best approach to getting back into sales/trading division of a bank.

Background: Top UK target university with 4.0 GPA equivalent and MBB/PE experience noted above. 1 year at a BB in sales and trading as well as a couple of sales/trading internships.

Thanks a lot!

278 WSO Academy Sales & Trading Session Reviews: 4.86/5

Class of '28 Aug 2026 Cohort

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Sales & Trading Career Roadmap (optional)

“John listened before giving advice. I told him I had accepted an offer at Bank of America but was still interested in JLL and Wellington. Instead of telling me what to do, he asked what I wanted from my career and helped me think about which path would give me more options. I also liked that he was honest about what he knew and didn’t know. He gave me a clear reason to keep working toward JLL, while reminding me that Bank of America was still a good place to start. When I practiced my interview answer, he told me what worked and gave me one simple way to improve it. That made the feedback easy to use. Most of all, John made me feel less stressed about figuring everything out right now. He offered to help with a mock interview too, which meant a lot to me. ”

Class of '28 Apr 2026 Cohort

5.00/5

Sales & Trading Mock Interview

“The mentor provided extremely detailed and thoughtful feedback throughout our session. What I appreciated most was that the advice was not generic. He took the time to understand my background, past experiences, and the specific roles I am currently recruiting for, and then tailored his suggestions accordingly. He also connected many of his recommendations to his own professional background and experiences, which made the feedback much more practical and credible. Instead of simply telling me what to change, he explained why certain answers or approaches would be more effective and how an interviewer might interpret them. He also shared specific examples from his own experience to illustrate his points. I came away from the session with a much clearer understanding of both my strengths and the areas I should improve, as well as several concrete ways to strengthen my interview preparation. Overall, the session was extremely helpful, personalized, and actionable, and I would definitely work with him again.”

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3 Comments

WSO Monkey Bot

O

3y

Principal in PE - LBOs, bummer your thread hasn't had a response yet. Sometimes bots are smarter than humans anyways:

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You're welcome.

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I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.

Jimbus

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3y

Hey, based in UK happy to chat about FICC space and recruitment & mkt.

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Principal in PE - LBOs

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Authored by: Certified Private Equity Professional - PrincipalCertified Private Equity Pro

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Private equity --> trading (advice appreciated)

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Private equity --> trading (advice appreciated)

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