Q&A: Went from S&T to Cap Markets to M&A to MF PE

I'm a long time user of WSO, and as the title says, I've had a pretty convoluted career path so far. I started off in S&T out of undergrad, and was on a prop desk that was getting decimated (historically it was one of the most profitable groups at the BB). I was desperate to make the switch to an IBD coverage role but did not have much luck so had to start of as a 1st year analyst in a capital markets team. I knew i wanted to work in PE so I eventually made the switch to a coverage team as a 3rd year analyst and went through the off-cycle PE recruiting process, which eventually led to a MF offer which I ended up taking. WSO was a tremendous help throughout this process, especially the PE interview guide and the WSO video library, and I thought I'd pay back the community with a Q&A.

 

Thanks for the AMA!

Did interviewers question you as to why you wanted to switch/ how often you switched into an entirely different field? After working your third job in four years, I was just wondering how you were able to explain the reason for switching each time you moved groups without sounding like the group you were joining was just a stepping stone towards your ultimate goal.

 
Best Response

I got that question mostly during the PE recruiting process, and the first switch from S&T --> IBD / Cap Markets was pretty easy to explain. It's such a common switch these days given shrinking size of trading desks, niche skillset etc. I did make sure to say that PE wasn't necessarily a stepping stone and I'm interested in doing it longer term, and that's something the senior interviewers wanted to hear. While doing internal switches in my BB, it was almost expected that every analyst is using the gig as a stepping stone so was not really an issue.

 

I'd say about 70% of the opportunities that I was presented (some headhunters probably did not show me their best clients given my atypical background) were MM opportunities (both lower and upper MM), and 30% were megafunds. A lot of the megafunds were hiring because they either under-hired on-cycle, or some of their associates left early (seems to be a recurring theme at some megafunds). My particular MF had an opening because some of the 3rd years decided to stay on as principal and there was a shortage of associates.

The off-cycle process moves quite slowly and funds take their time with the interview process. This is good because there isn't a frenzy in Feb like how there is in the on-cycle process and you have more time to prepare / spread out your interviews.

 

what were the strategies your prop group used?

You killed the Greece spread goes up, spread goes down, from Wall Street they all play like a freak, Goldman Sachs 'o beat.
 

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