"Analyst" vs "Associate" in PE (2018)

Up until fairly recently, PE basically had two entry points; post banking (pre-MBA) as an Associate, or post B-school as a Senior Associate.

Today, however, kids with 0-1 yrs of experience are getting into PE (as well as VC) at the ANALYST level- some through their personal network, and some with just stellar undergraduate credentials.

My question to you all is: what are the key differences between 'analysts' and 'associates' at larger PE firms in terms of...

1- Interview process
2- Pay & Hours
3- Technical knowledge required (mainly curious about analyst here)
4- Day to day responsibilities (time spent sourcing vs diligence vs portfolio monitoring vs modeling)
5- Exit opps

Curious specifically about LBO PE not growth equity, and about MM/MF not Boutiques.

Thanks in advance for responses!

 
Most Helpful

Y'all keep bumping this so I'll chime in. I can't speak for larger PE firms doing LBOs, but I can speak to the smaller MM Growth equity area. I'm currently an analyst at small team at a PE firm of about $200MM-$500MM, we have 1 associate and 2 analysts. Currently I'm taking the responsibilities of everyone as we're in a bit of a gap until the new analyst starts and my associate is on vacation.

Analyst interviews are pretty straight forward and simple (We hire out of UG), so you just need to know basic technicals and understanding of the business. I had 3 interviews, first with Analyst and Associate, then MD and lastly with the Partners.

I won't speak much to Comp and I don't know much about bonuses yet, but being a smaller shop it's merit based and typically above market.

Hours, I work 8-6 and I'll take work home once of twice a week. My MD is a fucking beast and works 5am-11pm, but is usually in from 8( or 9) to 6.

Technical knowledge: As an analyst it's a bit of modelling, and being able to read through term sheets to find what's important. Pretty standard, but a lot of it is industry specific and I've had to pick it up on the job. My associate is usually handling some more complicated things like waterfalls and training me on those as well.

My day to day is always different. Right now I'm doing 30-40% DD and research (including modeling), 10% portfolio monitoring, 20% sourcing, 10% doing operational and strategic work for our portfolio companies and then 20-30% is sourcing.

Exit ops are mostly to a different PE firm or a portfolio company.

 

It depends, if it's a project I've been working on, my MD will bring me into meetings/calls. So far I've only done a few projects, but one of our investments wasn't doing so well, so I was helping out on a marketing campaign for them. I went through demographics and segment data for the business locations and identified good areas to target for TV/Radio ads. Most of our companies are doing well so it's not something I'd expect to be doing on a week to week basis

 

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