Big Four to PE - MBA or not?
Hi All,
I could use some career advice.
I currently work for the Big 4 in London. I've been working in Audit for 3 years and have passed all of my ACA exams first time. I've done some work on PE portfolio companies.
Over the last year I've been trying to break into Transaction Advisory Services. About 4 months ago, this seemed hopeless, so I decided to work towards applying for an MBA this year. During that time I sat the GMAT (720) and started going to university open days. My idea was to get an MBA and recruit for PE (as well as IB to give myself backup in a very competitive area) whilst on my MBA. Targeting a top 10 US or Insead/LBS, I figured I'd end up with a good shot of getting into IB at least at Associate level in 2-3 years from now.
NB: just before anybody asks, I do know/understand the difference between IB and PE - I'm purely referring to IB as a backup because I know it's another stepping stone into PE, which is where I want to go.
However, just recently I found out that the TAS team would like me to start with them in soon. This would be a secondment with a full-time job behind it if I did well.
Now I'm wondering whether I'd be better off sticking at Big 4 another year and see if financial DD TAS experience can get me into PE or at least IB. This way, I can see how I am in a year and potentially save myself 2 years out of work/the money by joining as Analyst 2ish? FYI - I know that people go off to do MBA's and PE after a year or two post-qual from this team, but not that often.
If you were me, what would you do? MBA at all? If so, this year (apply during next few months) or next? I'm 25 and all my ties are in London. I can get the money together for an MBA but the key goal is for me to step up my career into M&A proper - at least IB, but hopefully PE. My final thought is that I wonder whether the MBA would give me more flexibility if I hated PE to go off and do something else and therefore is less risky in terms of finding myself without options and in Big 4 forever!
Appreciate all advice.
Any thoughts? Should this be moved to Business School or stay here?
Maybe the PE scene in London/UK is different than in the States, but transitioning from an MBA program to a PE Associate position is extremely difficult without pre-MBA PE experience. Even if you have pre-MBA experience it can be very difficult. If PE is the absolute end goal, I would suggest moving to TAS, lateraling to an IB analyst program and attempting to make the jump from there. Take all of this with a grain of salt, as I went the HF route post banking. Generally speaking, I think this advice could be "directionally" correct (but go find many other sources who have been through the process).
Thanks for the input! Yeah, I think the main difference between UK and the US, as I understand it, is that Big 4 TAS -> MM PE is quite a defined route (we work with most of the well-known UK PE houses and I know of people making this move as Associate II's), but I take your point. So if you were me, would you be more inclined to go TAS Associate (where I'm starting now) for 9ish months -> MBA -> IB Associate -> PE; or TAS Associate for 6 months (start recruiting then) -> IB analyst I/II on off-cycle recruitment -> PE? My main concern on the latter is doing a year of TAS and finding I can't get into IB without MBA and then ending up doing the first one year later :P
Have never seen audit straight to PE in london, though some job posting at very small PE firms do have ACA requirements. With TAS, MM PE is a tough route. You usually see these guys ending up at much smaller firms, targeting LBOs in the 5-20m values. Rationale is that with an abundant of bankers from BBs, EBs, MMs, why would they need to look elsewhere, not to mention consultants...
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