A few questions...

1- You've got someone from GS and someone from BNPP/SocGen, the GS guy gets the types of PE referrals from seniors there as any of his analyst predecessors have. The BNPP guy obviously isn't coming from a top tier bank such as GS/MS, but his recommender is uber-hooked up in the PE world. How does this compare?

2- Is the referral pretty much a "get you in the door" mechanism? So if I am referred to say KKR by my MD who has historically had VERY strong ties to KKR, how do I differ as a candidate versus any of the other analysts do get interviews there through referrals?

3- Can I expect my MD to got to bat for me at several different PE funds, because obviously it is super fuckin competitive and no matter how stellar a candidate you may be, you could very well get rejected because that was just your luck of the draw.

4- How can I maximize the impression I make on my group to get the best recommendations possible? I just lateralled and PE recruiting for the most sought after positions will pretty much start in April, wouldn't even be surprised if its March this year. Which gives me 3-4 months to make as strong an impact as possible. Any pointers?