Hours at a PE/HF?
So I've read quite a bit about the hours as an IB analyst, and seem to have a fair estimate of what it would entail. However, I've rarely heard anyone complain/brag about the hours at a PE or HF during the first few years, after they've just exited B-School or their stint at an IBank. I know as a sophomore in college that the question may sound a little impertinent, but I'd just like to hear from you guys a brief summary of the hours/pay associated with the first few years at a decent PE/HF after working at at IBank/graduating from B-School. Thanks
The largest private equity firms such as KKR, Blackstone, etc. will have hours that are comparable to banking if not worse. Your pay will be tremendous - an Associate who just finished 2 years at a bank could make several hundred thousand a year there (heard Bain was $500K guaranteed this year, not sure if that's true or not).
At smaller firms the hours will be more like 60-70 a week, so better than banking on a consistent basis but also significantly more than a normal job. Your pay will also not be $500K a year just starting out, probably more in the $200-300K range.
At hedge funds the hours will also be around 60 per week, but pay is more unpredictable. Base will be around $100K most likely, at least at the larger funds, but bonus is wildly dependent on the market/type of fund/your performance.
The nice thing to me about being an analyst or associate in PE is not necessarily that the hours are less (during a transaction they can be very long), but that they tend to be much more predictable. You don't have clients and you determine the pace to a large extent so its unlikely you'll have 12 hours of work dumped on you at 5pm on a Friday. Also, I can't comment on the big buyout shops, but the culture at my PE group (within large HF) consists of ex-banking MDs that don't want their associates and analysts to suffer like they did in banking. So they keep everything BS-free.
^now that's one place I'd love to work.
What's a good way of finding out companies' cultures? I obviously dont want to ask flat out to an interviewer "what're the hours like" or is that considered "ok"?
You definitely should ask what the hours are like...just don't phrase it in those words....ask about lifestyle, etc. If you can't figure it out then just ask them the question straight up (usually they can tell that you're politely asking for a ballpark number of hrs/week)
Companies are very responsive to these types of questions because they want to ensure that there exists a fit on both sides and that everything is laid out early on. There is nothing wrong with candidly asking what type of hours you will be expected to work and what a typical day looks like.
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