PE Opps for Consulting? (Doesn't have to be top tier)
Hey guys,
So I just scored an internship with a near-top consulting firm next summer, where I'm hoping to focus on due diligence, analytics, and operations for their PE clientele. Assuming I perform well, I'll likely be hired as an Associate at the firm, where I'll get to work on PE projects full time. Likely would become an Associate Consultant by that following year and would own projects within 18 months after that.
Given my interest in PE, I was curious as to whether working with PE firms on the consulting side could realistically open opportunities to get on the PE side as an Analyst (however junior I'd need to start). I don't need to be at the biggest or best in the beginning because it's more about a genuine interest in the work, so I'd love to know what kind of exit opportunities into PE exist for consultants (that aren't at an MBB or big 4) who work with PE funds regularly.
Again, size isn't a huge deal to me at first because I'd really just want to build expertise and acumen around the subject first.
Any insight or thoughts on the matter?
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I wrote that off as a potential route for me (right now as least) because I didn’t discover this area until after starting my degree (Data Analytics BAASc at a target school). Based on the feedback I got in other conversations with people in IB/Consulting, I apparently would have a harder time breaking into IB (unless I’m Risk/Compliance on the commercial side) since I don’t have a finance/business admin education, so I could get into a much more prestigious consulting firm than IB.
The proposed path here is more or less me trying to figured out how best to leverage my education and [realistic] viable options.
Timeline and the level of prestige breaking into PE don’t matter as much to me because beggars can’t be choosers (and I’m focused on building initial experience), so I’m willing to take the route that works. If you think IB could be an option, I’m all ears about how to spin my education.
By my senior year, I’ll be fluent with excel/R/data viz and data modeling, so I think I could be an effective analyst at an IB when it comes to their day to day duties. I just wouldn’t necessarily have the foundation regarding how to contextually think in or speak the language of investment banking right away.
Not sure what year you're in, but in the US, you do not need to major in finance to work in IB nor is it more advantageous. I'm a hard stem major (math/cs), and my sophomore year I interned at BB, and this upcoming year I'll be at a Megafund PE firm.
Not being a finance major was actually beneficial in interviews because although I have a lot of finance knowledge, the amount of knowledge I have is often viewed as impressive rather than being viewed as standard as it would be for a finance major. If I struggled through an accounting question, I feel like I got more of a pass than let's say a finance major.
Unless you're at Wharton, being a non-finance/economics major has its benefits, and you can even squeak by with having a lower GPA since your classes are much harder.
The benefit of going to a target like Penn is that you don’t need to major in finance/Econ to get into finance…you could major in fingerblasting assholes and still get looks based on your school alone…
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