Secured MM Private Equity Role - Can I start one year early?
I joined a large investment firm out of college and am considering whether I should try to start at my next middle market PE firm earlier.
Background: I interned at a bulge bracket bank for three summers (senior year of high school, sophomore year, and junior year) and went to a target school. I lack family connections in the industry and recognize that I got very lucky along the way. I made the jump to the buyside for my full-time job given the exposure and learning experience I foreshadowed getting.
While the firm makes traditional PE investments, our sourcing mechanism has not benefited my team and I have been mostly staffed on business-building, fund investing, and co-investments since joining. The hours are honestly worst than what I experienced in banking given our lean team. Realizing this, I took part in the 2018 recruiting cycle with my peers in banking and accepted an offer at a middle market fund I am happy with. The official start date is in summer of 2018.
After getting a full year to assess the situation, I don't feel my current role is preparing me well given the lack of deal flow and current staffing. Are there any downsides to reaching out to my future employer about starting a year early? As a girl, I am especially thoughtful about getting the reps in earlier in life when I have more flexibility - I don't want to waste the prime years I don't mind working 80-100 hour weeks on processing work that's not relevant to my future role.
I appreciate everyone's insight in advance!
bumping this - thanks again!
Your situation sounds a bit unique, but I'll give you some thoughts. I'm at an MM PE fund, and I'm trying to think through the situation as if you called me and told me you wanted to start early. I'm sure there might be others who feel differently as well, so I'd love to hear them chime in.
I would not request to start early, based off of the below: - Established funds typically recruit on a few years out in advance for a reason. They have a generally clear idea of staffing needs and they want new Associates to have a few years of experience. I would think you're likely to get an answer of no based on staffing needs alone, but could be wrong as this will vary from fund to fund. - The co-investing experience you're getting can still be very helpful in that it will help you learn how to shape an investment thesis, see how a deal and diligence process is run, etc. - While it's not as relevant for a junior position, it may be helpful for your long-term career to get some exposure to business development and fund raising, as those may be helpful skills to have further down the line - Most importantly, I think you risk giving your future fund the impression that you aren't learning anything. If I were in their shoes and someone calls me and tells me their not learning enough, that would be a red flag for me
I understand it's frustrating, but please recognize that if you were at a more traditional BB, you'd likely still be spending a lot of time doing BS that wouldn't be helpful for your future PE career. Just comes with being junior. Also, I know it's tough with time constraints, but if you really feel like you're not getting your deal reps in, I would try to carve out some time each week to independently work on your modelling and valuation skills.
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