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A lot of my advice would be generic / applicable to any new job.
1) Be cautious in the beginning; make good impression and be friendly, but learn the political lay of the land
2) Don't overspeak in the beginning - learn the culture and the players first
3) Work especially hard for the people that matter
4) Be polite and make an extra effort with the secretaries, support staff and other teams
(PE Specific)
5) Try to think strategically about businesses - rather than just processing. Pay attention to the questions your seniors ask and try to understand why
6) Learn from everyone. If your boss is terrible with numbers but makes it rain sourcing, try to pick up on his skills there, and vica versa
+1. Thanks for sharing how important becoming acclimated to the new political landscape will be. I'm sure a little patience will go a long way and can imagine that some associates come in overeager to show how much they think they know only to end up with a foot in their mouth. Also agree that, aside from it being the right thing to do, #4 does not go unnoticed.
For #6, I was curious -- how is it even possible for your boss to have gotten to the senior level if he or she is "terrible with numbers"? Or were you just implying that his value add (and what you should try to takeaway from his skillset) is more relationships relative to more quantitative analysis?
What are the day-to-day challenges faced by PE associates? (Originally Posted: 10/02/2017)
I'm trying to understand what the challenges are day to day of being an associate: not necessarily things that are hard and straight forward, but things that are real head-scratchers.
For example, a consultant might have trouble reconciling two mutually inconsistent datasets in building a market growth model, or might have two interviewees that say opposite things.
As a PE associate, what are the roadblocks or challenges that you have to deal with? Things that don't have easy answers?
Hi jm28, whoops, looks like nobody chimed in here.... maybe one of these discussions below is relevant:
More suggestions...
I hope those threads give you a bit more insight.
Private Equity Associates (Originally Posted: 02/02/2009)
This is a very random question but what is the age range for typical private equity associates at big funds for say the KKR's, BX, Hellman Friedman. Thanks
At the pre-mba level, probably 23 to 26 (no different than any other fund).
Is it more difficult to go pre-mba or post-mba?
Good parts of PE associate gig? (Originally Posted: 02/18/2015)
Hey guys, I've been reading through the top posts on PE associate life and it just seems like banking 2.0 and seems to require a lot of grunt work. However, many people are still very positive about their years as a PE Associate and I'm wondering if there's a flip side of this coin. Can some of you discuss the positives of your jobs as PE associates or some fun stories about your time in PE?
If you're passionate about PE investing and you land at a good firm, your two years as an associate will be tittilating. If you're a yale libarts guy who followed the yellow brick road into the wrong neighborhood, you'll complain about the work and call it banking 2.0.
I hated banking and love my PE job now.
Yes you will be doing grunt work, but your grunt work is no longer changing colors on your pie charts from blue to lime green at your MD's pleasure.
Grunt work in PE shifts to writing memos, internal docs, reading employment contracts for the 200th time, yes they suck, but at least you are using your brain rather than manual labor like banking.
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