Should I try to lateral for better exit opps or just recruit directly for pe at my current shop?

Currently an A1 at a (UBS/Jeff/DB/RBC) in coverage and am thinking about lateraling to a better bank for better peexit ops, but the lateral market seems rough. So was weighing whether I should stay where I am at and recruit straight to pe or if I should try to lateral at the 1 year mark? Am a bit uncertain which path has a higher probability of success. 
 

For PE, UMM and MM is fine with me. Does not need to be a MF, but worth a shot too. 
 

Any advice is appreciated!

 
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My 2c coming from a lower tier BB (one of the names you mentioned and a coverage group). You should have 0 problem recruiting for a MM/UMM firm - I'm currently at a MM firm (~$10bn AUM) and had no problems getting interviews with almost every PE firm I threw my resume towards. And I was like you, I wasn't expecting these firms to even look at me given non-target and lower tier BB, but this was no problem whatsoever. I never gave MF recruiting a shot because I didn't want to pursue that but there were people in my class across various groups that landed offers at places like Veritas, CD&R, Vista, etc.

Lateraling is tough esp. since you have to start from scratch and if you have a good reputation, have deal reps, then I can't see why you should easily be able to land interviews. It's just all about being able to do well in the interviews and telling a good story / selling yourself. Just spend time preparing for PE interview technicals (paper LBO, modeling tests, case studies) and as long as everything else checks out (good GPA, 1-2 deals on your resume, interest in investing) you will land interviews at good firms.

 

Did you tell the headhunters you were only focusing on MM/UMM? 

Also what do you mean "throw my resume towards" don't the Headhunters give you opps they think would be a good fit and not you applying for them? 

Appreciate the insight!

 

To answer - yes I told them I was focused on MM / UMM funds and was open to any sector but my experience has been in XYZ industries (so basically the industry group I was in) and would probably not be a good fit for TMT / Consumer / Real Estate / etc.. But the way it works is all the Headhunters will blast out email opportunities to every Analyst on the street if they think it's a decent fit (i.e., TMT funds will be focused on TMT groups but if you're in Consumer / Industrial, it's not out of the realm of possibility to get these emails unless the fund is looking for a specific background (REGL or FIG), but otherwise more PE funds just want Associates that can crank vs. industry knowledge that is built over time), you then can pick and choose if you want them to send your resume or not. I would note that you should decently impress the headhunters and do well in the first couple interviews. So I would 1) intro call with Headhunter and talk through my background, 2) send them my resume,3) they then send me opps as they come up, 4) I respond saying I'm interested, 5) they send my resume to the Fund and then the Fund reaches out to interview you if they're interested in your background.

 

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