Breaking into PE
I graduated from a small midwestern university last spring and since then have worked in Sales at a fortune 5 company. I have always dreamt of breaking into PE, but understand it is extremely competitive and typically has a pretty specific recruiting pool. Has anyone seen individuals break into MM or boutique PE firms from non-finance roles? If not, are there any finance roles I should seek out that may give me a chance at landing a PE role in the future (Boutique IB, Corporate M&A, Equity Research, Sales & Trading, etc)? I also have deferred admission to Chicago Booth through their Deferred MBA program. Would it be worth receiving my MBA in a year from Booth, then trying to transition to PE, or IB then PE? Thank you!
Get a job in as good of a bank doing M&A as possible and then break in
Thank you for the comment
It sounds curt but I broke in from non-IB and it would have been simpler to just join IB first. And it would have been better for me once on the job in PE. I truly think it is the only way. You need the IB analyst training. Edge cases should not be treated as datapoints. Go get an analyst gig, do that for 2-3 years, recruit for a PE job, and you will be set. If Booth conflicts with maximum deferral, decide for yourself whether you want to roll dice on PE or just go to Booth. Odds of getting PE post-MBA without pre-MBA experience are next to nil (again, edge cases...)
I really appreciate this info, thank you. What is your advice for seeking an IB analyst role coming from a non-finance job? In undergrad I majored in Finance, interned in a corp finance type role, passed the SIE, and I currently have a few certs from Wall Street Prep (modeling, financial accounting, etc). Will any of this carry weight when applying to analyst roles 2-years post grad, or should I expect my best chance coming from networking amongst the IB community?
No, just network (coffee/zoom), at end of informational ask if any analyst roles/chance to join your team, recommendations for other people to talk to / network with, make sure you know more finance than a college grad who has passed (literally) every modeling test on the internet / all of M&I 400, all the theory of a DCF, how to unlever/relever beta, DCF model, merger model...
Odds are you won't be 100% perfect but point being just spend all your free time doing this stuff and then you'll be credible when you talk to people about the role. Bonus points if you can talk industry trends with them.
Hi this might be a naive question but how do people most effectively read up and learn the industry trends of a sector they don't cover? Are there usually any good sites or industry primers you'd recommend for sectors like consumer, tech, media, hc etc ?
Analyst reports, trade publications, etc.
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