How to Get a Private Equity Job
Despite the recession, credit crunch, and lack of deals, private equity is still one of the hottest areas for aspiring financiers out there. Young investment bankers and businessmen and women of all types still yearn to be in private equity.
If you want to get into private equity, you can try to network your way in part of the way. However, it’s a very small industry and 99% of all PE firms use headhunters, so you’ll need to get to know them to have a good shot. There are only 3 firms worth speaking to: Oxbridge, SG Partners, and CPI.
If you’re working at a bulge bracket investment bank currently, they will probably contact you first - but if not, you need to reach out to them via cold calls and cold emails, as well as referrals from your friends who are at large banks.
If you’re an undergraduate or MBA with no investment banking or private equity experience, you’ll have a tough time getting noticed. Consultants and people in related industries like business development have a shot, but most recruiters are focused primarily on investment banking analysts.
In general, if you’re coming from a non-standard background (you’re *not* in investment banking or private equity currently) then you need to target extremely small firms that have a complementary industry focus to your background (e.g. you worked at Pfizer and they invest in pharmaceutical companies).
In terms of timing, the biggest firms out there start in January each year and finish up by the spring; middle-market and smaller firms start later and finish later, but most recruiting is done with by the fall of each year.
Usually, you’ll present your resume to your recruiters and you’ll meet in-person as a “first-round interview” to discuss your experience. Based on this, they may or may not refer you to certain private equity firms.
Since recruiters control your destiny, you absolutely must impress them and seem very well-qualified in your initial meeting - or else you’ll get no referrals.
Assuming you’ve done your job and impressed them, you usually go through multiple interview rounds with each private equity firm. You’ll have to present case studies, build Leveraged Buyout models, and answer the usual fit and technical questions. Keep things simple - do not over-complicate models, especially under time pressure.
If you’re lucky enough to get an offer, you usually can’t negotiate too much because they are almost always exploding - so you need to make your decision quickly.
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