Thanks. I generally don’t recommend starting out full-time in PE unless it’s at one of the biggest firms. Otherwise, you lose out on the training and networking/alumni/branding benefits that come from a large bank. And most people change their minds about what they want to do in the future, so it helps to have this optionality.

Thank you! For anyone interested, I find it helps to make it as easy as possible for them to say yes – in my email, I said I would work unpaid and that we could trial this arrangement for 2-4 weeks to see if it was suitable for their needs (if not, we shake hands and walk away)… they were very receptive to this.

The firm I’m with mentioned they would have a position full-time as an analyst working in their PE/Acquisitions team for sourcing new deals and investment opportunities, and that they think I would be a good fit for this. I’ve always been quite set on going for BB IB/S&T roles, so I’m unsure what to think about it. Would you have any advice on whether this would be a strong option long-term and/or if I should consider it in relation to BB IB/S&T?

I know PE is often considered the exit option for BB IB alongside HF/VC so does getting a full-time offer just bypass this step or would I be at a disadvantage down the line compared to BB analysts who are trying to move into the buy-side?

Any help is always appreciated and a big thank you once again!

Congrats!

Yes, this would be considered direct experience that you could use to apply to full-time or off-cycle roles. It’s about the same as any other off-cycle/boutique role in related fields. I think you have enough to be competitive for roles at large banks, and I don’t think you need another internship just to apply.

I wanted to say a big thank you for writing this article – having sent out 10 cold emails, I now have a summer internship at a boutique SME private equity firm in the UK! Really appreciate the advice and very well written.

The work is going to focus on building financial models, assisting the evaluation process, market research, and assisting in due diligence/valuations (as well as other typical tasks I imagine).

The internship is unspecified currently so I could end up working there for a few months (It’s possible I may even stay there longer, it all depends really). I wanted to ask if this would be considered direct experience to break into BB IB graduate/off-cycle roles for the cycle beginning in August/September (either IB or S&T)? Also, how does boutique PE rank compared to other similar positions (like boutique IB/VC, BB off-cycle etc)?

I only (technically) graduated this year with my master’s in finance (1st class) at a “low” target uni with other internship experience at big 4 audit, investment management, and a sales role + good extracurriculars.

Any help would be great – I look forward to hearing from you and thanks again!

Yes, a Master’s degree would be most appropriate. It’s really hard to give you more specific advice than this because I don’t know how competitive you are for the jobs you’re seeking. I don’t think it would be super-helpful if you can switch into something like corporate banking out of this first job.

Some places will still ask for it, so yes, I would recommend listing both your overall and major GPA.

Forgive my ignorance but when you say “do another degree” I assume you are implying a Master’s of some kind? If so, any specific suggestions. If not, what exactly would you suggest? Corporate finance is definitely not the industry I want to be in though. Definitely working toward something else one way or another.

Hi Brian,
Thanks!
A quick follow up question is that, should I put my gpa 3.3 (major 3.5) from semi-target college on resume, since I am already about 3 years from school? Does it matter?

If your goal is to work in IB, I would recommend targeting tech-related banks and groups and seeing what happens. In the current environment, banks are so desperate for workers due to high deal flow and high turnover that it’s more feasible to get in from other industries. Start with the large banks (BB/EB) and see if you get responses, and if not, move down.

I don’t think you need to start preparing for modeling and deal examples before you contact people, but you should be prepared for the standard interview questions.

Yes, start working and then look for other jobs. You can wait to start looking until the job begins, and don’t star contacting people until you have a few years of work experience.

The base salary is not great, but various other corporate finance jobs also offer something in the same range. You don’t really “advance quickly” in corporate finance, so if you want to move up, you should think about switching to a different industry or doing another degree.