I think it depends on the nature of your role there. For corporate development, they normally want to see deal experience. So if you can get that in this finance role, or there are clear internal hiring opportunities for CD roles at this asset management firm, it’s doable. But I think it would be hard to take corporate finance experience and move to a completely different company in a CD role.

Corporate Finance doesn’t help that much for M&A roles, but if you had to pick one, probably FP&A because you at least create projections there. Corporate development would be far more relevant, so try to move there if you can.

No, probably not. For corporate development, you need transaction experience in investment banking or related roles first. For corporate finance, you need some type of accounting/finance background.

With 10+ years of experience, your best shot at this stage is probably an MBA at a top school. Or, maybe try to transfer into a more relevant group at your current firm and then go from there to corporate finance.

Potentially, but most firms still tend to focus on work experience rather than what you studied in school, so I still think it would be difficult to make this move.

For writing an investment memo, maybe take a look at some of our real estate examples… there are shorter ones in the new version of the Real Estate course, and I’m going to release free samples from some of them on the site this year. This article explains how you generally want to think about writing an investment memo:

https://mergersandinquisitions.com/private-equity-investment-recommendation/

It’s fairly common to get tested on short memos, but more so in take-home case studies. For on-site tests, you’re more likely to get a model and a few questions to answer.

I don’t think it will matter. Just say that it was your plan all along to move into a PE internship and then use the experience to get into banking (or another field).

Thank you for the detailed response. Makes a lot of sense to go after REPEs first.

I have a follow up question.. I omitted my prior experience in the previous comment.

I have prior BB public finance internship experience, graduated from an ivy graduate school with energy/infrastructure project finance focus, and I work at a development focused REIT.

I wonder if my experience can put me in better position to aim for project finance group or infra PE…

Also, I had an interview at infra PE firm previously, but failed miserably on writing investment memo. Do you have any recommendations on how to practice writing an investment memo? (Or is it even common for a firm to test on this)

Thank you always for your quality contents and answers!

Would you think that in the future, when applying for internships/grads, that I will have to explain myself for leaving one job early for the other, with the firm afraid that I might leave another one so soon? Or would it not matter as much because the move was from a commercial bank to a private equity firm, and it would be seen as an appropriate/smart move to make?
Thanks