Congrats!
Congrats! Hope you’ll continue to find time to visit AF!
Thanks for all the well-wishes, guys. I definitely appreciate the support and encouragement. I have a couple weeks or so before I start working in private equity, so I’m going to enjoy whatever downtime I have. With respect to my work experience (Sims’ question), I have a few years on the sell-side and was hired into a pre-MBA position. Most of the other people in this firm came from investment banking. Before I started interviewing, the thought did cross my mind as to whether or not I should stay longer in equity research in order to gain more “skills,” and I’m glad I decided to go for it once I decided I wanted to do private equity. I don’t think you’re at much of an advantage getting into private equity by doing more years of banking or research or anything else – eventually, your learning curve starts to flatten out, and the only way to acquire most of the skill set that you actually need to do PE is by doing PE. It’s true that you can’t jump into PE after working a week in finance, but I think by the 2-3 year mark, you should have gained the fundamental finance and accounting skills needed to interview for pre-MBA roles in private equity. In general, I believe that if you know you want a certain job and you know the skills that are needed to do it, teach yourself those skills as soon as possible and start interviewing. Don’t underestimate how long it takes to find a good job, especially in the current markets.
Numi, Big time congratulations. Hopefully you will still find time to post after you start the new gig.
Congrat! Need some advice Posted by: candid (IP Logged) [hide posts from this user] Date: December 15, 2007 10:24PM Hello, I have been working with a Big 4 Public Accounting firm since 2 years. I am a CPA And passed CFA Level 1. I want to break into Hedge Fund/ Private Equity or Investment Banking. “Front Office” My questions for people who are in these fields - 1. Do I have any chance of landing the above mentioned jobs? 2. And if yes what kind of salary should I be loooking at in NYC? 3. Does my auditing and CPA experience give me an edge? Any input will be really appreciated. Thanks. Re: Need some advice Posted by: numi (IP Logged) [hide posts from this user] Date: December 15, 2007 11:28PM (1) your chances are very slim (2) you would most likely be hired as a first year analyst, if at all (3) no. too many people just like you are trying to get banking jobs.
Congratulations!! I am all pumped up and motivated now.
^ A CPA is just as qualified, if not more so. but he will seldom be offered the opportunity… probably because accountants rarely have the social/educational pedigree PE firms are looking for. sick.
Danteshek Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > ^ > > A CPA is just as qualified, if not more so. but > he will seldom be offered the opportunity… > probably because accountants rarely have the > social/educational pedigree PE firms are looking > for. > > sick. I’m curious about this pedigree thing. Most PE people are post top10 MBA, but why is it vocationally important to have “ivy” pedigree when working as a PE associate? I was under the impression that it was just an easy way for PE firms to get reliable people; by recruiting mostly from top MBA programs.
Congrats Numi! Long time no see. Best of luck. Please stay contributing to the boards when you can.
congrats guy!
Numi, what kind of PE is it?
Hey congratulations in what could be a life changing experience for you. Good work.
Hi guys, thanks for the continued well-wishes…I really appreciate it. I think private equity will be challenging in many ways and at times I’m sure the lifestyle will be pretty unenviable at times, but I’m definitely excited about moving on. bchadwick – the firm where I’ll be working invests in companies in different sectors. It is not industry-specific. I’ll be working on the buyout team. sternwolf – I think PE firms’ preoccupation with ivy league or similar caliber schools has to do with the perception of reliability and track record of accomplishments that you mentioned…and on top of that, PE professionals seem to really value prestige as well. But that’s not so different from other places on Wall Street other than private equity…in an environment that’s so competitive, firms are always looking for ways to get an “edge” and you’re taking less of a chance on hiring someone with degrees from top schools than someone with a degree from the 200th-ranked school. I think where you got your degrees matters less as you move up in the ranks, but for someone who’s joining PE on a pre-MBA level, they typically only have 2-4 years of work experience, which is why recruiters will look towards your undergraduate record as a way of gauging what you are capable of doing.
Numi, remember us little folks on here when you rich and famous and on the cover of II in 20 years!!! good job
Hey, Congrats! Just a question for you, it seems based on your various posts on here and now this one, that you were looking for a PE job with a well sized firm for a long time. I would take it from your pickiness, you interviewed alot to get the right opportunity. I am just wondering if now you regret and if you could do all over again, you would have taken the full bullet and just did BB Banking for 2 years. I mean based on your background, and the school you went to (guessing again from your other posts), you must have had the opportunity to do banking in BB or very good MM no? Wouldn’t such a position allowed you an easier time to get to where you wanted to be? So what is your take now, on the ER vs banking debate?
I got out of ER as well… buy side > sell side
Congratulations Numi! Your posts have been incredibly helpful for me. I’m shooting my response to your question from a different thread via e-mail. All the best!
Hey Numi, Glad to hear this! You certainly deserve it and I wish you good luck and job enjoyment into the future!
adehbone Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Hey, > > Congrats! > > Just a question for you, it seems based on your > various posts on here and now this one, that you > were looking for a PE job with a well sized firm > for a long time. I would take it from your > pickiness, you interviewed alot to get the right > opportunity. > > I am just wondering if now you regret and if you > could do all over again, you would have taken the > full bullet and just did BB Banking for 2 years. I > mean based on your background, and the school you > went to (guessing again from your other posts), > you must have had the opportunity to do banking in > BB or very good MM no? Wouldn’t such a position > allowed you an easier time to get to where you > wanted to be? > > So what is your take now, on the ER vs banking > debate? Well, first of all, I’ll say that I don’t live my life thinking about regrets. I think that as long as you go into every situation with the attitude of making the most of your opportunities, the outcome is usually a positive one. In my case, I did have the opportunity to work in investment banking at a bulge bracket coming out of college, but at the time I also thought I was more interested in the public markets than transactions. However, in hindsight, I don’t know if I was just biased towards things I knew versus things I didn’t, e.g. I felt I had a good basic understanding of the stock markets so it seemed more natural to go into equity research, whereas I didn’t feel like I had a good sense as to what banking entailed and it just seemed like the lifestyle and career would be less “certain” for me. In hindsight, I think I dismissed the option to go into banking prematurely…but then again, the level of preparation and diligence I felt I had going in to PE interviews far surpassed any job preparation I did in my entire four years at college, so maybe I’m just being hard on myself now. That brings me to lesson #1: I guess the first lesson I’ve learned is to always do your best to examine every single aspect of an opportunity – don’t make rash decisions (not that my decision to go into sell-side research was a rash one by any means), but do ask questions and do spend the time to critically think about your career prospects, lifestyle, and exit opportunities. That being said, I do believe my decision to go into equity research out of undergrad was the best decision I could make – based on what I knew at the time. I knew I was interested in the stock market, and I could definitely envision myself sometime down the line running my own asset management or hedge fund. I didn’t intern in investment banking and was somewhat concerned about the hours, and I also felt that equity research would be able to get me where I wanted to be after a few years, which would be at a hedge fund. Heck, I didn’t even know what private equity was while I was in college (no joke). Nonetheless, as I spent more and more time working in research, I found that I was much more interested in understanding the intricacies of how to finance transactions, as well as developing a high-level understanding of company operations and what drives management’s decisions to make acquisitions. When it finally occurred to me that I would be best off looking for jobs in private equity, it was a tough realization at first to see that my candidacy could potentially be passed over in favor of people that worked at lesser banks, yet came from an investment banking background. However, this did not deter me – instead, I really thought long and hard about why I wanted to do private equity, and what elements of my skill set and work experience would be most useful. Once I realized that, I practiced my interview “speeches” until I came up with a personal story that was succinct and compelling. On top of that, it occurred to me that the skills you learn in equity research, namely analyzing companies from the perspective of an investor, are highly relevant to private equity, and at that point it just became a matter of teaching myself some basic skills that private equity firms tend to look for, such as LBO and M&A modeling skills and the ability to screen offering memorandums and think about how to structure a transaction. Once I taught myself those skills, I felt that I could have a good chance at landing a PE job as long as I was given the chance. This brings me to lesson #2, and the final lesson I’ll reflect on for tonight: I believe the biggest limitation for most candidates is not because they cannot do the job, but because they do not know how to sell themselves or tailor their qualifications to the particular role. For example, people get discouraged too easily because PE isn’t the “traditional” exit opportunity for research analysts, or that someone at some point told them that they couldn’t make the move to PE from research. Obviously that isn’t true, and it’s just a matter of being creative and knowing how to position yourself effectively. I suppose I am saying this with some degree of flippancy, because I know that working in equity research at a top bank is better than working in the back office of some small suburban shop. But the point of it all is, getting a job in private equity is very tough for just about *anyone* out there, but if you want something badly enough, you shouldn’t let your own biases or misconceptions dissuade you. Just think about what you want to do, understand the role you’re interviewing for, and once you’ve come up with your story…go for it right away. Nobody has the right to tell you to do otherwise, and as long as you go all-out, there’s a good chance you won’t be disappointed. I hope this sheds some light on my situation. It’s not really my style to write this much about myself, but this is sort of the first time I’ve had a chance to really reflect on my situation. In reality, my situation is no different from many other people on this board who are looking to make job transitions. Even if we’re looking to make different moves, I think the process of self-discovery and learning how to sell yourself is critical for any job candidate, so I can definitely relate to others on this board who have felt like they’ve been “disadvantaged” in some way in terms of getting their “dream job” based on their current job. However, this “disadvantage” can sometimes be more of a state of mind, as opposed to a piece of reality. Hopefully this post inspires at least a handful of you to aim for the job you’ve been dreaming of – if you can convince yourself that you deserve that job, it’s because you probably do, and you owe it to yourself to go for it.
Bravo …!!