Breaking into Private Equity

Many of the Job Search Digest members are interested in either switching industries or breaking into an private equity or venture capital without direct investment experience. The challenge in either situation, of course, is your competing against candidates who already know the industry and what to expect in the hiring process.

To help you in this area, we have teamed-up with Blue Chip Careers to offer a training session geared specifically for getting you up to speed on the hiring process.

What is covered in this session?

To give you a complete picture of what it takes to get into private equity, we discuss:

  • the state of the industry,
  • the benefits of working in private equity,
  • the different types of firms,
  • compensation expectations, and
  • required skills and what to expect in the interview.

Answers to the Questions from the Breaking into Private Equity Training

During the training session, we did not have enough time to go through all the questions people asked. After the session, we took the list of questions and gave them to Chris Carey, Founder of Blue Chip Careers, and Patrick McGinnis, our Private Equity Mentor, to get their feedback.

Some of the questions they answered include…

Q: How can a person with management consulting background move into the VC/PE industry?
Q: How to break into the portfolio companies of a PE firm, not just the firm itself?
Q: Do entrepreneurs have an advantage to get into Private Equity?
Q: Does it make sense for MBAs to pursue pre-MBA VC/PE positions?
Q: How can a specific industry expert break into private equity? Would he need specific PE modeling expertise?

You can find the answers to these questions here Private Equity Career Questions.