Incoming FT analyst at one of the better MM banks (Jefferies/Blair/Rothschild). Looking at my groups exits, nearly all exits are to MMPE, with maybe a handful of UMM and one MF exit in the past couple years.
I'm trying to plan out my PE recruiting strategy because I know things are going to get very hectic once I hit the desk and wondering how people from similar groups weigh the risk of going for a better fund vs just playing it safe and landing a solid MMPE gig.
From reading on here, it sounds like you really get one shot with headhunters, and if you say you're interested in UMM/MF and you strike out on-cycle, you can be pretty screwed.
My profile is pretty competitive (target school, GPA + test scores are good), but I just don't work at a bank/group with many large-cap PE exits. It's been done before so clearly it's possible, but I'm terrified of trying to go on-cycle, striking out because I will likely never win when I'm interviewing against a GSTMT kid, and then getting passed up by headhunters because they think I'm damaged goods. That being said, I'm really interested in working at a larger fund, and would feel a little bit disappointed if I didn't give it a fair shot. On the other hand, I can definitely see a scenario where I strike out on cycle and am forced to either stay in banking or take some no-name LMM fund because I blew my shot with HHs by telling them all I want to work at a bigger fund.
The other alternative would be to target exclusively MMPE, and, looking at my groups exits, I am confident I could land a really solid gig at a good firm. I spoke to a few analysts that just left for PE and all of them said they thought they had no shot at MF so recruited exclusively for MMPE, and all had a pretty smooth recruiting process and landed jobs they are excited about.
I know there isn't a clear yes/no answer here, but I'm curious how others have navigated this decision of what you actually want to do vs being pragmatic and trying to target the best of the most feasible options available.
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